A deliciously twisty thriller of love, lies, and murder.
Desch’s second Portland Murders novel pairs a tangled murder investigation with an intimate, increasingly unsettling romance. Grace MacKenzie has spent decades mastering the art of silence, burying grief, desire, and pieces of herself beneath a carefully controlled life. At 50, she finally begins opening up after falling for magnetic Kate Nichols. But when Grace discovers a dead reporter’s business card among Kate’s belongings, mounting secrets, a sabotaged farm sale, and a murder investigation force her to question everything she believes about the woman she loves.
Desch delivers a tightly wound psychological thriller whose most compelling mystery lies in the treacherous territory between intimacy and deception. Grace makes an absorbing protagonist, her lifelong habit of self-suppression giving unusual emotional weight to her growing suspicions. Kate is equally magnetic, moving between tenderness, secrecy, and unnerving self-possession with an ambiguity that keeps the tension high. Desch skillfully makes ordinary details feel potentially loaded, allowing distrust to seep gradually into Grace’s relationship.
The broader mystery expands through mounting secrets, hidden motives, and a colorful cast of possible suspects, while the Durango and Portland settings provide atmospheric backdrops for the increasingly tangled investigation. The novel’s greatest strength is its emotional stakes: every clue threatens not only Grace’s safety but her hard-won belief in a different future. With its layered conspiracy, emotionally charged investigation, and unusually intimate villain-protagonist dynamic, the novel succeeds as both a murder mystery and a study of how manipulation thrives on the stories people are desperate to believe.
A gripping, psychologically layered thriller in which learning to trust oneself may be the most dangerous move of all.
***
Series: The Portland Murders, Book 2 (reads as a standalone)
Publisher: Otherwise Occupied Press
Publication date: January 26, 2027 (preorders open December 15, 2026)
Formats: Ebook and trade paperback
Print length 320 pages
ISBN (paperback): 979-8-9910136-4-2
ISBN (ebook): 979-8-9910136-3-5
Genre: Psychological suspense / domestic thriller
