In this 20th book in the 'Kate Shugak' series, the Alaskan private investigator helps her State Trooper boyfriend investigate two murders. The book can be read as a standalone but familiarity with the characters is a bonus.
*****
Aleut private detective Kate Shugak, a former investigator with the district attorney's office, lives on an isolated homestead in Alaska with her boyfriend, Alaska State Trooper Jim Chopin.
Because of the vast distances in Alaska Jim patrols in a small plane, but he isn't welcome everywhere.
This is especially true in the two hamlets of Kushtaka and Kuskulana, which lie on either side of a river, and have been feuding for over a century.
When the U.S. government offered financial incentives long ago, Kuskulana signed on while Kustaka - which wanted to adhere to the traditional old ways - refused. Kuskulana is now a prosperous town with jobs, stores, and a good school while Kustaka is a dying village with fewer than 10 students.
The bad feelings between Kushtaka and Kuskulana may now have escalated to murder. The body of teenager Tyler Mack is found in his family's fish wheel in Kushtaka.....
.....and the body of Kuskulana carpenter Mitch Halvorsen is found in the crawl space of a house he was building.
Trooper Chopin suspects some kind of tit for tat killing, but no one in either Kushtaka or Kuskulana will tell him anything. Residents of both regions insist they saw nothing, heard nothing, and know nothing.....and they'd just as soon Jim didn't come around at all.
Meanwhile, there's a kind of Romeo and Juliet romance between a Kushtaka girl called Jennifer and a Kuskulana boy named Ryan, which - if it comes to light - could set off a war between the two regions.
Kate Shugak, who's between cases of her own, helps her boyfriend Jim investigate the murders with the assistance of her smart half dog/half wolf Mutt, who accompanies her everywhere.
It turns out there's a lot going on beneath the surface in Kushtaka and Kuskulana, with a gold mine nearby whose workers like whiskey and fun. There's plenty of incentive for bad behavior, and trouble inevitably follows.
Much of the charm of this series lies in the depiction of Alaska, where people fish, hunt, and get around on snowmobiles.....and even the pastor flies her own plane to minister to her flock. When Kate sets off on a multi-day snowmobile jaunt, her preparations are impressive!
This is an enjoyable atmospheric mystery with clever twists.
Rating: 3 stars
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