“Dark, gritty, and addictive… This is Hannah Morrissey at her best.” — Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author

Hannah Morrissey is the USA Today bestselling author of the Black Harbor suspense series and other thrilling works of crime fiction. Praised for their hauntingly atmospheric settings and gritty Midwestern realism, her novels have helped define a distinct sub-genre: Midwestern Noir.

Hannah was inspired to write her debut novel while transcribing reports for her local police department. Far from home in a grim, crime-ridden city, it was her job to sit alone in the dead of night, listen, and type as detectives divulged the city’s darkest secrets. There, she realized that every case was a story, and every story started with the same two words: “Hello, Transcriber.”

Hannah graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison where she majored in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. Her books have been featured on the USA Today bestsellers list and the Book of the Month club.

Hannah's Featured Titles

Home for the Homicides: A Holly & Mark Mystery (The Holly & Mark Mystery Series)

Minotaur Books |
Romantic Comedy

Tis the season . . . for murder.

When Special Agents Holly Frost and Mark Shepherd report to the idyllic town of Christmas to investigate a very less than idyllic murder, they’re in for more than the average whodunnit.

Welcome to Christmas, a town so cozy and charming it could be the backdrop of a Hallmark movie, where crime is never in season and it’s the holidays all year round. So when a tourist is found stabbed to death by an icicle in the middle of the town nativity scene, the local police are out of their depth―after all, how do you find a criminal in a town where crime doesn’t exist?

The stakes are high: the whole town is relying on Holly and Mark to solve the crime before the annual Jingle Bell Jubilee festival (which naturally the town’s entire economic survival relies on), plus, whichever of them cracks the case will receive a promotion to Major Crimes―and there’s only one spot.

Holly and Mark are both on thin ice after screwing up on the job. This assignment is their one shot at redemption, if they can put aside their bitter rivalry. And of course, it’s not only their jobs on the line, it’s their hearts, too―regrets of their holiday party hookup last year haunt them like ghosts of Christmas past, so they both want to wrap up this rom-com gone wrong as quickly as possible. But with just twelve days until the festival, the countdown to catch a killer―without killing each other―is on.

Co-authored by New York Times bestseller Elle Cosimano (Finlay Donovan series) and USA Today bestseller Hannah Morrissey (Black Harbor series), Home for the Homicides is a sexy, light-hearted romp, with a dash of merriment and murder.

The Unlucky Ones: A Black Harbor Novel

Minotaur Books |
Suspense/Thriller

NOW A USA TODAY BESTSELLER!

A police transcriber-turned-novelist returns to Black Harbor to help solve the case of her ex-husband’s murder in the next riveting Black Harbor, featuring the return of characters from Hannah Morrissey’s breakout debut, Hello, Transcriber.

Black Harbor is a tinderbox. Temperatures and violent crime have both risen to all-time highs, a new drug razes the city, and the scene to which Sergeant Nikolai Kole responds is anything but a rote homicide. In the back of a clubhouse lies a body wrapped in garbage bags and doused in bleach.

It isn’t just any body. Tommy Greenlee, the ex-husband of Kole’s former lover, Hazel, has been shot several times and left for dead. What’s more…the killer left what appears to be a calling card.

Elsewhere, Hazel is haunted by her memories of Black Harbor. Lured there after eight years, she returns to find out who killed Tommy and why. Now back in Kole’s orbit, their love affair can hardly pick up where it left off. They both used each other to their own ends before, which begs the question: would they do it again?

With the atmosphere growing more volatile by the second, Hazel and Kole call a truce, and as they work together to solve this murder, they will not only unearth Black Harbor’s deepest, darkest secrets―they’ll each have to face their own.

When I’m Dead: A Black Harbor Novel

Minotaur Books |
Suspense/Thriller

One girl murdered…another one missing…and a medical examiner desperate to uncover the truth in When I’m Dead, the latest Black Harbor mystery by acclaimed author Hannah Morrissey.

On a bone-chilling October night, Medical Examiner Rowan Winthorp investigates the death of her daughter’s best friend. Hours later, the tragedy hits even closer to home when she makes a devastating discovery―her daughter, Chloe, is gone. But, not without a trace.

A morbid mosaic of clues forces Rowan and her husband to question how deeply they really knew their daughter. As they work closely to peel back the layers of this case, they begin to unearth disturbing details about Chloe and her secret transgressions…details that threaten to tear them apart.

