SYNOPSIS:
KATE SHUGAK is a native Aleut working as a private investigator in Alaska. She's 5 foot 1 inch tall, carries a scar that runs from ear to ear across her throat and owns half-wolf, half-husky dog named Mutt. Resourceful, strong-willed, defiant, Kate is tougher than your average heroine - and she needs to be to survive the worst the Alaskan wilds can throw at her. A COLD DAY FOR MURDER: Somewhere in twenty million acres of forest and glaciers, a ranger has disappeared: Mark Miller. Missing six weeks. It's assumed by the Alaskan Parks Department that Miller has been caught in a snowstorm and frozen to death, the typical fate of those who get lost in this vast and desolate terrain. But as a favour to his congressman father, the FBI send in an investigator: Ken Dahl. Last heard from two weeks and two days ago.Now it's time to send in a professional. Kate Shugak: light brown eyes, black hair, five foot tall with an angry scar from ear to ear. Last seen yesterday...
REVIEW:
Whilst this book has been available for quite some time in the States, it’s being brought to the attention of the British public by new publisher Head of Zeus. Whilst the series is now well established, as a reader I love to go back and start from the beginning with authors who’ve established themselves to see how they’ve changed their writing over the time.
Yet for all that, we have to remember that this was a first book and as such learn to expect that there will be problems with the prose, the pace and at times even the plot. What this book does for me is a wonderful introduction to a culture I really don’t know that much about, the author brings the tempestuous relationship between the native peoples and the government over wonderfully and the story is definitely one that whilst investigating the disappearance of two men, really does a good job of allowing the reader to get to know the principle character.
Add to the fact that she’s quite single-minded and all round it’s a book that has more than intrigued me to read the others in the series. Yes there are problems such as the loss of pace in parts, yes there are problems with some of the other elements but Kate is definitely a heroine that will find a place in a great many readers hearts (alongside Mutt, her pet) and whilst for many she’s a seasoned veteran of the bookshelves, to the UK, she’s new and definitely ready to rumble with the others on the shelf.
SYNOPSIS:
KATE SHUGAK is a native Aleut working as a private investigator in Alaska. She's 5 foot 1 inch tall, carries a scar that runs from ear to ear across her throat and owns half-wolf, half-husky dog named Mutt. Resourceful, strong-willed, defiant, Kate is tougher than your average heroine - and she needs to be to survive the worst the Alaskan wilds can throw at her. A FATAL THAW: Eleven days ago, Roger McAniff bought himself a new Winchester 30.06 rifle. Ten days ago he went out to test it. Now nine people are dead. But only eight were killed by McAniff...Stephen Syms. Patrick Jorgensen. Lyle and Lucy Longstaff. Lisa Getty. The Weiss family, John, Tina, and their two children. All slaughtered. Considering she would have been his final victim, Kate Shugak almost regrets not killing Roger McAniff. But Lisa Getty was killed by a different rifle. Different rifle, different shooter. And Kate Shugak is tasked with tracking this unknown killer down before the case goes completely cold...
REVIEW:
OK, so I’m straight back in for my second outing with Kate Shugak, and as a reader, getting the chance to compare the first two titles so close together really does allow you to see the lessons that the author has learned from the original. Here the characters are crisper, the plot line slicker and of course the reader is in for a treat as a mystery comes to the fore wrapped up in an enigma that Kate has to solve.
There’s some wonderful twists, a host of cast members that are wonderfully fleshed out and when added to a plotline that works wonderfully well on so many levels, definitely demonstrates that the reader is in for one hell of a good read with these books. Whilst shorter than quite a few other books out there now, it doesn’t suffer for it as it keeps it pretty punchy. All round a great read and one that proves that Kate is definitely not a one shot pony.
SYNOPSIS:
KATE SHUGAK is a native Aleut working as a private investigator in Alaska. She's 5 foot 1 inch tall, carries a scar that runs from ear to ear across her throat and owns half-wolf, half-husky dog named Mutt. Resourceful, strong-willed, defiant, Kate is tougher than your average heroine - and she needs to be to survive the worst the Alaskan wilds can throw at her. DEAD IN THE WATER: Last March, two men disappeared whilst loading supplies on a remote island in the Bering Sea: two million square miles of dark capricious ocean and tempestuous squalls. Their Skipper, Harry Gault, should have been fired, at the least. But six months later he's still aboard the Avilda, and the families of the missing men are making noises about corruption. With the crew backing his version of events, what the authorities need is an investigator who can survive the torturous conditions on an Alaskan fishing trawler. Someone like Kate Shugak...
REVIEW:
The third book in the series and whilst this one still kept me going, it was more a book about the people and land than a real mystery bound up within which to be honest is a bit of a problem when that’s the key element to which this series is based. Don’t get me wrong, the characters are still wonderfully rounded, the descriptiveness of life on a crabbing vessel works well and with the inclusion of a native tradition, its something that does keep you more than interested due to the fact that she brings it all over wonderfully well.
All in a solid enough title but for me, it really doesn’t surpass the second outing and whilst I’ll continue to read the series, I am a little apprehensive leaving it for a while in case I tend to remember the negative rather than the positive aspects.
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