The decision for Westchester-born Jennifer Sadera to stage her upcoming psychological suspense thriller in Hudson Valley was a given.
“I set this novel in a swanky fictitious suburban subdivision called Deer Crossing,” she says. “It’s based on the magnificent, luxurious homes comprising Westchester County neighborhoods, but that’s where the construct ends.”
Her psychological suspense debut, titled I Know She Was There, is a twisty, often disturbing tale about protagonist Caroline Case, a new mom, recently estranged from her husband, who suffers from postpartum depression and the yearning for a better life. Caroline wheels her infant along the fairytale lanes of the ritzy development spying on anyone too careless or too foolish to close their window blinds. But Caroline should be careful what she sees when she shouldn’t be looking. She witnesses something that shatters her illusions about the privileged residents of Deer Crossing and immediately reports it to the police. But they find no evidence of a crime. As she takes it upon herself to investigate the event, shocking secrets are laid bare, and nothing is as it seems. Caroline knows she must prove something sinister occurred in Deer Crossing or risk letting someone get away with murder.
“I’m happy to live back in the area where I started,” says the Mount Kisco native whose parents moved the family upstate when she was a child. After college in the western portion of the state and a stint in New York City when she wrote for national women’s magazines Woman’s World and Redbook, she settled in the Hudson Valley to raise her family and establish a freelance writing presence. “I freelanced for years,” she says. “I even had a monthly fashion and beauty column called Sadera Says in Hudson Valley Magazine.”
A dozen years ago, Sadera decided to write a novel. To date, she’s written six books, all fiction and the last three in the psychological suspense genre.
“The day I got the call that CamCat Books wanted to purchase I Know She Was There was one of the happiest days of my life,” she says. “After twelve years of writing and rejections I finally found a publisher who fell in love with my story. They describe I Know She Was There as Gone Girl meets the Desperate Housewives, which amuses the readers I’ve shared the tagline with.”
Locals are offered the chance to pick up the book before its Nov. 12th release by dropping by Baked by Susan at 379 South Riverside Ave in Croton-on-Hudson from 2-4 p.m. on Oct. 26th. Meet the author, get a signed copy of the book, and indulge in spooky treats created at the bakery voted Best of Westchester 12 years in a row.