Amidst the noise of navigating her newfound grief and reconciling the sins of her past, an undeniable fact rings true for Rowan: karma has finally come to collect.

The Widowmaker: A Black Harbor Novel

Minotaur Books |
suspense/Thriller

A wealthy family shrouded in scandal; a detective tasked with solving an impossible cold case; and a woman with a dark past collide in Hannah Morrissey’s stunning new Black Harbor mystery, The Widowmaker.

Ever since business mogul Clive Reynolds disappeared twenty years ago, the name “Reynolds” has become synonymous with “murder” and “mystery.” And now, lured by a cryptic note, down-on-her-luck photographer Morgan Mori returns home to Black Harbor and into the web of their family secrets and double lives. The same night she photographs the Reynolds holiday get-together, Morgan becomes witness to a homicide of a cop that triggers the discovery of a long-buried clue.

This could finally be the thing to crack open the chilling cold case, and Investigator Ryan Hudson has a chance to prove himself as lead detective. If only he could stop letting his need to solve his partner’s recent murder distract him. But as Morgan exposes her own dark demons, could her sordid history be the key to unlocking more than one mystery?

Hello, Transcriber: A Novel (Black Harbor Novels, 1)

Minotaur Books |
Suspense/Thriller

Hannah Morrissey’s Hello, Transcriber is a captivating mystery suspense debut featuring a female police transcriber who goes beyond the limits to solve a harrowing case.

Every night, while the street lamps shed the only light on Wisconsin’s most crime-ridden city, police transcriber Hazel Greenlee listens as detectives divulge Black Harbor’s gruesome secrets. An aspiring novelist, Hazel believes that writing a book could be her only ticket out of this frozen hellscape, but her life isn’t exactly brimming with inspiration. Until her neighbor confesses to hiding the corpse of an overdose victim.

With an insider’s look at the investigation, Hazel becomes spellbound by the lead detective, Nikolai Kole, and the chilling narrative he shares with her. Through his transcription, she learns that the suspicious death is linked to Candy Man―a drug dealer notorious for selling illegal substances to children―and when Kole invites her on a covert operation to help take the dealer down, the promise of a story calls to her. As the investigation unfolds, Hazel will discover just how far she will go for her story, even if it means destroying her marriage, her career, and any chance she has of getting out of Black Harbor alive. Because if she’s learned one relentless truth about this place, it’s the fact that everybody lies.

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Murderboarding 101

Murderboarding is more than a writing process; it’s a lifestyle. USA Today bestselling author Hannah Morrissey shares a step-by-step look into how she crafts an addictive thriller with characters that live rent-free in readers’ minds long after the last page has been turned. From interrogating her characters to mapping out twists, reveals, and emotional beats, attendees will get an inside look at why the murderboard is at the heart of her creative process—and why she’ll never write a novel without one.

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Midwestern Noir: How to Write an Atmospheric Thriller

Atmosphere is what transforms a thriller into an immersive, unforgettable experience. In this talk, USA Today bestselling author Hannah Morrissey explores how mood, setting, and sensory detail work together to build tension—plus, the crucial mistake that authors often make when worldbuilding. Drawing from her own journey in carving out a unique sub-genre—Midwestern-Noir—she shares how leveraging place as a character, honing moral ambiguity, and leaning into your locale can help writers create stories that stand out.

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Morally Grey All the Way

We don’t root for heroes in this genre—we root for the survivors, the liars, and the people who do the wrong things for the right reasons. In this talk, USA Today bestselling author Hannah Morrissey digs into our obsession with morally grey characters in thrillers and crime fiction, exploring why flawed, compromised protagonists are more honest, more dangerous, and more irresistible than traditional heroes. From antiheroes to renegades, this session examines what moral ambiguity reveals about power, justice, and the darkness we recognize in ourselves.

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The Truth Behind Crime Fiction

Crime fiction can be brutal, but the truth is often darker than the imagination. In this research-focused talk, USA Today bestselling author Hannah Morrissey explores how real crimes, human behavior, and hard research form the backbone of compelling fiction. Drawing from her own deep dives into the most pitch-black corners of reality, she shares insight into her research process , how she blends real-life events with storytelling, and why having a healthy morbid curiosity is the most important tool in a thriller author’s arsenal.

Hannah’s Events Link

Midwestern Noir Link

Honors, Awards & Recognition

USA Today Bestseller – Hello, Transcriber & The Unlucky Ones
Book of the Month Club October Selection – When I’m Dead

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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