January Reading Round-Up

 

Today (Monday) is one of those days when it would seem everyone is beating a path to our door. While I'm waiting on various people to show up, what better time to share some of the books I've read?  Once again, these are shorter reviews. I've included links to Amazon US in the titles in case you'd like to learn more. 

 

Let's get started!

 

 

Against the Grain by Peter Lovesey

Review copy courtesy of Net Galley.

384 pages

Rating: A

 

My Thoughts: This finale of Lovesey's long-running series was a satisfying conclusion. Faced with a holiday in the country that he doesn't want, Peter Diamond tries everything in the book (including his elderly cat) to avoid going. Resistance is futile. Once there, he finds himself experiencing all sorts of country life as well as using a bit of what he calls the "Columbo Method of Detection" to help out a former colleague.

 

I was in just the right mood for this humorous excursion in the country to solve a nicely twisted mystery.

 
 

Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson

208 pages

Rating: A+

 

My Thoughts: A prequel to the Walt Longmire series, this was one of my Best Reads of 2024. Walt and his best friend, Henry Standing Bear, have returned from military service in Vietnam. Working for an oil company in the bitter cold of an Alaskan winter, they find themselves facing a ferocious polar bear, and the creature seems hell-bent on their destruction.

 

Tooth and Claw is a rip-roaring pageturner. Although Johnson has often thought of "thrillers as mysteries with lobotomies," he sure knows how to write one (minus the surgical procedure)! There's a feeling of dislocation for both Walt and Henry now that they're back in the U.S.  Johnson has his usual solid cast of characters as well as a blizzard where they and other members of the oil company crew have to take shelter on a ghost ship. If that's not enough to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, there's that polar bear. The creature would make anyone's blood run cold. It's terrifying, it's supernatural... and while it scared the pudding out of me, I still felt sorry for it. Now that's a combination of emotions that's almost impossible to pull off, but Johnson does it with aplomb.

A Flower in the Desert by Walter Satterthwait

336 pages

Rating: B+

My Thoughts: I first came to Walter Satterthwait's writing through Miss Lizzie, his historical mystery featuring Lizzie Borden. Soon thereafter, I found his Joshua Croft private investigator series set in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A Flower in the Desert is the third book.

The mystery about a movie star wanting to hire Croft to find his missing wife and daughter is solid. Joshua Croft reminds me of Todd Borg's Owen McKenna in that he, too, is willing to be in a relationship on the woman's terms, even if those terms are contrary to his own desires. Croft has an irreverent sense of humor that often gets him into difficulty (asking an extremely difficult motel clerk, "Were you ever in the Wehrmacht?")

The mysteries are good, the characters are good, and Satterthwait's poetic descriptions of Santa Fe and the surrounding area bring the landscape to life. The next book in the series is waiting for me patiently.

Red, Green or Murder by Steven F. Havill

283 pages

Rating: B+

 

My Thoughts: Steven Havill's long-running Posadas County series never disappoints. He brings a fictional county in southwestern New Mexico to life with a phenomenal cast headed by former Sheriff Bill Gastner. 

 

Gastner is now a livestock inspector. On the Torrance Ranch, he's counting a small herd of cattle and thinking ahead to lunch in town with an old friend. But a breeze kicks up, a horse spooks, and he's taking a badly injured cowboy in the back of his SUV to meet an ambulance. He's barely back in town when Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman asks for his help in investigating an unattended death. Gastner's friend had gone ahead and eaten lunch... and died of an apparent heart attack. But something's not right.

 

To make matters even worse, the herd of cattle Gastner counted is wandering down the highway with no sign of the cowpuncher or his boss's $40,000 truck and livestock trailer. 

The mysteries concerning the theft of the vehicles and the death of Gastner's friend are fast-paced and absorbing. That's nothing new for this series. And neither is the fact that Havill is a master at creating and nurturing a cast of characters that grows and changes. Insomniac Gastner is older, has health problems, and his role in the series has changed, but he's gathered around him people like Estelle Reyes-Guzman who have become his extended family. Their lives have been woven seamlessly into this series that deserves to be much better known than it is.

~

Have I caught up with my reviews? Nope. That just means that you'll be hearing from me again, doesn't it? Next week, I hope to tell you a bit about some of the books I'm looking forward to-- there's a bunch! I'd also like to put together a link round-up. We shall see. If everything goes to plan, Denis and I will be going to the Phoenix Zoo, so there will be photos from that to share as well. I just may have to blog more frequently, eh?

Perfect Storm by Paige Shelton

 

First Line: "Beth Rivers, you are under arrest for the murder of Travis Walker."

 

Convicted kidnapper Travis Walker, the man whom Beth Rivers barely got away from, has escaped and is on the way to Benedict, Alaska, to exact his revenge. All of Beth's friends in Benedict agree: she needs to disappear.

She and her boyfriend Tex make their way to a camp out in the woods, but when they get close to a small community known as Blue Mine, their plans are upended. When Beth and Tex start to take the widow of a recently murdered man back to Benedict to talk with the police chief, the woman disappears.

