Celadon
Published June 9, 2026
Reviewed by Barbara Fister
Callie Hauser had left home to work as a narcotics detective in the urban north of New Jersey until her best friend was seriously injured in a hit and run accident. She returns to her small town in the Pine Barrens to serve as police chief, where the retired chief hovers over her, the officers resent her, and she has to pitch in on patrol shifts to provide basic coverage. She’s only been on the job for a few weeks when she stops a drunken driver – who turns out to be her troubled mother. She had struggled with addiction ever since her teenage years when she made a gruesome discovery: someone had left a newborn baby to die by the side of the road. Callie’s mother attributes it to the legendary Jersey Devil, traditionally believed to haunt the pine forests. Callie doesn’t buy the folklore explanation, but wonders if the case might be connected to the disappearance of twin sixteen year olds, who lived hand-to-mouth after their mother abandoned them and their father left to seek work. She is determined to get to the bottom of it. It turns out to be a far more complex and personally demanding investigation than she can imagine.
Mullen’s second mystery is peopled with complicated characters, including Callie’s best friend and her in-laws, dominated by the popular former police chief. As the investigation proceeds, we travel back to past to hear from one of the two vanished twins – the studious Annabelle, who loves her sister, the adventurous Sabrina, a daredevil who routinely skips school and is having a torrid affair with a man who is only known by his nickname: the Coyote. As Callie puts the pieces together, we learn the truth of the infant whose death she’s investigating, and witness the many situations in which neglect and hardship have shaped the lives of the women in the story.
In addition to a nicely-convoluted plot, the setting plays a major role in the story. While the Jersey Devil doesn’t make an appearance, the legend behind it concerning the thirteenth child of an exhausted mother who didn’t want yet another baby to care for plays a thematic role. The dense pine woods, too, are a brooding, mysterious presence, shaping the isolation and rural decay of the town where Callie grew up.
Overall, readers will find Heather an atmospheric and absorbing read that delves into the complicated family dynamics of mothers and sisters.