Frozen Harvest

by Joseph Benedict

Joel Vick, a Minneapolis detective, down on his luck, receives an opportunity in the form of a mysterious letter delivered to his office. The letter alludes to a 90-year-old missing person case that took place in the small northern Minnesota town of Seven Lakes. Joel, as a child, had spent numerous summers in Seven Lakes vacationing with his family. With a downturn in requests for his services locally, and his natural curiosity aroused, Vick drives up to have a look at the town he hadn't visited in over 40 years. Initially frustrated that he had wasted his time after visiting the person who wrote the letter, Vick discovers something unusual that changes his mind about leaving. Vick, digging further into the case, determines that the investigation performed at the time of her disappearance to be entirely inadequate. Using his investigative skills, Vick stitches together a story of a beautiful young woman who is looking for a new start, but unable to escape her past. The story set against the backdrop of severe winter snowstorms, extreme cold, and a robust ice harvesting industry that flourished in the decades before refrigeration rendered it obsolete.

200 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2020

About the author

Joseph Benedict, born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, spent eight years in the US. Air Force before joining the corporate world. For the past nine years, Benedict has been a writer who tells his company narratives through articles, features, and press releases. Benedict loves the creative process of telling a good story and maintains a blog where he publishes his works of fiction and daily human struggles. Benedict currently makes his home in Camden, SC.

Reviews

[Mika UltraModernBM · Rating 5 out of 5]

BOOKBUTTERFLY Book Review of Frozen Harvest by Joseph Benedict
When Minneapolis private detective Joel Vick receives a mysterious ten-year-old letter in the mail containing information about a 90-year-old cold case, he unwittingly enters the realm of the mystical. Noticed for his outstanding ability to solve missing person cases, Vick soon realizes that he will require more than his usual bag of logic, evidence, and facts to solve this investigation.
Frozen Harvest is a captivating, cinematic novella. Joseph Benedict effectively applies his videography and editing expertise to his writings. He produces accurate depictions of imagery in every setting, comparable to a movie. While reading Frozen Harvest, the reader feels like they are in the snowstorms with the characters. Joseph Benedict is successful at transforming Minnesota snowstorms into its very own persona. Another notable aspect of the story is its historical context, especially regarding the Minnesota ice harvesting industry during the 1920s and the impact of the railroad system on small towns. Thus, making Frozen Harvest entertaining and a great educational resource. It is extraordinary the amount of detail that is in this 193-page book. Readers may find Frozen Harvest skillfully organized and superbly written.
Benedict inspires me to really think and visualize my settings as a writer. I am jubilantly awaiting the sequel.
BOOKBUTTERFLY Book Review: 5/5

[Joanna Olson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short book is sure to pack a punch! Joel is a detective who finds himself investigating a missing persons case from 1925. Mary Benton had disappeared from the local hotel in Seven Lakes, Minnesota during a freak snow storm. She was never found and the case has been open ever since. After receiving a random letter in the mail, Joel is on the case to find out what really happened to Mary. Joel is a complex character, he has a lot of ideas and is determined to find out what happened with the help of his new friend and researcher, Sam.

I have to admit, this book started out a little slow for me and it took me about 80 pages to fully get into the story but once I did, I couldn't put it down. The second half of the book is pretty fast paced and pairs Mary's perspective with Joel's perspective which gave a well rounded view of the plot. There are a few editing details throughout the book that need to be addressed but I didn't find they took away from the story as a whole. Overall, an enjoyable, suspenseful mystery with a touch of love and a lot of snow! Perfect to read during a snowstorm, which is what I did.

[Ali - My Calendar is Booked · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story line of this one, a detective works to solve a cold case after receiving a letter regarding the disappearance of a young woman almost 90 years ago. I love a good alternating timeline and this one definitely had that, jumping from present day to 1925.

The shorter chapters toward the end helped to build the suspense and kept me turning the pages.

I found the police work to be unrealistic. The town that Joel Vick was working the cold case in followed every lead and assumption Vick had, no questions asked, even though he’d just shown up in their small town out of the blue and was going off gut feelings. I did appreciate the consistent focus on getting justice for the missing woman.

My biggest problem with this one was the fact that some punctuation wasn’t used correctly, such as commas and semicolons, and not all of the dialogue was capitalized correctly. As a literature major and teacher, this tended to distract me from the storyline a bit, but the need to discover what had happened to the missing woman was compelling enough to keep me reading.

[marie greeer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true page turner

It kept me on the edge of my seat ! Well written . Hoping he writes another ! Loved reading