Beth and her friends have their hands full. Who else is going to suddenly appear... or disappear... in this remote area?

~

This is a series that I've enjoyed from the very first book. I've enjoyed learning about life in a remote area of Alaska, the customs that have come about due to the land and the weather, and the way the people band together in difficult times.

In Perfect Storm, Beth Rivers learns just how many friends she's made in tiny Benedict. When they learn that the man who kidnapped and almost killed her has escaped and is on his way there, they form a united front to keep her safe. However, when Tex and Beth come across a woman walking to Benedict to bring in the body of her murdered husband, all their planning runs right off the rails. Between trying to find the woman when she vanishes, trying to keep Beth safe, trying to locate a missing man, and trying to figure out what's going on at a tiny place called Blue Mine, all the characters scatter in different directions. Here Beth is, trying to keep out of the hands of the man who kidnapped her, and she can't keep track of anyone there in town. She's trying to herd cats.

But the book truly begins to shine when things get darkest. Beth has had so much trauma in her life. She's felt so frightened and helpless for so long. When all her friends seem to run off and desert her, does she fall apart? 

You're just going to have to read Perfect Storm to find out. What a character Beth Rivers is!

Perfect Storm by Paige Shelton

eISBN: 9781250910479

Minotaur Books © 2024

eBook, 256 pages

Amateur Sleuth/Thriller, #6 Alaska Wild

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

Lost Hours by Paige Shelton

 

First Line: I lifted my face to the cool wind and breathed in the crisp air.

 

After a year of living in Benedict, Beth Rivers is feeling at home in Alaska. One day in July, she boards a tourist ship to see the glaciers, but her trip is cut short when the captain of the ship navigates around an island and a woman is seen on shore, covered in blood and waving for help. When she's brought on board, she claims she was kidnapped and that a bear on the island killed her captor.

 

The woman, Sadie, tells a sympathetic Beth that she's under witness protection and that the police in Juneau where she's been living don't like her. Then another kidnapping occurs. Beth and the Benedict police chief can't help but think that the two cases are tied together; however, unraveling all the clues to solve the cases will not be easy.

~

Paige Shelton's Alaska Wild series continues to be my favorite, and Lost Hours is another strong entry. This fast-paced mystery gives us the next step in Beth's continuing recovery from her horrifying experience of being kidnapped. She's made friends, she's continuing to write her bestselling thrillers while publishing the local paper, and she's getting to know her estranged father.

One of the things I like the most about Beth is the fact that she has no moments that I call TSTL (To Stupid to Live). After what she's already lived through, she doesn't take unnecessary risks. She's quite happy to let trained professionals do the work, and she communicates with them whenever she has pertinent information. Her strength and resilience are quite admirable, and I enjoy watching her form strong friendships and carve out this new chapter in her life. 

The mystery in Lost Hours is multi-layered, and it was a treat to see how all the various elements came together: who was coming and going, the witness protection program, bears, and even how Beth reacts to a teenage fan.

If you enjoy intriguing mysteries with a strong lead character in a wild and often unforgiving landscape, give Paige Shelton's Alaska Wild series a try. A word of advice: Because of Beth, it's best if you start at the beginning with Thin Ice.

Lost Hours by Paige Shelton

eISBN: 9781250846624

Minotaur Books © 2023

eBook, 288 pages

 

Amateur Sleuth, #5 Alaska Wild mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

Winter's End by Paige Shelton

 

First Lines: The End. I looked at the words. Then I grumbled and rolled the paper up the typewriter and grabbed the Wite-Out from my desk.

 

At the end of each brutal winter in Benedict, Alaska, the locals gather in town for the annual Death Walk to make sure that everyone has survived the weather. If someone's name isn't checked off the list, then local law enforcement goes to their home to make sure they're all right. 

 

Beth Rivers goes out with another resident to check on a 94-year-old man. The man needs medical attention. While Beth stays with him, Orin goes for help. But it's the local sheriff, Gril, who returns, not Orin. Gril's news makes it clear that Orin isn't the only person who's missing from Benedict.

While searches continue, Beth continues her own for her father, who's purportedly in Mexico yet will not return her calls. Then there's that feeling that she's being followed whenever she's out helping the others. Is Beth imagining things, or should she be worried?

~

I really enjoy Paige Shelton's Alaska Wild series, a series she calls "Cozy ++" due to its slightly more intense nature. Winter's End is another winning installment that uses an annual Death Walk as its starting point. Most of us in the lower 48 never experience brutal winters that keep us shut up in our homes for months on end. Living in such a climate calls for special measures, like getting out when the weather warms up to make sure everyone is all right, and-- as one resident tells Beth, "...when you live with people, locked together over a winter, you need to make damn sure you're good with their company." If there are conflicting personalities within a home, winter gives those folks plenty of time to come to loggerheads with each other.

