First published 2013
Freelance writer Troy Chance is photographing the ice palace at Saranac Lake Winter Carnival when workers discover a corpse trapped in the frozen blocks. She recognizes the dead man. The victim was a Connecticut rich kid who had been living like a working class local in this Adirondack mountain town. One of Troy's roommates becomes a suspect as reporters swarm the area. Troy gets assigned to profile the deceased, but her investigation reveals murky circumstances surrounding his death. When the victim's sister arrives and threatening incidents begin, someone clearly wants Troy to stop digging. The deeper she goes, the more dangerous secrets she uncovers about this seemingly peaceful mountain community. Troy faces impossible choices about which family secrets deserve exposure and which truths should stay buried. She must navigate conflicting loyalties while determining how far she will go for the story. Her investigation becomes an emotional journey that forces her to confront the lasting damage that hidden secrets inflict on people and places.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Adirondack Mountains, Saranac Lake, Connecticut
Period: Contemporary
479 pages · Hardcover · Thorndike Press