Murder, Secrets & Halloween in the Thousand Islands: Tessa Wegert's This River Runs Black

In this episode, Gare and I chat with Tessa Wegert about her new thrill The River Runs Black!

Listen to hear about:

• How the Thousand Islands and North Country become characters themselves, creating the perfect mix of cozy fall atmosphere, isolation, and underlying dread.
• Why Tessa set The River Runs Black around Halloween and how trick-or-treating, pumpkin festivals, orchards, and other seasonal details actually play into the mystery.
• How she uses multiple POVs, secrets, cliffhangers, and carefully timed reveals to keep readers guessing—and why she changed one major character’s perspective while writing.
• The real-life inspiration behind the novel’s drug trafficking storyline, including a late-night police encounter on the St. Lawrence River and the uniquely porous U.S.–Canada border.
• How the novel explores the impact of drugs, boredom, isolation, and vulnerability among teenagers in a small community, plus what’s next for Tessa’s North Country series and her hopes to eventually publish a standalone thriller.

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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

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Erin Ashley @bellametaphor