Having started Shelton's Alaska Wild series from the beginning (Thin Ice), one of the best things is watching thriller writer Beth Rivers's recovery from the trauma that sent her running to hide in Benedict. Beth is stronger and more confident, and as a result, she's making friends, being accepted by the other residents, and feeling comfortable in sharing her history with them. This confidence will only help her as she continues to search for her elusive father-- and to hope that law enforcement back home can find the man who kidnapped her and turned her life into a nightmare.

This is a series where all the various threads are being woven together, a series where the main character-- fascinating to begin with-- grows and changes in each successive book. This is a series to savor, and I'm looking forward to doing just that with the very next book.

Winter's End by Paige Shelton

eISBN: 9781250846600

Minotaur Books © 2022

eBook, 288 pages

 

Amateur Sleuth, #4 Alaska Wild mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

Bear Witness by Lark O. Jensen

 

First Line: I felt my grin explode all over my face.

 

Trained naturalist Stacie Calder loves her job as a tour guide, sharing her knowledge of Alaskan wildlife from the decks of a boat, but her job is threatened when the body of a man is found on the ice during one of the tour boat's excursions.

 

The dead man spent most of his final afternoon badgering her and other members of the crew with questions and arguing with the captain. As the police focus on the crew as possible suspects, it's a real possibility that the tour company could go out of business, and that's all the impetus she needs to conduct her own investigation. At least she is sleuthing under the watchful eye of Alaska State Trooper Liam Amaruq.

~

This first book in the Alaska Untamed cozy series seemed to suit me right down to the ground. I've enjoyed several tour boat excursions myself, and I certainly love learning about wildlife while getting the chance to see it and photograph it. However, Lark O. Jensen's Bear Witness is more suited to those cozy readers who like a large dollop of romance in their mug of mystery.

Stacie, always accompanied by her faithful blue-eyed husky, Sasha, ostensibly gets involved in the investigation because she's worried about the job she loves so much, but she's really in it because she's strongly attracted to handsome Alaska State Trooper Liam Amaruq. Since I don't much care for romance in my mystery, I soon tired of her longing glances and quivering hormones. In addition, the wildlife in Bear Witness is really mere window dressing, a hook to get wildlife lovers like me to read the book. 

As you can tell, this book simply was not my cup of tea, but I know that I just described a cozy mystery that many other readers will love. To them, I say bon appétit!

Bear Witness by Lark O. Jensen

eISBN: 9781643858975

Crooked Lane Books © 2022

eBook, 320 pages

 

Cozy Mystery, #1 Alaska Untamed mystery

Rating: C-

Source: Net Galley

Dark Night by Paige Shelton

 

First Line: None of you Rivers people ever listen.

 

As winter begins to settle in over the village of Benedict, Alaska, Beth Rivers finds herself feeling much more comfortable with the weather, the terrain, and the townspeople. In fact, she's feeling so comfortable that she thinks it might be time to tell some of the friends she's made her secret. 

 

Beth is a successful writer who was abducted, tortured, and held captive for three days before managing to escape. Hospitalized with severe head trauma after jumping from her abductor's van, Beth has barely begun to heal when she learns the man has vowed to get her back. Choosing Benedict, Alaska, at random, Beth has run there to hide, to heal, and to survive.

But Beth's mellow mood is about to change. Her mother has managed to find her, and if Mill Rivers succeeded in tracking her down, her kidnapper could, too. A battered woman's husband has been found dead in the snow in the center of town. Public opinion says that the census man is the killer-- nobody liked him and his intrusive questions-- but when he goes missing, the list of suspects grows to cover almost everyone in town. Beth and her mother have their work cut out for them in trying to find the killer.

~

I continue to enjoy Paige Shelton's Alaska Wild series. As good as her cozy mystery series have been, these books featuring writer Beth Rivers are edgy, and have more meat on the bone. I've watched Beth begin to heal from her injuries, and now in this third book, she's made a home for herself in Benedict. She's familiar with the area, she's an old hand at dressing appropriately, and she's made friends that she thinks she can share her story with-- friends who will understand and help keep her safe. In such a place, she is even beginning to understand that there are different degrees of quiet that she's never heard before.

The village of Benedict, Alaska, plays a very important role in Dark Night and the entire series. It's a town where people have moved to be beneath the radar. Many of the townspeople have secrets they want to keep. It doesn't bother them that Benedict has terrible cell phone reception or that the local library is about the only place with a decent internet connection. As Beth begins to share her story, I'm looking forward to learning more about the interesting cast of characters Shelton has populated the town with.

In Dark Night, we learn more about Beth's mother, who has made it her life's ambition to track down her missing husband-- Beth's father. Mill Rivers does things her own way. As Beth says, her mother "did fine by herself, except for when she wasn't by herself." Mill doesn't take other people's wants and needs much into consideration. Another character in Dark Night says, "...your mother has made her own bed, time and again-- and she's never really lain in it." All this makes Beth's mother a difficult character to like or even trust-- the opposite of her daughter.

