Kindle Price: $4.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Anna Dowdall
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

After the Winter Kindle Edition

by Anna Dowdall (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 11 ratings
See all formats and editions
Rudderless after betrayal by her former fiancé, Montreal heiress Sally Ryder discovers her deceased mother had a secret life and she has a half-sister. Helena has written to Sally, inviting her to Midwinter, an isolated estate in Quebec. But before they can meet, Helena and her husband die under disturbing circumstances.


Sally decides to visit nearby Waverley for a few days nevertheless, to learn what she can about the sister she never knew. Her first shock is to find that her brother-in-law left everything, including Midwinter, to his beautiful secretary Janine. During a storm, Sally is unexpectedly snowed in with Janine and an assortment of Midwinter guests. It isn't long before Sally becomes entangled with a handsome doctor from Boston in an effort to uncover the truth about her sister's mysterious life, and death.


Meanwhile, the bodies pile up.


Previous page
  1. Print length
    258 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    August 25, 2017
  5. File size
    1619 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
Next page

Editorial Reviews

Review


"Dowdall's impressive novel is an entertaining and suspenseful entry inthe gothic mystery genre. The setting is a key component of the tale,and Quebec and Midwinter are vividly rendered. The author captures theunique rhythms of life in this picturesque community, from the localswho call Quebec home to the wealthy newcomers seeking a secondresidence. The strong setting is matched by her well-developedcharacters..." -- Kirkus Reviews

"After the Winter has a nicely complicated, sinister plot, a gothic setting, romantic entanglements and some ambiguous characters..." -- Joan Barfoot, London Free Press and Postmedia

"...Couldn't put the book down, until I read all of it, being totally caught off guard with the surprise ending." Arts & Entertainment columnist Bernard Mendelman, The Suburban, Montreal

About the Author

Anna was born in Montreal and currently lives in Toronto withassorted cats. AFTER THE WINTER (August 2017), her first publishedGothic cozy mystery, has been described as a charming cross betweenAgatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier, with a pinch of Louise Pennythrown in. She was semi-finalist for the Katherine Paterson prize andfor Canada's Arthur Ellis Award in the unpublished category. THE AU PAIR (October 2017) is the eagerly awaited second book in the series. Itcombines a devious whodunit family saga plot with a dry and sensibleyoung PI and the kind of fun chills vintage Gothic provides.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B073MRC7K3
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Wild Rose Press, Inc (August 25, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 25, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1619 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 258 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1509214801
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 11 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Anna Dowdall

Anna Dowdall

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Anna was born in Montreal and recently moved back there after living all over Canada and the US. She’s been a reporter, a college lecturer and a horticultural advisor, as well as other things too numerous to mention/best forgotten. She was nominated for the US Katherine Paterson YA prize and for Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award in the unpublished category. APRIL ON PARIS STREET, a bittersweet literary mystery tinged with dark humour, is now out with Guernica Editions (Toronto/Montreal). Her well-reviewed previous novels include AFTER THE WINTER and THE AU PAIR, described as an "impressive" (Kirkus Reviews) cross between Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier, with a pinch of Louise Penny thrown in.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
11 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Janice Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved reading this book
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2017
Verified Purchase
I loved reading this book. It is clever, humorous, and a bit scary in spots. The ending is completely unexpected so don't get too comfy! The setting evokes all the menacing beauty of a Canadian winter (and all the social complications that flow living with intemperate weather and trying to have Christmas with other people). The author's style is fresh, smart and sparkly -- I had to look up a few words but I always respect a writer who makes me do a little work! Second best thing about the book -- the wonderful descriptions of a very stylish women's wardrobe. (I thought it might be the main character.) First best thing about the book is the little girl who hovers on the edges of the story in her red skirt. I believe we'll see more of her in this budding series. I fell in love with her when she told another character "it is my only skirt". Read this book and find out why this is so poignant. I can hardly wait to meet her grown-up self. I think she's going to have grit. And more.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Joanne Guidoccio
5.0 out of 5 stars A Gripping Page-Turner
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2017
Verified Purchase
Ms. Dowdall has crafted a compelling mystery, filled with suspense, death threats, multiple murders, romantic entanglements, plot twists, and an unexpected ending. I was captivated from the start and stayed up two nights to finish reading this gripping page-turner set in the Eastern Townships during a cold, blustery holiday season. I could easily visualize many of the scenes and found myself longing to travel once more to Quebec...but not during the winter.

