Cold wind : a mystery / Paige Shelton.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Second in a new series set in Alaska from beloved cozy author Paige Shelton, Cold Wind will chill your bones.

Beth Rivers is still in Alaska. The unidentified man who kidnapped her in her home of St. Louis hasn't been found yet, so she's not ready to go back.

But as October comes to a close, Benedict is feeling more and more like her new home. Beth has been working on herself: She's managed to get back to writing, and she's enjoying these beautiful months between summer and winter in Alaska.

Then, everything in Benedict changes after a mudslide exposes a world that had been hidden for years. Two mud-covered, silent girls appear, and a secret trapper's house is found in the woods. The biggest surprise, though, is a dead and frozen woman's body in the trapper's shed. No one knows who she is, but the man who runs the mercantile, Randy, seems to be in the middle of all the mysteries.

Unable to escape her journalistic roots, Beth is determined to answer the questions that keep arising: Are the mysterious girls and the frozen body connected? Can Randy possibly be involved? And--most importantly--can she solve this mystery before the cold wind sweeping over the town and the townspeople descends for good?

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Leaving behind her "Scottish Bookshop" and other cozy nooks, Shelton follows up the LJ-starred Thin Ice in this second in the "Alaska Wild" series. Beth Rivers is back, still hiding out in small-town Benedict, AK, from the man who kidnapped her. But then a mudslide brings forth two mute, frightened girls from a remote trapper's shed where a woman's dead body is found, and Beth's journalistic instincts are roused. With a 30,000-copy first printing.

Publishers Weekly Review

Bestseller Shelton's serviceable sequel to 2019's Thin Ice finds thriller writer Beth Rivers, who recently fled her home in St. Louis after being kidnapped and tortured by an unidentified assailant, still living in a halfway house for low-level female felons in the small town of Benedict, Alaska. The appearance on the home's doorstep of two little girls, mute and covered in mud, throws Beth's new life into turmoil. When Benedict police chief Gril Samuels, Beth's friend, arrives to take charge of the children, he brings news that the frozen body of a middle-aged woman has been found in the woods. Arson and break-ins follow. Gril welcomes Beth's assistance in figuring out who's committing the crimes and why. Meanwhile, Beth is told by the St. Louis detective following her abduction case that the culprit's identity has been determined, but he's still on the loose. The appealing Alaskan atmosphere and a heroine with an intriguing backstory help make up for some pedestrian prose and the weak motives for the various crimes. Fans of light regional mysteries will be satisfied. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary. (Dec.)

Booklist Review

In Thin Ice (2019), the first in Shelton's Alaska Wild series, journalist Beth Rivers arrived in small-town Benedict, Alaska, hiding from the man who kidnapped her back in St. Louis (and who has yet to be found). In this second book, the nervous but resilient woman is more at home, part of that comfort coming from ride-alongs with the local police chief and solo poking around when mysteries arise. This time, a mudslide generates some macabre puzzles. An old logging road is reopened, revealing to locals a man who seems to be in hiding. When a body is found nearby, and two girls who never talk knock at Beth's door, Beth and the close-knit locals look into the town's past to find answers. Beth's quest to find out who's a murderer and who's just a recluse, and the portrayal of her deepening community ties, feature rich character development and an inside look at an untamed environment where community determines survival. Fans of the first book will do well to follow up with this one.

Kirkus Book Review

A remote Alaskan area is the backdrop to disappearances and deaths. Beth Rivers fled to Benedict after having been kidnapped and badly injured escaping her captor. Well-known as novelist Elizabeth Fairchild, she's taken care to change her appearance in her new home and keep her secret from everyone but police chief Grilson Samuels. Beth runs a local newspaper and writes in secret while cautiously making new friends. When two filthy, nonverbal young girls turn up at her office, she calls Gril, who arrives with news of an unidentified frozen body. Having helped Gril before using talents she developed working with her grandfather, another police chief, Beth offers her help again. Since many residents live in far-flung cabins in the deep woods, secrets are easy to keep in Benedict, and almost everyone is hiding something. Back in the Lower 48, Beth's police liaison, Detective Majors, has come up with shocking news about her kidnapper, restarting Beth's traumatic flashbacks as she fights to maintain her mental equilibrium. Finding out who the little girls are turns out to be the easy part of Beth's new investigation, which uncovers clues from the past that provide the key to countering ever more dangerous threats. A gritty heroine fights for truth and justice in a world filled with darkness and flashes of hope and beauty. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.