With a dead body, a missing census taker, and worries that her kidnapper is on his way to Benedict, Beth has a lot on her plate, and Shelton does an excellent job of ratcheting up the suspense. The author has also shown what a good support system Beth has, and once she begins to share her story with her friends, it's a system that will only get stronger-- and I feel that it's going to be a crucial factor in the books to come. When will there be a showdown between Beth and her kidnapper? Write faster, Paige!

Dark Night by Paige Shelton

eISBN: 9781250796288

Minotaur Books © 2021

eBook, 288 pages

 

Amateur Sleuth, #3 Alaska Wild mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

Ghost Light by Stan Jones & Patricia Watts

 

First Line: Lucy Brophy crashed into Nathan Active as he passed her office on the second floor of the Chukchi Public Safety building.

 

Tommie Leokuk has dementia, and it's not unusual for her to slip the bonds of those who care for her late, late at night to roam the streets of the small Inupiat village of Chukchi in northern Alaska. When she brings something home after one of her rambles, her husband, Oscar, brings her to see Chief of Public Safety Nathan Active. Out of the pouch of her atiqluk, Tommie pulls a human jawbone with one molar still attached. But Tommie can't tell Nathan where she found the jawbone, for- as her husband explains it-- "She lost her brain a few years ago."

 

This leads to some late hours for Nathan, as he watches Tommie to see where she wanders at night. His persistence pays off, and the expertly dismembered remains of a woman are found in the ice cellar of an abandoned Inupiat fish camp. 

As Active struggles with PTSD from a shootout in his last case, he finds himself in the middle of an investigation that grows more complicated by the day.

~

Stan Jones' Nathan Active series has long been my favorite mystery series set in Alaska. Raised by white parents in Anchorage, Active's job with the Alaska Highway Patrol soon leads him to the small Inupiat village of Chukchi on Alaska's north coast where he is now Chief of Public Safety. The backbone of this series is its depiction of village life and how Active slowly becomes a part of it and of his heritage.

 

Now married and with a small child, Nathan finds monitoring Tommie Leokuk's midnight rambles a tough assignment, and I loved the solution one of his men came up with. When you live in a small indigenous village at the end of a very long food chain, you have to think smart because there's just no money available, and these "fixes" that everyone comes up with are just one way Chukchi village life feels so real. 

Nathan's investigation leads him to the oil fields and a phrase that I wish would be erased from our vocabulary within my lifetime ("Boys will be boys") to the streets of Chukchi. The dead woman had two lovers, one male and one female, and Active almost wore a rut in the road being led in circles between the two suspects. This is a mystery where readers know one of two people did it, and they have to wade through all the lies to deduce which one is guilty. 

 

Good-old fashioned armchair sleuthing in a hostile, fascinating environment that's brought to life by a master. If you're a reader, this is one of life's pleasures. If you're new to the series and want to give it a try, start at the beginning (White Sky Black Ice) so you won't miss all-important character development.

Ghost Light by Stan Jones & Patricia Watts

ASIN: ‎ B099X5C4N8

Bowhead Press © 2021

eBook, 258 pages

 

Police Procedural, #7 Nathan Active mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Cold Wind by Paige Shelton

 

First Line: I lifted the curtain flap.

Tiny Benedict, Alaska, is feeling more and more like home to Beth Rivers. The unidentified man who abducted her in Missouri hasn't been found, so she's certainly not ready to go back there. 

 

She's gotten back to her writing, and she's enjoying these months between summer and winter in Alaska. But when a mudslide exposes a world that has been hidden for years, two mud-covered, silent girls appear, and a strange trapper's house is found in the woods. The biggest surprise comes when a dead and frozen woman's body is discovered. No one knows who she is, but Randy, the owner of the mercantile in Benedict, seems to be right in the middle of all the mysteries.

Beth just can't fight the thriller writer in her. She's got questions, and she has the need to solve all these mysteries before winter sets in. Will she be able to?

~

As much as I enjoy the cozy mysteries author Paige Shelton has written, I prefer this new Alaska Wild series. Although these books still retain many aspects that cozy readers demand, they are edgier and have a distinctly different tone. 

There are a lot of components to the mystery in Cold Wind, and I really liked how they all fit together. Readers also learn more about the man who kidnapped Beth in Missouri, and wondering where he's at and what he's up to ratchets up the suspense. Beth is a character who's easy to care about, to feel protective of. She's also got the background to be a first-rate sleuth: not only is she a bestselling thriller writer-- which means she has a tendency to see things differently than the rest of us-- she also worked for her grandfather who was the sheriff of their hometown. 

 

Beth sometimes does risky things, and when she's getting ready to do so readers may be rolling their eyes and mentally calling her an idiot, but Shelton lets us in on the character's thought processes. Beth does assess the risks, and she does think things through before she goes ahead. It's this letting readers in on what the character is thinking that makes her such a sympathetic character-- even more so than just knowing what prompted her running away to Alaska.

