The Snow Collectors

Hall sets a contemporary murder mystery in a snow-laden Northeastern town in her eerie debut novel (after The Physics of Imaginary Objects collection). Henna, an encyclopedia writer specializing in hydrology and Arctic expeditions, retreats to the frozen reaches of New England after the deaths of her twin sister and parents. Stumbling upon the body of a dead girl in the woods, Henna finds a fragment of a letter clutched in the girl’s hand; it was written by Lady Jane, wife of Capt. John Franklin, an Arctic explorer who was lost at sea in 1845. Henna’s interest is piqued, and she researches Jane at a local library before reporting the discovery to the police. As Henna pieces together a harrowing story of cannibalism on an Arctic expedition, rendered by Hall with short chapters evoking the voices of Jane and Capt. Franklin, Henna feels she’s being watched. Fletcher, the local police chief, takes a keen interest in the case, and in Henna, and their desire for one another flares. Fletcher, meanwhile, knows far more about the connection between the murder and the Arctic history than he lets on. Hall seamlessly weaves dreamlike imagery with descriptions of police procedure and scientific inquiry as Henna works to confirm her intuition that the murder’s connection to the past is real and not imagined. This elegant account of a woman’s confrontation with a cover-up delivers historical intrigue and emotional depth. (Feb.)