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.

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.


 

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!