Another thing to like about Shelton's Alaska Wild series is the setting itself. As Beth learns about the land and the people of Benedict, so do readers. A land that's tucked away from the rest of the world. Where cell phones don't work very well and landlines are a must (and sometimes extremely difficult to get to). Of people living off the grid and neighbors allowing them to do so without question. Of a place where people have a tendency to pick and choose the laws they obey. It's a different world up there, and Cold Wind lets readers take a good look at it as Beth becomes accustomed to her surroundings. 

Yes, Paige Shelton's Alaska Wild series is what I call "more-ish"-- I want more of Alaska, I want more of the people of Benedict, and I want more of Beth Rivers. Trouble is, now I have to wait for the next book. Woe is me!

Cold Wind by Paige Shelton

eISBN: 9781250295323

Minotaur Books © 2020

eBook, 320 pages

 

Amateur Sleuth, #2 Alaska Wild mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

Thin Ice by Paige Shelton

First Lines: The good thing about being suddenly overcome with fresh terror is that you forget everything else you were afraid of. At least temporarily.

Known to the world as thriller author Elizabeth Fairchild, Beth Rivers was held in a van for three days by her kidnapper. Just managing to escape the nightmare, Beth has barely healed from her injuries, but she knows she has to get away. Using the knowledge she's picked up in her research, she escapes to a small isolated town in Alaska that should be a safe place to hide until the police catch her kidnapper.

Beth soon finds out there's a learning curve to living in such an isolated spot. The hotel that looked so good on the internet is actually a halfway house. There are few places where cell phones will work or where you can use the internet. She's come ill-equipped for the climate, too-- and everyone seems to be running or hiding from something. Be that as it may, Beth feels safer there than she has since she was kidnapped.

As Beth gets to know the town's residents, her memories of her time in the van begin to return... and she learns that a local woman's death is thought to be a murder. Can this thriller writer avoid getting involved in discovering the truth?

This first book in a new series for author Paige Shelton is quite a departure from the cozies she's written, and for me, it's a roaring success. (For you fans of her Farmer's Market, Country Cooking School, Dangerous Type, and Scottish Bookshop mysteries, Thin Ice may not be a cozy, but it's still a mystery that you should be able to enjoy.) Shelton's descriptions of Alaska drew me right in, and I particularly loved a scene that involves a bear and a moose.

Benedict House-- the hotel that's actually a halfway house for women-- will be a rich source of characters for future books, and speaking of tales, the woman who runs the place is full of them all by herself.

We aren't given Beth's story all at once, and when pieces are doled out, that heightens both the suspense and the readers' worry for Beth's health. Beth isn't a complete stranger to small-town living. When she's asked to work on the town's "newspaper," she realizes that the building will be a good location for her own writing as well as a source of information, and if gossip is what she wants, the local knitting classes should be a rich vein to tap. However, I think she's forgotten how nosy villagers can be. Just how long will it be before everyone knows what really happened to her?

I'm looking forward to finding out as this series progresses. The story, the setting, and the characters all have me waiting impatiently for the next book. Hurry up, book two!

Thin Ice by Paige Shelton

eISBN: 9781250295224

Minotaur Books © 2019

eBook, 288 pages

Amateur Sleuth, #1 Alaska Wild mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley


 

The Big Empty by Stan Jones & Patricia Watts

First Lines: "Son of a bitch." Nathan Active jerked upright in the Navajo's copilot seat at the sudden sound of Cowboy Decker's bush-pilot drawl in the headset.

Chukchi police chief Nathan Active's wife is having a difficult pregnancy, and he'd like nothing better than some quiet time on the job so he can focus on her needs; however, he's not going to get it. When young mother-to-be Evie Kavoonah and her fiancé Dr. Todd Brenner are killed in a plane crash in the remote Brooks Range, bush pilot Cowboy Decker is convinced that the crash was no accident-- and definitely not pilot error. He doesn't rest until he convinces Active to get in his plane to fly to the crash site to check it out.

What they find convinces Active that Decker is right. Now he's got a murder investigation, an anxious adopted daughter, and an extremely nervous pregnant wife to deal with. No rest for the weary!

Stan Jones' Nathan Active mysteries continue to be my favorite series set in Alaska-- and it's for a multitude of reasons. There's a strong cast of characters from all walks of life. There are intriguing-- and often spine-chilling-- mysteries to solve. The setting of extreme northern Alaska is often a character, and last but not least, the cultural information is fascinating. Each book comes with a short glossary at the beginning which I find extremely useful because part of learning about a culture is learning a bit about the language.

The Big Empty is 50% mystery and 50% the personal life of Nathan Active. At times I found that percentage weighing too heavily on the personal life aspect, but only because I find Nathan's wife annoying. I shouldn't. Grace Active has had horrendous things happen to her in the past, and she's finding it daunting to overcome them. Anyone would, and I applaud Jones for not only having a troubled character like Grace but for dealing with her problems honestly and with great sensitivity.

The mystery is a good one, beginning with discovering what caused the crash and then moving into whodunnit territory. I did find the killer's identity to be a bit too easy to deduce, but getting to the reveal was enjoyable.

