Cold Snap by Marc Cameron

Cold Snap is the fourth in Marc Cameron’s Arliss Cutter series. ECD and I have read both of those books which were reviewed very favorably. His first book was Open Carry, the second Stone Cross, and the third Bone Rattle. Cutter is a US Marshall Army Ranger who has transferred from his base in Florida to Alaska to help out his sister-in-law following the apparent accidental death of his older brother. He is helping her raise twin boys and a hard-to-get-along-with teenage daughter.

 

Just as in Bone Rattle, his junior partner is Deputy Lola Teariki, a much younger woman who is a native of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. She is a fitness freak and is capable of handling her own with nearly any man she encounters. She and Cutter have formed a meaningful Platonic relationship. In the beginning, Arliss has bordered a Russian ship which had previously been tagged as being a rogue, having not paid fines to the US, and leaving Cutter with the paperwork to impound the boat. On board, they find 300 French bulldogs which the captain has purchased for $100 from puppy mills in Russia, and which he can sell for $1,500 a piece. The Captain is none too happy about the seizure, and the State Department is none to happy that is forced to deal with 300 needy puppies. 

 

This book consists of two mysteries. Meanwhile back in Anchorage, evidence of a serial killer is being found. Body parts from different people are washing up on the shores, but the parts are not identifiable because they consist of torsos and other amputated parts. Apparently, the victims were women with few meaningful social connections, such as prostitutes, who are not missed for days at a time. Although the police are playing down the suggestion of a serial killer, the press has gotten wind of that – it has become the news story of the moment and the local population is terrified.

 

On a sudden assignment, Lola was sent to the north shore of Alaska, “the slope,” but that would cause her to miss a medical appointment, so Cutter volunteered to go in her place. She was expected to transport a prisoner back to Fairbanks. There was an urgent matter of the weather since a vicious storm was about to move in off the Bering Sea. Meanwhile, one prisoner became four. There should have been no trouble making the transport to Fairbanks, But, one of the new prisoners turned out to be the pilot who was supposed to fly Cutter back to Fairbanks, so other arrangements had to be made. The three new men were all severe sociopaths who were determined not to return to prison, and as the story evolved, there was a connection between one of them and the serial killer that was operating in Anchorage. Once they were all in the air, the storm struck with a vengeance. The troubles that developed and the solutions to it were incredible.

 

Cameron weaved the stories together in a masterful way. Cutter is a classic detective character, and he and Lola play off each other very nicely. The more peripheral character to this story include Mim, the widow of Cutter’s deceased brother, her three children, as well as the hierarchy of several law enforcement agencies that all became involved in the chase. Then, there’s the climate researcher from University of Alaska, Fairbanks and her graduate assistants that were holed up in a remote cabin who become entwined in the drama.

 

That’s enough to entice you towards this very captivating novel. Since there’s one novel of this series about Arliss Cutter that I’ve missed, I did find Stone Cross in the Amazon Kindle Store, and I’ll get to that one as soon as I can.

 

WCD