An excellent debut!
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Alan Teder
5.0 out of 5 stars Mysteries solved and about-to-be solved! Great Debut!
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2017
"After the Winter" was very entertaining and had some terrific twists including an ending that I certainly never guessed in advance.

The isolated snowed-in house in the winter countryside and inhabited by an assorted group of relative strangers is certainly a standard setting in mystery fiction and especially the Christmas mystery sub-genre, but Dowdall doesn’t go down any stereotypical “And Then There Were None” plotlines here. There are certainly nods to Agatha Christie with a Tommy & Tuppence reference and to Daphne du Maurier with a copy of “Rebecca” on site.

This was an impressive first outing which showed a lot of originality and cleverness. There was even a sub-plot that I was beginning to be sure had been forgotten along the way and that was actually paid off in the final few pages. That to me is one of the hallmarks of good writing, that the writer pays off all the plotlines regardless of how small and niggling they might be. Think of the times you've been disappointed when that didn't happen.

One of the mysteries is why is the book set in 1999 going into 2000 and no one is fretting about the Y2K virus or listening to Prince songs? It does serve to reduce the technology available to the characters which perhaps helps to prolong the sleuthing. But once you find out that “After the Winter” is actually a prequel to a series that Dowdall is calling “The Ashley Smeeton Files,” it all becomes clear. The Ashley Smeeton character has only several brief cameos here as a budding Nancy Drew inspired child detective, but she will adopt a more central role in future books when she is much older.

Is it fair to share some criticisms as well? More of a series of observations really. The protagonist Sally Ryder seemed at times like an odd mash-up of slacker millennial and maiden aunt. She is 23 years old and didn’t complete a Bachelor of Arts degree but reads Bertrand Russell's "The ABC of Relativity” and drinks Oloroso sherry. Admittedly, the first was for insomnia and the latter might have been all that was available. Still, it was quirky.

Dowdall does use a sprinkling of what would have been called Ten Dollar Words in my day. e.g. debouched, locum, penumbra, camber, truculently, lugubriously, syllabub, etc. Enough of them that I started to mark them and look them up in order to be sure of the meaning.

The same thing with some Gallicisms (or should they be called Québécoisisms?) e.g. "quincaillerie", "garagiste", "la chose n’était pas correcte", "macédoine" etc, which were usually understandable in context, but which I still felt compelled to double-check.

Several times I found myself baffled with the descriptions of women's clothing where the individual words were known to me, but the combination was a mystery e.g. "bugle-beaded D’Orsay silk pumps," & "wool crepe in eau de nil green."

All of these are more of a comment on my lack of knowledge than on Dowdall's writing, but it did seem a cut above standard romance/mystery fiction writing i.e. more well read by the writer and more demanding of the reader. So really it is an extra challenge and not a downside at all.

Happily, the next in the Ashley Smeeton files is already due in October 2017 with “The Au Pair.” I look forward to it and further adventures.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Pisces19
5.0 out of 5 stars The comeback of gothic fiction
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2017
Gothic fiction in the popular imagination usually means tales of horror and vampires. But there was a subgenre that emerged in the 40s and 50s that focused on suspense, mystery, and romance rather than terror.

I’ve always been a fan of this type of fiction. Big mansions with long, dark halls, old letters buried inside creaky trunks, unexplained deaths, and family secrets—lots of them. Add to the mix a heroine trying to make sense of it all and a shocking ending, and I’m in heaven. It’s no surprise then that I would be so excited to discover After the Winter (an added bonus is that the novel takes place in the winter of 1999—one of the most memorable years of my life, and a time seldom explored in fiction).

The novel begins with a letter exposing a secret, a lie. This immediately drew me in—as did the title of chapter one: Every One of Us Has Secrets. You know a story is going to be good when you don’t know what people are hiding or whom you can trust. The setting was a character in itself. I could perfectly envision those roads covered in snow, the icy bridge, and those end-of-the-year parties held at Midwinter, the elegant mansion at the center of the story. The romantic entanglements were always entertaining, particularly the heroine’s first kiss with the hero.