If you're a fellow armchair traveler/sleuth who loves solving mysteries in exotic places, you should meet Nathan Active and learn about the culture of the Inupiat. I still remember one book scaring me badly when Nathan went out on the pack ice. Even though you can pick up The Big Empty and read it as a standalone, I recommend starting at the beginning with White Sky, Black Ice. You've got some mighty fine reading ahead of you.

The Big Empty by Stan Jones & Patricia Watts

ISBN: 9781641290029

Soho Crime © 2018

Hardcover, 264 pages

Police Procedural, #6 Nathan Active mystery

Rating: B+

Source: the publisher


 

Tundra Kill by Stan Jones

First Line: "You see, Chief?"

After some restructuring, Nathan Active finds himself the newly appointed chief of public safety for the newly created Chukchi Regional Borough-- an area larger than 15 of the United States. He hasn't even had time to move into his office when he's got a suspicious death on his hands. However, that has to go on the back burner when Alaska's second female governor comes to town. She wants Nathan as her body guard, and what she wants is what she gets. (No matter how much Nathan complains.)

It really comes as no surprise to him when Nathan learns that the governor is the most dangerous woman he's ever met. When he doesn't do what the governor wants, he not only finds his career on the line, he finds the lives of his beloved Grace and her daughter Nita to be threatened as well. In the past Nathan has been a bit gullible when it comes to women. Does he have what it takes to outwit the wily governor?

After a very long seven-year gap, I was thrilled to see another installment of one of my favorite series. Stan Jones makes the remote regions of Alaska and the customs, food, language, and familial relationships of the Inupiat people come to life. He's the only author I've read who can actually make the Arctic ice speak. In Tundra Kill, Jones brings readers right into the heart of the wilderness in an iced-up Cesna-- an excellent section of the book.

Relationships play an important role here, and the relationship between Nathan and Grace is first and foremost. Tundra Kill is a bit more sexually explicit than I'm used to when reading mysteries, but it's in keeping with the story (and never goes overboard). Grace is a survivor of sexual abuse, and the intimate relationship Nathan has with the woman he loves is fundamental to their future together.  

Jones has written a wonderfully twisty plot with touches of humor that can make readers laugh out loud. Nathan is up against some very devious people, and it is fun to watch how he deals with them. Long-time fans of the series-- like me-- are familiar with his naivete and will probably react strongly to some of the twists and turns in the plot. I know I did.

To be honest, I could've done without the Sarah Palin-esque character in Tundra Kill, but Jones kept me from terminal eyes-rolling-back-in-the-head with his fast pace, devilish plot, and Nathan Active. I sincerely hope there isn't another seven years until the next book. This entire series is choice.
   

Tundra Kill by Stan Jones

ISBN: 9780979980381

Bowhead Press © 2016

Hardcover, 320 pages

Police Procedural, #5 Nathan Active mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.


 

The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton

First Line: It's FREEZING cold; like the air is made of broken glass.

Yasmin, a drop dead gorgeous astrophysicist, takes her ten-year-old deaf daughter Ruby to Alaska to spend time with her husband, Matt, a wildlife photographer. The two have just landed in Fairbanks and haven't even begun the last leg of their journey deep into the Arctic tundra when Yasmin is told that Matt is dead. 

Yasmin does not believe what she's told, so she sets off with Ruby to find her husband. With a gargantuan storm moving in, Yasmin has one additional thing to fear: someone is following them through the endless Alaskan night, and there's no one else on the road to help. 

Having read and loved Lupton's previous books, Sister and Afterwards (both of which I rated A+/five stars), I looked forward to The Quality of Silence with a great deal of anticipation. I am sorry to say that, although parts of Lupton's third book shine, it was a bit of a disappointment. 

First and foremost, it seems to have a bit of an identity crisis. Is it a thriller, or is it a character study? Lupton's writing of driving an eighteen-wheeler through Alaska's endless night in blizzard conditions while being followed by some maniac is not up to her best, but it is good. What spoils the thriller aspect of her book for me is the character study part. Quite frankly, I wanted to lock Yasmin up and throw away the key. Anyone, man or woman, who would put their ten-year-old deaf child in the kind of danger that Yasmin does... well, it just beggars belief. I disliked Yasmin so much that I had an extremely difficult time buying into the story.

Lupton has some very important and interesting things to say about fracking, which plays a large role in the book. but for me the only time The Quality of Silence truly shines is when we listen to ten-year-old Ruby. Ruby is the true star of this book, and any time I was allowed to read this child's unique take on the world around her was a treat. Lupton has an interesting premise for this book, but her execution is uneven. If you want to read some truly beautiful writing, I would suggest her previous books, Sister and Afterwards.  

The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton

eISBN: 9781101903681

Crown Publishers © 2016

eBook, 304 pages

Thriller, Standalone

Rating: C

Source: Net Galley  


 

The Boy in the Snow by M.J. McGrath

First Line: Edie Kiglatuk had no way of knowing how long the bear had been looking at her.

