Colder, With Snow: A Brenda Contay Mystery

I love myself a good thriller novel on a dark winter’s night. This book did not disappoint! On the edge of my seat throughout, and my heart still racing upon completion. I have not read Knister’s other works, but I sure will now! Being a college student myself, the setting of this thriller really hit home. A snowbound college campus on Christmas break sets the stage for the most thrilling of thrills!! – Amazon Review

Colder, With Snow: A Brenda Contay Mystery

You think you know your own past—but why are you so sure? That question is at the heart of Colder, with Snow.

Hitchhiking home for Christmas break, a university student is blown up at a truck stop. Three nights later, a second student is cut almost in half in the university’s student center.

Brenda Contay covered such gruesome stories as WDIG’s Lightning Rod tabloid reporter. They made her famous, but she is happy to leave TV crime reporting to teach journalism at her alma mater, Davison Polytechnic.

But as Christmas arrives, others die at Davison. The only point of connection is Brenda’s[AE1] bright, beautiful student, Clara Fiore.

In this dark psychological mystery, multiple points of view work to peel back the layers concealing a family history of betrayal and manipulation. Brenda Contay will need all the help she can get to save her favorite student.

But even if Brenda succeeds, a question will remain: When she learns the truth, how will Clara Fiore be able to live with her shocking past?

About the Author

After a career of college teaching, Barry Knister returned to writing. His first novel, a gritty thriller about Vietnam Vets titled THE DATING SERVICE was published by Berkley. Since then, he has published JUST BILL, a gentle novel of magical realism about dogs and owners living on a Florida golf course.

Knister has also published three suspense novels featuring journalist Brenda Contay. Each book is set in a place Knister knows well. The first in the series, THE ANYTHING GOES GIRL takes place in Micronesia, where Knister served as a Peace Corps Volunteer. In this story, Brenda investigates an elaborate scheme to use unsuspecting islanders in drug experiments.

The second book, DEEP NORTH is a noir suspense story. Brenda and three other women take a fishing trip, only to find themselves mired in a grim pattern of murders. Most of the story takes place in the beautiful Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota. Knister has often fished these waters.

In 2018, he published GODSEND, the third novel in the series. The story is set in Florida’s upscale Naples, where the author spent winter months for seven years. The action weaves a character-driven story of Brenda doing her best to escape romantic guilt, with that of a likable and ambitious illegal alien. James Rivera helps people who want to die, even when they change their minds.

The fourth book is COLDER, WITH SNOW, published in 2022. Again, the novel’s principal setting is one Barry Knister knows well: a snowbound college campus during the Christmas break. Happy at last, Brenda Contay is delighted to be teaching journalism at her alma mater. That is, until her students start being murdered.

Knister is a past secretary of Detroit Working Writers, and the former director of the Cranbrook Writers Conference. He has published travel and humor in local markets, and wrote “Let me get this straight,” a blog/column for the Naples (Florida) Daily News.