She Treads Softly: In the Bones

Thursday, October 16, 2025

In the Bones

In the Bones by Tessa Wegert
11/4/25; 288 pages
Severn House
North Country #1

In the Bones by Tessa Wegert is a very highly recommended mystery/procedural and the excellent start of a new North country series. It does share characters with the Shana Merchant series, but I think it can easily be enjoyed as a standalone novel for those not already following the series.

After a big total remodel, ex-professional ice hockey superstar Mikko Helle is moving into the house he bought in New York’s Thousand Islands area last September. Nicole Durham uses her connection to the realtor to get hired on to clean his house as she needs the money. Nicole's husband, Woody, invested their life savings to be a partner with Helle in a business venture but Nicole is unsure Helle is trustworthy. She can look around as his housekeeper. What she discovers is totally unexpected. There is a young woman phrogging in his house (and she has likely been in others too), but there are also the bones of a young woman hidden deep in the basement of the house.

New York State Police Investigator Tim Wellington along with Shanna, Mac, from the Shana Merchant series, are on the case. Those who have followed the Shana Merchant series will know the characters, but this time out the focus is on Woody, Nicole, and their family/situation as the crew investigates the complex case. It seems there are a lot of secrets that need to be uncovered to find the identity of the phrogger and the murder victim in the basement.

The extremely well-written, atmospheric narrative is told through chapters from multiple points-of-view, which works quite well. Each character has a unique perspective and different information that can help further the investigation and lead to the identity of the murderer. This also serves to further character development, creating fully realized, sympathetic individuals with both strengths and failings revealed. All the characters feel realistic.

The investigation follows a complicated trail of evidence, secrets, misdeeds, lies, and discovery in the complex case. The pace moves quickly and the tension rises as new discovery and piece of information is uncovered, leading to different directions and new areas of inquiry. The whole novel follows the clues to a logical conclusion.

In the Bones is an excellent choice for those who have been following the Shana Merchant series and for everyone who appreciates procedurals. Thanks to Severn House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.