A Cold and Lonely Place

December 3, 2012
At the start of Henry’s haunting follow-up to her Agatha-winning debut, Learning to Swim (2011), reporter Troy Chance stumbles onto what could be the story that changes her career—as well as several lives—when the ice cutters she’s photographing on New York’s Saranac Lake for a feature about the Lake Placid–area resort’s annual Winter Carnival find a man frozen under the surface. Almost as shocking, the victim is someone Troy knows—trust fund slacker Tobin Winslow, her roommate Jessamyn’s boyfriend. Which makes the waiflike Jessamyn most definitely a person of interest to police. As Troy start digging, unexpectedly joining forces with Win, Tobin’s impossible-to-dislike sister, she quickly discovers there are even more questions concerning Tobin’s life than his death. Adding considerably to the compulsively readable mystery that unfolds—marred only by an anemic romantic subplot carried over from Swim—is Henry’s bone-deep sense of this terribly beautiful place. Agent: Barney Karpfinger, the Karpfinger Agency.

November 15, 2012
Henry's second novel once again follows Troy Chance, a freelance writer and news reporter who lives in the Adirondacks and frequently stumbles upon stories that need telling and people who need saving. Troy, who lives just outside Saranac Lake, is perfectly at home with the frozen winters and snowdrifts that characterize the area she has chosen to call home. Working for a tiny local newspaper, Troy writes about local sports and rents out rooms in her house to a succession of young people, particularly athletes training for the Olympics. One roommate, Jessamyn, is a mysterious and seemingly rootless girl who spends her time with Tobin Winslow, a young Princeton dropout who comes from a wealthy family. When Tobin disappears and is later found frozen in a block of ice carved from the lake, Troy and Jessamyn decide to find out who the real Tobin was and determine what happened to him: Did he accidentally wander onto the lake, was he murdered, was it a suicide? To add to the mystery, Tobin's truck has disappeared, but he left his cabin with all of his belongings intact. When Tobin's sister, Jessica, who goes by the nickname of "Win," shows up, she and Troy start trying to piece together Tobin's last days, talking to those who knew him well and those who only thought they knew him. Henry, a former newspaper staffer, nicely sets the sense of place and creates some interesting, although fancifully named characters, drawing in the Canadian cast from her first novel and adding the residents of Saranac Lake to the mix. However, rather than weaving an intricate and interesting story, the plot just seems to meander around, yanking open random literary drawers and peering inside, like an unplanned burglary instead of a suspenseful, well-thought-out, cohesive tale. There's very little that's thrilling in this tepid, but nicely written, story of a young man haunted by the events of his past and his tragic death. The unanticipated ending will mesmerize some readers, while others will find themselves annoyed by the anticlimactic conclusion.

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January 1, 2013
Henry follows up her award-winning debut novel, Learning to Swim (2011), with a strong second effort also featuring freelance reporter Troy Chance. Out on Saranac Lake, in the Adirondacks, reporting on the Winter Carnival, Troy witnesses a group of ice cutters as they discover the body of a dead man beneath the frozen lake. It turns out that Troy is acquainted with the dead man, a wealthy, ne'er-do-well Princeton dropout and local playboy who was dating her roommate. But Troy also learns just how wrong she was in her assumptions about the drowning victim when the local newspaper editor assigns her to do an in-depth profile of the man and the investigation into his death. Featuring a strong cast of female characters and a measured pace, this sophomore novel also perfectly conjures the lure of living in a small and beautiful mountain town during a bitterly cold winter. Featuring an independent and immensely likable lead, riffing on the complicated nature of friendship, and boasting a solidly plotted mystery, this may well appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)