As a fan of Daphne du Maurier, Charlotte Bronte, Cornell Woolrich, and film noir in general, this novel did not disappoint. Once you think you’ve figured out the novel’s main mystery, there’s another one that comes along, and then another. Someone mentioned that this book was like a perfect mix between Daphne du Maurier and Agatha Christie. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been hoping for a long time for the comeback of gothic fiction and I think this novel is a good start. I can’t wait to read more from this author!
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
GreenEyedWriter
5.0 out of 5 stars Clever and Moody
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2017
This is a clever and very well-written mystery with lots of elements that please: the moody and a bit vintage winter setting, the likeable heroine who turns out to have more going on than a typical romantic suspense heroine, and the very surprising ending that turns tables on the femme fatale cliche. This seems to be the beginning or prequel to a series, and I'm really looking forward to book 2, which I believe is coming out soon. Some debut books drag but I wanted this one to be longer!
Helpful
 Report
Pippa
5.0 out of 5 stars After the Winter feels like an Agatha Christie novel crossed with a Daphne DuMaurier
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2017
After the Winter feels like an Agatha Christie novel crossed with a Daphne DuMaurier. An excellent read for a cozy night in.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Alan Teder
5.0 out of 5 stars Mysteries solved and about-to-be solved! Great Debut!
Reviewed in Canada on September 4, 2017
Verified Purchase
"After the Winter" was very entertaining and had some terrific twists including an ending that I certainly never guessed in advance.

The isolated snowed-in house in the winter countryside and inhabited by an assorted group of relative strangers is certainly a standard setting in mystery fiction and especially the Christmas mystery sub-genre, but Dowdall doesn’t go down any stereotypical “And Then There Were None” plotlines here. There are certainly nods to Agatha Christie with a Tommy & Tuppence reference and to Daphne du Maurier with a copy of “Rebecca” on site.

This was an impressive first outing which showed a lot of originality and cleverness. There was even a sub-plot that I was beginning to be sure had been forgotten along the way and that was actually paid off in the final few pages. That to me is one of the hallmarks of good writing, that the writer pays off all the plotlines regardless of how small and niggling they might be. Think of the times you've been disappointed when that didn't happen.

One of the mysteries is why is the book set in 1999 going into 2000 and no one is fretting about the Y2K virus or listening to Prince songs? It does serve to reduce the technology available to the characters which perhaps helps to prolong the sleuthing. But once you find out that “After the Winter” is actually a prequel to a series that Dowdall is calling “The Ashley Smeeton Files,” it all becomes clear. The Ashley Smeeton character has only several brief cameos here as a budding Nancy Drew inspired child detective, but she will adopt a more central role in future books when she is much older.

Is it fair to share some criticisms as well? More of a series of observations really. The protagonist Sally Ryder seemed at times like an odd mash-up of slacker millennial and maiden aunt. She is 23 years old and didn’t complete a Bachelor of Arts degree but reads Bertrand Russell's "The ABC of Relativity” and drinks Oloroso sherry. Admittedly, the first was for insomnia and the latter might have been all that was available. Still, it was quirky.

Dowdall does use a sprinkling of what would have been called Ten Dollar Words in my day. e.g. debouched, locum, penumbra, camber, truculently, lugubriously, syllabub, etc. Enough of them that I started to mark them and look them up in order to be sure of the meaning.

The same thing with some Gallicisms (or should they be called Québécoisisms?) e.g. "quincaillerie", "garagiste", "la chose n’était pas correcte", "macédoine" etc, which were usually understandable in context, but which I still felt compelled to double-check.

Several times I found myself baffled with the descriptions of women's clothing where the individual words were known to me, but the combination was a mystery e.g. "bugle-beaded D’Orsay silk pumps," & "wool crepe in eau de nil green."

All of these are more of a comment on my lack of knowledge than on Dowdall's writing, but it did seem a cut above standard romance/mystery fiction writing i.e. more well read by the writer and more demanding of the reader. So really it is an extra challenge and not a downside at all.

Happily, the next in the Ashley Smeeton files is already due in October 2017 with “The Au Pair.” I look forward to it and further adventures.
2 people found this helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report