Against her better judgement, Edie Kiglatuk promised her ex-husband that she would help him in his bid to win the Iditarod-- the most famous sled dog race in the world. Edie's never been so far from home, and she misses it terribly, especially when she stumbles upon the frozen body of an infant on land belonging to an exiled Russian Orthodox religious sect.

Edie's blocked at almost every turn in her attempt to find out what happened to the baby. It's election time, and candidate Chuck Hillingberg doesn't want an inconvenience like a dead child to damage his chances of becoming the next governor of Alaska. Hillingberg hasn't come up against anyone quite so stubborn as this half-Inuit, half-white woman though. Edie's not going to quit. Because she's not only fighting for justice for an innocent child, she's fighting demons from her own past.

Anchorage, Alaska is the farthest south Edie Kiglatuk has ever been, and she doesn't like it much. For one thing, there's too many trees. For another, it's almost impossible to find anything that's fit to eat. A good deal of my enjoyment in reading The Boy in the Snow came from watching her try to acclimatize to Alaska. It's something that I certainly would have to do as a bonafide desert dweller, but I'd certainly be coming at it from an entirely different direction!

I was rather sad that the book has more to do with politics and greed than it does the Iditarod, but that's the way this story panned out, and I adjusted well. McGrath shows that Alaska still has ties to Russia (something that I hadn't thought of but should have), and if anything there were a few too many bad guys roaming around. I almost needed a scorecard.

Having read the first book in this series, White Heat, as well as a short story, I found that I had the most difficulty with Edie herself. I don't remember her being quite so ill-tempered and combative. Of course, her behavior undoubtedly has a lot to do with those demons from her past, the dead baby, and her dislike of Alaska. Edie is used to getting from place to place on foot, with a dogsled, or possibly on a snowmobile, but here she has to drive cars and trucks. This isn't a good mix for woman nor machine. As someone with her says, "Edie doesn't drive. She bulldozes." And that's how Edie investigates, too. She doesn't pay attention to the good advice her friends give her; friends who'd help her more if she let them. All in all, Edie is her own worst enemy here, and I'm hoping that she's on a more even keel in the third book.

The Boy in the Snow by M.J. McGrath

ISBN: 9780670023691

Viking © 2012

Hardcover, 384 pages

Native American Mystery, #2 Edie Kiglatuk mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet. 

Cold Storage, Alaska by John Straley

First Line: Annabelle had put the tea kettle on just moments ago.

Cold Storage, Alaska, a remote fishing village founded by Norse fishermen in 1935, last had a surge of prosperity during the frozen fish boom. Now the plant is almost completely abandoned, and the town is dying. It still means a great deal to its remaining inhabitants, however.

After serving in the military, Miles McCahon has been tending the aches and pains of not only his ailing mother but of the rest of the community. His life is about to be set on its ear for his brother Clive has returned home after a seven-year stint in prison for dealing cocaine. Clive's old business partner is hot on his heels, a by-the-book State Trooper is lurking in the shadows just waiting for Clive to blink too many times, but he can handle all that. What he doesn't think he can handle is the fact that animals have started talking to him. It remains to be seen if Clive's return is the infusion of energy Cold Storage needs, or if he'll be sounding the village's death knell.

Told in a spare poetic style that takes command of your imagination, Cold Storage, Alaska is by turns funny, serious, frightening, philosophical, exaggerated... and intimate. It is filled with odd situations and the kind of offbeat characters that keep your attention glued to the page. As you read about ugly dogs, kayaking to see the Dalai Lama, bringing an old bar back to life, and greedy drug dealers, you slowly come to understand that this book is all about love-- that love has the power to bring together, to heal, to forgive-- and watching all these disparate characters let down their defenses is quite profound.  Crimes may be talked about in the pages of this book, but that's not its focus, and that makes Cold Storage, Alaska one very special read. 

Cold Storage, Alaska by John Straley

ISBN: 9781616953065

Soho Crime © 2014

Hardcover, 304 pages

Contemporary Fiction

Rating: B+

Source: publicist 

The Raven's Gift by Don Rearden

First Line: He crawled on his stomach through the snowdrift and lifted his head over the edge of the riverbank, just enough to see the first few houses, charred black and dislodged from the wood blocks and tall steel pilings meant to hold them off the tundra's permafrost.

John Morgan and his beloved wife are thrilled to be traveling to a remote Yup'ik village on the Alaskan tundra where they will be teachers. For John, it will be getting in touch with a part of his heritage and the part of him that loves hunting and wild places. More importantly, both of them feel that they can make a difference in the world.

They've barely become acclimated to their surroundings when a deadly plague strikes and everything turns to chaos. There is absolutely no help from the outside. John's only chance for survival is a thousand-mile journey across the bitterly cold, snow-covered Alaskan wilderness to get help. Along the way, he encounters a blind girl and an elderly woman. Both Yup'ik women need his protection, and John needs their knowledge of the weather and terrain for them all to survive. In a land of brutal cold, no food, and an epidemic, all three will be pushed to their limits.

