Book Recommendation: ‘Hello, Transcriber’ by Hannah Morrissey

Recommended by TINA KAKUSKE, Librarian

Often-given advice to novice writers is to write about what they know. Wisconsin author Hannah Morrissey took that advice to heart by using her experience as a police transcriber to write her first novel, Hello, Transcriber. The premise of this fast-moving, suspenseful book is a police procedural set in Black Harbor – a fictional town in Wisconsin – from the viewpoint of newly hired police transcriber Hazel Greenlee. 

Black Harbor is a dark, desolate, crime-ridden town, and Hazel is the unsavvy newbie who becomes involved with Detective Nikolai Kole through his recorded narrations as she helps him with an investigation into the drug deaths of kids. She’s also an aspiring novelist who’s looking for inspiration and hoping to use work events for a story. 

This book is not for the faint of heart and contains adult situations and language – not the type of book I usually read. However, a recommendation from a trusted source, a great audiobook narrator and excellent writing made it one of my favorites so far this year.

For contemporary Wisconsin Noir with a mystery to solve, author Morrissey provides a dark, gritty read that is most definitely not your typical book set in Wisconsin. If you become a fan of Morrissey and Black Harbor, watch for the second novel in the series, The Widowmaker, due to be released in December 2022.