Killing grounds

Dana Stabenow

Language: English

Published: Mar 1, 1998

Description:

EDITORIAL REVIEW: Like Nevada Barr, Dana Stabenow writes mysteries so firmly rooted in the natural world that their sense of place becomes a vital part of the plot. In this book about Native Alaskan crime solver Kate Shugak, the ocean and the men who fish it for salmon are described in such vivid detail that you'll never look at a salmon steak the same way again. When a particularly nasty fisherman is murdered, there's no end of suspects--including members of Kate's own family. The story also sports a richly ironic undertone of political incorrectness, as Kate muses about the forest rangers, "who wanted to annex every square foot of land they saw and keep it pristine and inviolate, unsullied by human hand. They failed to recall that the indigenous peoples who came across the Bering land bridge during the last Ice Age had their hands all over anything that had the remotest possibility of nutritional value, and were every bit as much of the landscape and the wheel of life as the fish and the birds and the mammals." Previous Shugak sorties in paperback include *Breakup*, *Blood Will Tell*, *Play with Fire*, and *A Cold-Blooded Business*. SUMMARY: Summer in Alaska is synonymous with salmon, and the latest Kate Shugak mystery finds our heroine up to her ears in chinooks and chicanery."Every time I think Ms. Stabenow has gotten as good as she can get, she comes up with something better. Wrap your ribs for safety, find a place where you will not be disturbed for a couple of hours, and indulge yourself", The Washington Times advised its readers in its review of Breakup. In Killing Grounds, Kate finds that commercial fishing can be a deadly business.Deckhanding for Old Sam Dementieff on board the fishing tender Freya, Kate helps haul in salmon, halibut, and the body of a widely disliked fisherman, whose apparent murder is greeted with such boisterous rejoicing that she's unsure whether to arrest the killer or give him a medal.Drafted by State Trooper Jim Chopin to assist in the investigation, Kate draws up a list of suspects that includes the dead man's troubled teenaged son and daughter, his not-so-grief-stricken widow, and half the skippers of the fishing fleet. At the same time, Kate's Aleut aunties, attending a fish camp on Amartuq Creek, are mixed up in some fishy dealings of their own, which Kate must prove do not include murder. A coterie of colorful supporting characters, including a Native American-wannabe, an idealistic fish hawk, and a Presbyterian minister, alternately hinder and help Kate's investigation.With the attention to the details and difficulties of Alaskan life and another o