The plot of this book meanders a bit, but it's perfect since it mimics the wavering path of a freezing, starving, almost hallucinating person lost in the snow. As John slowly makes his way through the unforgiving landscape, he remembers he and his wife being newcomers to the village, their learning how to teach the children, making friends, and learning the food and customs of the people they were living among. These flashes of memory occur between perilous encounters with other survivors who seem to have lost all their humanity. As the blind girl and then the old woman join him, their knowledge is invaluable to the survival of all three-- and the two women's presence very gradually brings a feeling of hope and possibility back to a man who's all but given up.

This book succeeds on so many levels. As a commentary on geography and culture, it's first-rate. As a thriller, you can hardly wait to see what happens next-- and you want to know what caused this disaster to fall upon people you've come to know and to care about. As a character study of how decent people survive when thrust into unthinkable circumstances, The Raven's Gift is alternately heartwarming, humorous, chilling, and hopeful. Ultimately this book transcends all these labels and becomes something very special indeed.

The Raven's Gift by Don Rearden

ISBN: 9780143187493

Pintail © 2013

Paperback, 288 pages

Contemporary Fiction, standalone

Rating: B+

Source: publicist 

A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow

First Line: They came out of the south late that morning on a black-and-silver Ski-doo LT.

Somewhere in the endless acres of "The Park" a ranger has gone missing. No one puts up much of a fuss about it, figuring his body will be uncovered in time for the ground to thaw so he can be buried. But when a detective sent in to look for the missing ranger disappears as well, something has to be done. The Anchorage, Alaska District Attorney's Office sends two men out, hats in hand, to their former investigator, Kate Shugak. Shugak knows The Park because she was born there. She's an Aleut who left her home village in pursuit of education and a career. In reluctantly agreeing to search for the missing men, Kate finds herself being pulled out of her self-imposed exile back to the life she'd left behind.

This slim little volume is a quick read that introduces the reader to two prime objects: the Alaskan wilderness and the prickly character of Kate Shugak. In many ways, I think my reading experience was tempered by the fact that I'd already read Stan Jones' mystery series set in Alaska that also features a Native American main character. If I'd come to Stabenow's book totally fresh, I would have been much more in awe of what I was reading.

Alaska is shown to be the beautiful, wild place that it is; Shugak is the strong, silent type of female that we're still not quite accustomed to; and although the story line didn't hold many surprises for me, I'll be back for more. This is the first book in a very popular series, and Stabenow not only marks her territory, she populates it with a woman I just have to know more about.

A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow 

ISBN: 9780425133019

Berkley Prime Crime © 1992

Mass Market Paperback, 208 pages

Female Sleuth, #1 Kate Shugak mystery

Rating: B-

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Frozen Sun by Stan Jones

Title: Frozen Sun
Author: Stan Jones
ISBN: 9780979980374, Bowhead Press, 2008
Genre: Police Procedural, #3 Nathan Active mystery
Rating: B+

First Line: "Beautiful, wasn't she?"

I'm a tender soul. I tend to read Stan Jones' Nathan Active books in the heat of a Sonoran Desert summer while sitting in the pool. Why? Because they take place at the Arctic Circle, and the wind, snow, darkness, and booming crack of pack ice can freeze me down to the bone!

Nathan Active is an Alaska State Trooper. He is also Inupiat. (What most of us would call Eskimo.) As a child, he was adopted by a white couple in Anchorage, and this has given him rather mixed emotions about his heritage. Now he's living in the small village of Chukchi where his mother is. He has a girlfriend, Lucy Generous, and he's just been asked to begin an investigation that's going to put this relationship at risk.

High school principal Jason Palmer has asked Active to find his daughter, Grace, a former beauty queen. His search leads him halfway across Alaska, to the notorious Four Street in Anchorage all the way to the Aleutian Islands. The photos of Grace show a beautiful girl, and Active wonders why she would ultimately wind up on Four Street-- Anchorage's version of Skid Road. As he slowly gathers facts together, he has to ask himself, is Grace Palmer dead...or is she a murderer?

My rating is a bit down for this one because I knew almost from the beginning why Grace Palmer disappeared. I think I've read a few too many mysteries and have just become adept at suspecting characters' motivations. However, my educated guess took very little away from my enjoyment of this book because characters like Nathan and Lucy are so strong.

This is one of my favorite mystery series for its characterization, its plots, and its setting. Actually the setting is just as much a character in these books as Nathan Active himself. Jones provides an enthralling glimpse into a culture and a landscape that are completely different from what most of us know. He uses common Inupiat words sparingly and provides a glossary at the front of each book so that we not only know what the words mean, but we learn how to pronounce them.

If you like your mysteries strong on character and plot and with a glimpse into a landscape and culture which are very different from your own, you can't go wrong with this series by Stan Jones-- even if you have to read them in the summer like I do!