There’s something about winter in the Midwest, where the darkening days can oscillate wildly between cozy and menacing, snow-day, Christmas morning joyful and late March, still-frigid-here dreary. The season is full of beautiful contradictions, pregnant silences and angry squalls, comforting nights by the fire and wild adventures out on the frozen lake. And what about the tedium of being shut up with the same people day after day in a house that smells like wet wool? Stephen King might have set The Shining in the Rockies, but he could just as well have dropped the Torrance family in an abandoned vacation home on Lake Erie in the middle of February and no one would be surprised at Jack’s growing dull and murderous.
There’s is something, too, about snow. It brings a hush to the world, strands saints and sinners alike—sometimes in the same place. As it falls and drifts, it can cover up the most egregious of crimes, or its bright whiteness can alert even a lazy observer to a trail of blood. And then, of course, you have the footprints left behind. Leads and clues can appear or disappear with a gust of wind or an ominously wielded shovel.
What I’m saying is that winter in the Midwest is full of narrative potential, and no one knows better how to harness that potential than a heartland mystery writer. Here are seven “fly-over country” page-turners that run red-hot in the deep cold.
The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf
I would recommend that you not read this book when you’re alone. Or stuck in an isolated farmhouse with only the wind for company. This spooky novel—Gudenkauf’s eighth—straddles the fine line between mystery and horror, balancing both so well you’ll be obsessed with the whodunnit while still trying to get the hair on the back of your neck to go down. The story revolves around true crime writer Wylie Lark, who, still smarting from an argument with her teenage son, retreats to an old house in rural Iowa to work on her newest book. She soon finds herself with more material than she bargained for. Not only were a husband and wife murdered in the house where she’s staying, but a little boy turns up wounded outside her door in the middle of a blizzard. Add a girl who went missing without a trace twenty years ago and a large dose of surprise and you have the perfect way to while away a winter night.
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
The most popular book in Minnesota native Allen Eskens’ impressive oeuvre, The Life We Bury is more of a slow burn than an edge-of-your-seat ride. That said, this layered story will keep you engaged and in suspense until the very end. It all starts innocently enough, with a college student named Joe Talbert befriending a dying Vietnam vet, Carl Iverson, at a local nursing home as part of a college writing assignment. But then Joe finds out that Carl was, until very recently, imprisoned for murder and rape. Convinced of Carl’s innocence, Joe makes it his mission to clear his new friend’s name. This novel, set during a particularly brutal winter, is peopled with unforgettable, complex characters. Getting to know them is just as pleasurable as finding out what happens next.
The Space Between by Kali VanBaale
This debut novel from Iowa native Kali VanBaale is not for the faint of heart. It is also in no way a conventional mystery or thriller. Rather, it is a psychologically astute exploration of the secrets family members keep from each other, and how those secrets can unexpectedly, and with great violence, rip a community apart. Originally published in 2006, when the memories of the Columbine and Heath High School tragedies were fresh in people’s minds—and when most of America was still blissfully ignorant of the torrent of school shootings that was to come—The Space Between begins with an upwardly mobile suburban mom making breakfast for her family on what she assumes will be a typical Valentine’s Day. Later she gets a call that will change her life and the lives of everyone around her: her teenage son, Lucas, is dead, after having killed a teacher, two students, and himself. What VanBaale makes of the aftermath of such an unthinkable event is as tender and smart and nuanced as anything I’ve read about this country’s epidemic of gun violence.
61 Hours by Lee Child
Fans of Jack Reacher—um, who isn’t a fan of Jack Reacher? If you just raised your hand, I’m not sure we can be friends anymore—will find much to love about the 14th installment in Child’s beloved series about the always-ready-to-jump-into-action ex-military cop. The setup alone is delicious. Reacher finds himself marooned in the frozen wasteland of Bolton, South Dakota after the bus he was taking to Mount Rushmore skids off the road. Before he can say “George Washington,” Reacher is drawn into the drama surrounding a methamphetamine operation run by a Mexican cartel on the outskirts of town. The local cops are, of course, knocking on the door to Keystone level of competence, so it’s Reacher’s job to shut down the drug lab and save the innocent and often delightful denizens of Bolton before it’s too late.
Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo
The first in Castillo’s best-selling Kate Burkholder mystery series, Sworn to Silence is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the intersections of the Amish and “English” worlds in the American Midwest. Set in the fictional hamlet of Painters Mill, Ohio, it follows Kate as she returns home to assume the role of the town’s police chief. Kate’s past makes her a uniquely ideal candidate for the post. Sixteen years prior, she was a young Amish girl, enjoying the warmth and safety of her close-knit community. Then someone began murdering members of that community one-by-one, leaving Kate alive but destroying her sense of peace. In the wake of the traume, she made the difficult decision to break from her Amish roots. Now that she’s back in Painters Mill, she thinks she’ll have a chance to reckon with her past, to metaphorically bury some ghosts in the wintery landscape. You can guess what happens next—a body turns up and Kate goes on a hunt for the killer—but I’d wager the ending will surprise you in the best way.
The Hunger by Alma Katsu
Much has obviously been written about the Donner Party, probably too much at this point, but in the skilled hands of Alma Katsu, that infamous family finally gets the truly spine-tingling treatment it deserves. Katsu borrows much from the historical record for her story, but she allows herself just the right amount of poetic license as well, and you’ll want to keep the lights on for this one. Here’s a taste of what Mary Graves, one of the would-be pioneers, encountered when the wagon train hitched up outside a cabin in Ash Hollow, Nebraska: “She could still picture the tiny makeshift shack, boards bleached bone-white by the relentless prairie sun. A sad, lonely place, like the abandoned farmhouse she used to pass every Sunday on her way to service. Stripped nearly bare by the elements, dark empty windows like the hollow eye sockets of a skull.” Strap in. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon
This book begins on March 2, 1908, with the real-life killing of Lazarus Averbuch at the hands of George Shippy, the Chicago chief of police. (There are some who might say that it’s cheating to include this novel in a list of Midwest winter mysteries. To such naysayers, I say visit Chicago in March and get back to me.) According to some accounts, Averbuch was attempting to deliver a letter to Shippy, who, instead of taking the missive, shot Averbuch dead. Shippy later smeared Averbuch as an anarchist and dangerous foreign agent, whereas many other members of the public swore by Averbuch’s innocence and wanted Shippy punished for the crime of murder. In this National Book Award-nominated masterpiece, Hemon takes the reader on an incredible journey from the mean streets of Chicago to the pogroms and brothels of Eastern Europe, beautifully blurring the lines between fact and fiction, love and hate, truth and consequences.
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