Search This Blog
April Reviews Link-Up
May Reviews Link-Up
June Reviews Link-Up
July Reviews Link-Up
August Reviews Link-Up
September Reviews Link-Up
October Reviews Link-Up
November Reviews Link-Up
December Reviews Link-Up
2024 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (1)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia (1)
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*
International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (5)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Scotland (1)
- The Netherlands (1)
2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Alaskan Mystery Series Off to an Intriguing Start
10:14 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
After her throat is nearly slit in a knife fight with a child molester, Aleut detective Kate Shugak retreats to the Alaskan bush to (figuaratively) lick her wounds. Haunted by her days as a sex crimes investigator in Anchorage, the 30-year-old desperately needs time away. There's no better place to be alone than the wilderness, where she leads a solitary existence with just her wolf-dog, Mutt.
When a very green park ranger from Ohio goes missing in the bush, Kate is called in to investigate. Mark Miller, the 21-year-old son of a U.S. Congressman, is an enthusiastic and naive supporter of opening federal lands to outsiders. Did he tick off the wrong local? Or just get lost in the vast and vicious Alaskan wilderness? Kate suspects the former. Determined to figure out what happened to the congressman's kid, she sifts through clues that point in an ever more sinister direction. Can Kate keep her own demons at bay long enough to find the answers she seeks? Can she solve a mystery, the investigation of which is becoming more and more dangerous every day? Or will Kate be the next person to mysteriously disappear in the harsh Alaskan bush?
A Cold Day for Murder, the first novel in Dana Stabenow's popular mystery series starring Kate Shugak, brings Alaska to vivid life, introducing colorful characters, complex politics, and a beautiful, unforgiving landscape. The story also offers a pull-no-punches plot with a very intriguing heroine at its center. A study in contrasts, Kate is tough but compassionate, cold but warm, angry but accommodating (at least when someone needs her help). It's difficult not to admire her tenacity. Although A Cold Day for Murder gets slow in places, overall it tells a compelling story. It's gritty and gruesome, true, but it's also surprisingly funny at times. For the most part, I enjoyed it.
(Readalikes: Reminded me of The Wild Inside by Christine Carbo; the Lizzy Snow series [Winter at the Door; The Girls She Left Behind] by Sarah Graves; the Anna Pigeon series [Track of the Cat; etc.] by Nevada Barr; and the Bell Elkins series [A Killing in the Hills; Bitter River; Summer of the Dead; Last Ragged Breath; Sorrow Road; and Fast Falls the Night] by Julia Keller)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for strong language, violence, blood/gore, sexual content, and disturbing subject matter (child abuse, alcohol abuse, poverty, etc.)
To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find
Subscribe to:
Posts
(Atom)
Reading
Listening
Followin' with Bloglovin'
-
The Last Word by Gerri Lewis21 minutes ago
-
-
Top 5 Tuesday ~ Green Books3 hours ago
-
-
Top Ten Tuesday-Spring Into Books3 hours ago
-
Top Ten Tuesday5 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
Top Ten Tuesday: Spring TBR | 20248 hours ago
-
TTT – Books On My Spring 2024 TBR8 hours ago
-
Daily Prompt 18 March monday13 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
Books from the Backlog #81 day ago
-
-
Don’t Foget Me by Rea Frey2 days ago
-
-
-
Sunday Post3 days ago
-
-
Timeline by Michael Crichton3 days ago
-
33. Ferris4 days ago
-
-
-
-
-
Witch Hat Atelier: Kitchen, Volume 11 week ago
-
Catching up1 week ago
-
Review: Dating Dr. Dil1 week ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
What Happened to Summer?5 months ago
-
6/25/23 Extra Ezra8 months ago
-
-
-
Sundays with Sam – The Sunday Post11 months ago
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?1 year ago
-
-
-
-
-
Grab my Button!
Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ▼ 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)
- ► 2013 (183)
- ► 2012 (193)
- ► 2011 (232)
- ► 2010 (257)
- ► 2009 (211)
- ► 2008 (192)