Dear Agent to Be,
Ely Lundgren has died, ice fishing out at Clearwater Lake. His red tent remains undiscovered on the ice, which stretches to the horizon line, tight as a drumskin. Those closest to Ely are left to unravel the mystery surrounding his disappearance and, along the way, face up to their own personal demons.
CLEARWATER LAKE is an 80,000 word mystery, set in a small, blue-collar town, in the dead of a Minnesota winter. The story is told in the first person, using the distinctive voices of Ely’s wife, Lauren, Sheriff Dewey and two unconventional children, Amelia and Charlie. After decades of mutual deception and abuse, Lauren must find a way to use Ely’s disappearance to finally escape him and everything that bound her to the Lundgren family.
The novel will sell to readers who enjoyed The Dry by Jane Harper or A Simple Plan by Scott Smith: dark stories about complex relationships, involving strong but flawed characters.
I’m a Brit, who has lived in the Mid-West for the last ten years. When I’m not writing, I work for Procter & Gamble. I therefore understand the importance of winning marketing and working collaboratively with the right agent and publisher to sell Clearwater Lake.
I am writing to you because of your stated interest in quirky dark novels involving flawed, unreliable characters, both of which come together in Clearwater Lake.
I write in several different forms and genres, and my work has received recognition in the US and Europe. Last year, my short story Drive All Night was selected by Billy O’Callaghan from over 4,500 entrants for publication in the Fish Anthology 2018. This year, my flash fiction pieces have been published online by Potato Soup Journal and Ad Hoc Fiction.
Thanks for considering Clearwater Lake.
Alan S. Falkingham