What We're Writing Week: Julia's cover reveal!

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: It's been a big week for cover reveals - first Hank's, then Lucy's and now mine! I loved the design from the first time I saw it - the cover artist really leans into the Christmas feeling. No, that's not what Clare Fergusson's church looks like; hers is brick gothic revival. But the white clapboard says church to everyone, and it pops beautifully against the colors of the sky.

 

 I'm also sharing my first run at the flap copy. I just sent this off to my editor for review. It's not that I consider myself wildly talented at flap copy, it's just that the stuff that's been written in-house has often been, well, less than satisfactory. Once, a then-assistant to my then-editor included, "The author has enriched her telling of this tale by drawing in episodes from Miller Kill -- and Jane Ketchem's past." Which is neither enticing to the reader nor, I believe, grammatical. She also added I won two Tony Awards on the back of the book. Finally, my youthful acting dreams realized.

Let me know what you think, and how I can improve this! (Oh, and P.S.: it's available for pre-order now...)    

   

It’s Christmas time in Millers Kill, and Reverend Clare Fergusson and her husband Russ van Alstyne - newly resigned from his position as chief of police – plan to enjoy it with their baby boy. On their list: visiting Santa, decorating the tree, and the church Christmas pageant.

But when a beloved holiday parade is crashed by white supremacists, Clare and Russ find themselves sucked into a parallel world of militias, machinations and murder.

Single mom Hadley Knox has her hands full juggling her kids and her police work. She’s doesn’t want to worry about her former partner – and sometimes lover – Kevin Flynn, but when he takes leave from the Syracuse PD and disappears, she can’t help her growing panic that something has gone very wrong.

Novice lawyer Joy Zhào is keeping secrets from her superiors at the state Attorney General’s Office. She knows they wouldn’t condone her off-the-books investigation, but she’s convinced a threatening alt-right conspiracy is brewing – and catching the perpetrators could jump start her career.

NYS Forest Ranger Paul Terrance is looking for his uncle, a veteran of the park service gone inexplicably missing. He doesn’t think much of an ex-cop and out-of-town officer showing up in his patch of the woods, but he’s heard the disturbing rumors of dangerous men in the mountains.

All roads lead to the forbidding High Peaks of the Adirondacks, where deep snows hide deadly plans and ancient trees shield modern hatred. As the December days shorten and the nights grow long, a disparate group of would-be heroes need to unwind a murderous plot before time runs out.