They say Eskimos have a hundred words for snow. If that’s true, then Jenny Milchman must be a bit of an Eskimo. Her novel, Cover of Snow, takes place in a small town in the Adirondacks beset by weather — snow drifts, ice storms, frozen roads, and frostbitten homes are everywhere. And the town is snow-blind in more ways than one. When heroine Nora’s husband is found dead in their restored farmhouse of a home, the close-knit community’s secrets begin to be revealed in an avalanche of heartbreak, betrayal, murder and cover-ups.
As Nora peels back the layers of her husband’s death, she discovers secrets in her own marriage and vows to learn all she can about what led him to his last days and how the town’s cover-up may go deeper than she’d ever imagined. Author Milchman doesn’t show her cards, keeping all the answers until the very end, and she covers all the thriller bases: Complicated sibling relationships? Check. Creepy secret room with stalker-esque photos? Check. Secret boxes filled with mysterious contents and chase scenes through dusty crawl spaces? Check, check. It may be the perfect read for what promises to be a sweltering summer — after all, with its sub-zero temperatures and the possibility of stone-cold murder, this book promises shivers in more ways than one.
Author Jenny Milchman will visit the Reading Room at Church Street Coffee & Books on Monday, April 22 at 7 p.m. Come by for a quick chat and get a peek into the delightfully twisted world of Cover of Snow.