One of the fun aspects of being a fiction writer is you get to give your characters things you have always wanted. I love the rambling century old 'cottages' of Bar Harbour, Charlevoix and other turn-of-the-century playgrounds of the wealthy. Intended to house large extended families and their servants, they were filled with bedrooms, parlours, dining rooms, libraries, any sort of room you wanted. Views were essential. So large wraparound verandahs and multi-window turrets were the norm.

Thus Three Deer Point was born. Perched on a high rocky point overlooking Echo Lake, it was built by Meg's Great-grandpa Joe in the late 1800's on land he'd won in a poker game. He used the building materials at hand, massive pine timbres and field stone. And of course it wouldn't be a 'cottage' without a wraparound verandah and a turret.

Meg inherited the rambling Victorian cottage and it's 1500 acres of wilderness from her Great-aunt Agatha, who lived there in isolation for more than fifty years. Though Meg does get out and about, she does love the peace the remoteness offers, spending many an hour in the screen porch overlooking the lake, rocking back and forth on Aunt Aggie's old rocker as she ponder's life's challenges.

In A Cold White Fear most of the action takes place in this lonely cottage whose closest neighbour is the Migiskan Reserve five kilometres away as the crow flies. Its sturdy timbre walls are being buffeted by a raging blizzard, when a sudden loud knock reverberates through the dark empty hall. And so Meg's night of terror begins.