No fixed line

The twenty-second Kate Shugak novel finds the Alaska private investigator digging into a mystery that's as disheartening as it is tantalizing. An airplane has crashed. There are two survivors, a young boy and girl who speak not a word of English. Who they are and where they came from are the immediate concerns of Kate and former state trooper Jim Chopin, but Kate is also dealing with a ghost from her past and an attack on herself that could alter her life. As always, Stabenow's prose is as smooth as ice, her characters as lifelike as real people, her plot intricate without being unnecessarily complicated. Here she employs shifting points of view--Kate's, the children's, the villains'--to tell the story from different angles, trusting the reader to piece together the larger picture. A fine entry in a series that's deservedly a fan favorite.

A plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness kicks off Edgar winner Stabenow's excellent 22nd Kate Shugak mystery (after 2017's Less Than a Treason). Former State Trooper Jim Chopin, Kate's beau, is called out of retirement to go to the crash site, where he discovers two survivors, children who don't speak English. When the children turn out to be trafficked refugees kept by a drug-smuggling pedophile, PI Shugak, who operates from the national park that contains the crash site, investigates. She goes up against powerful foes from both inside and outside Alaska, including two goons sent by the smuggling ring. As plenty of villains have learned over the decades, this is a woman who shouldn't be underestimated and has plenty of fight left in her. Stabenow's affection for her characters, in particular Chopin, shines through, as does her fondness for the Alaskan country she knows so well. Fans will hope this series goes on forever. (Jan.)