Review by Booklist Review
When Anne Gordaoff, an Alaskan State Senate candidate, begins getting death threats, she hires PI Kate Shugak to provide security. Then a campaign fund-raiser and a researcher are murdered. Kate soon learns that the clue to the killer's identity is hidden in the unsolved murder of a frontier dance-hall girl in 1915. This eleventh Kate Shugak novel combines historical material--the present-day mystery is interlaced with flashbacks to the 1915 crime--with a campaign diary and a meditation on modern parents and children. Unfortunately, with so many plot elements to juggle, Stabenow is unable to devote adequate time to Kate's quirky character and the striking Alaskan landscape--the hallmarks of the series. Steer readers new to Stabenow to an earlier Shugak book--Breakup (1997) or Killing Ground (1998)--and recommend this one only to committed fans, who will want to keep up with the series. --John Rowen
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
HThe background of a hard-fought political campaign in Alaska (where "in a gathering of four people there are five marriages, six divorces, and seven political parties") and the devastating effect of a century-old scandal on the candidates gives even greater depth than usual to Stabenow's 11th Kate Shugak mystery. Kate, slowly recovering from the death of her lover, Jack Morgan, in 2000's Midnight Come Again, is hired as a security expert by Anne Gordaoff, a state senate candidate of partial Native heritage who has received threatening letters. Also appealing to Kate for protection is Jack's teenage son, Johnny, who has run away from his abusive mother. When Gordaoff's future son-in-law and a woman doing background research for Gordaoff are murdered, Kate joins state trooper Jim Chopin and local police chief Ken Hazen in the investigation. The novel shifts effortlessly between the present and the past, tracing the career of one of the state's most notorious "good time girls" from the gold mining era. The author paints a strong, striking picture of the tough life in Alaska 100 years ago and the narrow choice offered women housekeeper or whore. The character of Angel Beecham, known as the Dawson Darling, is compellingly portrayed as a complex woman whose relationship to the contemporary characters is slyly revealed in the epilogue (but wait until you've finished the book to read it). With well-drawn characters, splendid scenery and an insider's knowledge of Alaskan history and politics, this fine novel ranks as one of Stabenow's best. (May 15) Forecast: Striking but rather generic jacket art may attract non-mystery readers, and planned national publicity should push Stabenow out of the "regional" category. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Anne Gordaoff, candidate for the Alaska state senate, is receiving threatening letters. Though sharp, fiesty Aleutian PI Kate Shugak is still recovering from her last job, she allows herself to be talked into protecting Anne. When two of Anne's campaign workers are killed, Kate must find the connection between the senatorial race and the unsolved death of Angel Beecham, an Alaskan Gold Rush prostitute who was murdered in 1915. Debates between Anne and the incumbent senator about fishing and hunting rights and Native self-governance are informative without being heavy-handed, and Stabenow's love of the Alaskan bush is infectious. Side stories involving a 14-year-old runaway and a rekindled romance for Kate add interest, but there is so much going on that the mystery doesn't build much suspense before it is rather precipitously and predictably resolved. Nonetheless, this 11th book of Stabenow's award-winning series is a good read and is recommended for public libraries. Jane la Plante, Minot State Univ. Lib., ND (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Her friends (surprising in number considering her antisocial tendencies) are treating Kate Shugak like fragile goodsbut, as her 11th adventure demonstrates, shes stamped Expedite Delivery (or Else). Back in Niniltna, still grieving over Jack Morgan, Kate (Midnight Come Again, 2000, etc.) takes on new responsibilities. First, theres Jacks son Johnny, who has hitchhiked to Alaska. Kate stashes him with Ethan Int-Hout, her sort-of stepbrother and first crush. Then theres Anne Gordaoff, a Native American running for state senate against the incumbent, Alaskan aristocrat Peter Heiman. When Anne receives threatening notes, her win-at-all-costs campaign manager, Darlene Shelikof, hires Kate to guard her. While Kate tries to decide what she dislikes moreDarlene or the campaign trailsomeone performs coitus interruptus with a pistol on Annes future son-in-law, Jeff Hosford. Hosford not only called Kate a cute little thing but also hid connections to Heiman. Then another threatening note arrives, narrowing the field of suspects to the Gordaoff inner circle. Kate rousts them, to find staff researcher Paula Pawlowski murdered. Materials used for the notes are found at Paulas house, but Kate remembers Paula s excitement at discovering, while she was researching both candidates family histories, the murder of a prostitute during the Klondike Gold Rush. The incident, though great material for Paulas novel (and Stabenows), could well prove deadly knowledge 85 years later. Apart for one misstep, Kate foils the note-writer and the murderer without much effort. Her relationships, however, remain as unresolved as the prostitutes ancient murder.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
