The Mystery

A body beneath the ice. A town that refuses to speak.

When an early winter freeze locks the northern cove of Lake Greywake, a body is discovered preserved beneath clear black ice. She was not a stranger to this shoreline, but in a town built around long winters and quiet pacts, no one wants to admit who she is.

Resting near her shoulder is a single clue that should not be there: a pair of glasses with dark red frames, intact and undamaged. Glasses that belong to someone still living in the community above.

As Senior Investigator Nolan Rell and Detective Tessa Ward begin asking questions, the silence hardens. The lake water has kept its secret, and someone in Greywake will do anything to keep the truth cold.

The Fictional Setting

Enter Lake Greywake

A remote northern enclave where winter is not just a season, it is an accomplice.

Misty winter blue hour view of Lake Greywake with frozen shoreline and dark pine forests
“In Greywake, the winter is unforgiving and the water keeps its debts.”

The Shoreline

Miles of jagged rock and dense spruce, cut off from major highways for five months of the year. In Greywake, outsiders are noticed instantly, and locals rarely volunteer answers.

The Winter Freeze

When the temperature drops below zero, the lake freezes in layers, preserving whatever sinks beneath it until the thaw decides what the town must face.

Buried Histories

From old timber fortunes to longstanding family disputes, every cabin along the perimeter holds a quiet pact to protect its own.

Book cover of They Found Her Under the Ice by Julian Kells
The Lake Greywake Mysteries: Book 1

They Found Her Under the Ice

An atmospheric detective novel of cold isolation, buried history, and secrets that refuse to stay hidden.

  • Format Kindle, Paperback & Hardcover
  • Genre Crime / Mystery / Thriller
  • Audio Edition In Production (Winter 2026)

As winter storms threaten to close the roads into Lake Greywake, Senior Investigator Nolan Rell and Detective Tessa Ward race to uncover the truth before the weather cuts the town off completely. Every question exposes decades of carefully guarded silence, and the deeper they dig, the clearer one fact becomes: someone in Greywake will kill again to keep the past cold.

Atmospheric silhouette of author Julian Kells looking across a misty winter lake
The Author

About Julian Kells

Julian Kells writes atmospheric mysteries centered on buried secrets, isolated places, and crimes that refuse to stay forgotten.

Drawn to the quiet tension of northern lakes and long winters, Kells crafts deliberate, suspenseful mysteries where every clue matters and every silence has a cost.