Rating: 
Summary: Remember what Glinda said
Review: "It's always best to start at the beginning." That is what Glinda, the "Good Witch" of the North, tells Dorothy as she sets off on her journey from Munchkinland to the Emerald City of Oz. This is also good advice for those embarking upon Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak Alaskan mystery series. I came in mid-stream at the previous book, "Midnight Come Again," and admit to being lost at times. Nonetheless, this book craftily illuminates Alaskan geography, history, sociology, and politics, and at the same time gives the reader a darned good "who-dunnit."
Rating:
Summary: Another good read
Review: Another good weekend spent in Alaska with long-time friends. I just hope that Stabenow never stops writing this wonderful series.
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Summary: It's Alaskan, so I'll read it
Review: I was born in Alaska and lived there 23 years. I enjoy these books because it reminds me of home. Some are better than others. I still keep up on Alaska politics via adn.com, but this book didn't really ring very true with me. Hard for me to believe Kate is so darn appealing to every male she meets. Alaska men aren't that desperate for short native heavily scarred women.
The historical parallel story of the "good time girl" of the gold rush area was entertaining.
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Summary: Singing of the Praises
Review: If I could carry a tune...I LOVE Dana Stabenow. I fell upon her (as an author) by accident and have not regretted a book since. I savored Hunter's Moon (Number 9) but felt shaken by the end. I nearly gave up. While I enjoyed the next book, I still hadn't come back to make camp with Kate... I am back with Singing of the Dead. Keep up the good work, Dana!
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Summary: Good addition to the series
Review: In the 11th. book of the Kate Shugak series, Dana Stabenow weaves 2 parallel stories into an interesting whole. The story with the current setting tells of Kate's new job as a security guard for Anne Gordaoff, a candidate for state senator from Kate's district. During the course of the campaign, the candidate's future son-in-law is murdered. This brings a new urgency to Kate's job and causes her to align with sometime friend and lover Jim Chopin to solve the case. When another body appears, the campaign workers' concerns deepen. The parallel story is told at the turn of the 20th. century with its central character being a "good time girl" during the Gold Rush days. She earns her living in the only way she knows how and supports her son through hardships and associations with abusive men. Her death has never been solved, but Kate connects it to her current case and discovers both killers at once. This is a good read and gives Stabenow's usual insider's view on Alaska.
Rating: 
Summary: Deep Alaska
Review: Stabenow gives a good read for those of us making do at times with outdoor mystery novels instead of getting into the wild as much as we'd like. She also has a sage eye for the political complexities of Alaskan environmental and native issues. This politico loved the campaign trail storyline and the double plot, and got a kick out of Chopper Jim's true colors. As with all her books, I walked away feeling proud to be an armchair Alaskan.
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Summary: Two Very Well Told Stories
Review: Stabenow manages to entertain the reader with two very good stories in this book. Kate Shugak is employed as security to a woman who is campaigning for a Park Senate seat. About 100 years ago, a "working girl" falls in love and marries the man who was the highest bidder when she auctioned herself to the men of Dawson. Stabenow takes us back and forth between these two stories and it becomes clear that a connection will be made. The pace never falters and the characters, as always, are complete in every detail. In one part of the book, DS writes about Kate's love of books. Reading for fun. Preferring a book to television. The inability to pass a bookstore without going in. This really struck a chord with me. I'm just guessing here, but I think Stabenow has endowed Kate with her own love of books. Maybe that is why she is able to tell such good tales. She understands readers because she is one herself. I truely appreciate her efforts, as one reader to another. Oh, and what about the glove? Where have I heard about a glove found at the scene of a crime before? Hummmmm.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't fit a square peg in a round hole
Review: THE SINGING OF THE DEAD seems to be about two different stories: The first involves Kate Shugak's new job as "protection" for Anne Gordaoff's political campaign; the second flashes back to the travails of a "good-time girl" during the gold rush days in Alaska. The second is much more compelling than the first.
Someone has been sending Gordaoff threatening letters and Shugak is hired to protect her. She needs the money to help provide for her dead lover's son, whose mother wants him back, apparently just to spite Shugak. And that's what's wrong with this book. Everybody has it in for Kate Shugak. It's like President Nixon said about Reagan, "She's just not a pleasant person to be around." Shugak also locks horns with Gordaoff's campaign manager, Darlene Shelikof, with whom she attended The University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She doesn't get along with men any better, even those she's attracted to, like state cop Jim Chopin whom she thinks is condescending.
After two members of Gordaoff's staff are murdered, the murderer comes looking for Shugak. It's especially galling for Shugak when Chopin saves her. I found the resolution to be about as believable as the Kennedy conspiracies. Stabenow can't get the two stories to jibe and so she pounds a square peg into a round hole. I also kept paging ahead to see where the good-time girl story continued.
Rating:
Summary: Can't fit a square peg in a round hole
Review: THE SINGING OF THE DEAD seems to be about two different stories: The first involves Kate Shugak's new job as "protection" for Anne Gordaoff's political campaign; the second flashes back to the travails of a "good-time girl" during the gold rush days in Alaska. The second is much more compelling than the first.
Someone has been sending Gordaoff threatening letters and Shugak is hired to protect her. She needs the money to help provide for her dead lover's son, whose mother wants him back, apparently just to spite Shugak. And that's what's wrong with this book. Everybody has it in for Kate Shugak. It's like President Nixon said about Reagan, "She's just not a pleasant person to be around." Shugak also locks horns with Gordaoff's campaign manager, Darlene Shelikof, with whom she attended The University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She doesn't get along with men any better, even those she's attracted to, like state cop Jim Chopin whom she thinks is condescending.
After two members of Gordaoff's staff are murdered, the murderer comes looking for Shugak. It's especially galling for Shugak when Chopin saves her. I found the resolution to be about as believable as the Kennedy conspiracies. Stabenow can't get the two stories to jibe and so she pounds a square peg into a round hole. I also kept paging ahead to see where the good-time girl story continued.
Rating:
Summary: A chilling political murder mystery
Review: The Singing Of The Dead: A Kate Shugak Novel by Dana Stabenow is a chilling political murder mystery. The strong-willed and firm-minded heroine Kate Shugak decides to work security for a Native American woman running for state senator. But the bizarre of the campaign's staff researcher pulls Kate Shugak into a murderous web stretching back ninety years, and pits her against a modern-day killer with a cold and cruel irreverence for human life. Suspenseful and occasionally down-right mesmerizing listening, this complete and unabridged audiobook edition of The Singing Of The Dead is very ably narrated by Marguerite Gavin and strongly recommended for community library audiobook collections.
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