Spring Melt

As a doctor’s wife in a thriving Adirondack village in the 1920s, Ella Devine seems to have an ideal life. Her husband grew rich catering to New York City socialites who wanted to hide their TB diagnoses from their friends. Their marriage is devoid of emotion, but so is she, having learned long ago to quietly accept whatever life offers. But all that changes when three men are charged with a nineteen-year-old murder, and the long-buried crime that shaped Ella’s childhood is exposed.

Spring Melt draws on the rich and fascinating history of the Adirondacks, where hikers who see only low hills and lush vegetation fail to perceive the hidden dangers and lose their lives by stepping two feet off the trail. Since the late 1800s, the wilderness that is the Adirondacks has been both a frontier to be conquered only by the hardiest of humans and a playland for the wealthy. When these two worlds collide, the resulting explosion can be fatal. 

"SPRING MELT is a gripping courtroom drama where every truth feels like a thin layer of ice—beautiful, fragile, and one step from cracking wide open. Lori Duffy Foster builds tension with the quiet inevitability of rising water, until everything breaks loose in the final verdict." —Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

“As events move within and outside of the courtroom, Lori Duffy Foster weaves a delicate dance between truth, crime, and victims that keeps readers involved and guessing about motivations, outcomes, and long-kept secrets..." —D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

"SPRING MELT by Lori Duffy Foster delivers a gripping mystery and courtroom drama steeped in Adirondack history and filled with characters whose grief, longing, and love leap off the page... A great read!" —Mally Becker, award-winning author of The Revolutionary War mysteries