#1536. A Cold Day For Murder by Dana Stebanow

Murders in the tropics or in the Alaskan interior both need to be solved. Kate Shugak is an Alaskan native who left (betrayed?) her ancestors by attending college and then law school to join the district attorney’s office in Anchorage. Roughly a year or so ago, the resolution of a case sent Kate back to live deep into the Alaskan wilderness where she shares a small but mostly comfortable cabin with her dog Mutt. The “Park”, roughly 4X the size of Denali, is home to a small and scattered population of highly protective Alaskan natives. They certainly don’t appreciate it when Outsiders (defined as anyone who doesn’t live within the boundary of The Park) try to tell them how to live and manage The Park.

A new-ish Ranger from Ohio has been making noises about expanding the few roads within The Park to make it more accessible to tourists (and the $$$ tourists spend). Locals disagree. After a local council meeting with the townspeople, the Ranger disappears. By the time the book opens, he’s been missing for 8 weeks. And his daddy, an Ohio congressman, has squeezed the FBI to investigate. DC calls the Anchorage office who gets an investigator from the District Attorney’s office to look into the missing son/ranger.

That was two weeks ago and now he’s missing, too. The DA’s office knows Kate lives in the Park and sends someone to convince her to start asking questions, which she begrudgingly accepts. The trail goes all over the area local to the disappearances. Family, friends, drunks, poachers, Outsiders, and Park hermits show up in various situations, mostly with an alibi.

Stebanow has been reviewed by us here at MRB. She’s an Edgar Award winner who lives on the border between civilization and the Alaskan bush. Her stories are direct and quick. I’m not sure if the quick read is because her books aren’t all that long or because she’s such a good writer that the time passes quickly. One of the terrific selling points is the way she manages to make the Alaskan wilderness a vital character of the story. Sort of how George Pelacanos makes Washington, DC a vital plot element in his books.

Pick up most any Kate Shugak books to be transported to a world most of us will never get to because that land is just so remote. Add that to a story web that has multiple criss-cross trails, enough to make you run out of fuel from all the running around on her Arctic Cat snowmobile.

 

 East Coast Don