A Grave Denied

Rating:
Summary: Sorry, folks. This one is disappointing.
Review:    The 13th book in Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak Series is a murder mystery involving the death of Len Dreyer, an expert handyman whose frozen body, mutilated by a shotgun blast to the chest, is found inside an ice cave of the receding Grant Glacier.

   The novel is set in and around Niniltna, near Ahtna and Cordova, south of Anchorage. Shugak and Alaska State Trooper Jim Chopin, accompanied by Kate's "adopted" son, Johnny Morgan, and Kate's faithful canine companion Mutt, investigate this baffling murder of a man whom everyone knew, and yet no one really knew.

   A murderer is loose in "The Land of the Midnight Sun." So is an arsonist, a sexual predator and child molester, and a law enforcement wannabe who fatally miscalculates the lurking danger.

   Regrettably, A Grave Denied is a disappointing read. Although featuring interesting characters, the novel has its problems.

   The on-again, off-again mating dance between Shugak and Chopin, described in overheated and exaggerated terms, strikes this reviewer as the unintentional hilarious parody of a B-grade "romance potboiler."

   Throughout the novel, the language of the characters varies from raw and rude to sleazy and crude. For example, at one point Kate says, "Not to be crude, but  . . ." and then proceeds with a crude remark. Such continual verbal abuse seems gratuitous.

   Also, this novel from Stabenow, an Anchorage native and resident, is unnecessarily repetitious. The long-suffering reader must endure a rehash of the same clues, which, in the end, are quite unrelated to unraveling the identity of the killer.

   The most serious flaw, though, is the deus ex machina that, suddenly and unexpectedly, provides a contrived solution to the apparently insoluble murder mystery. A big letdown, this lazy "solution" leaves one feeling cheated. A Grave Denied should be titled A Plot Denied.

Rating:
Summary: Not All the Chills Are Because of the Weather
Review: I love a good mystery series, which is why I wish I had made the acquaintance of Dana Stabenow and the marvelous Kate Shugak a long time ago. However, that oversight has now been corrected and you may be sure I'll be eagerly looking for more. I would also urge anyone who also has failed to make the acquaintance of these two to remedy the situation immediately.

When a quartet of middle-schoolers discovers a body under the Grant Glacier while on a field trip, Kate is drawn in on two counts. First, her ward Johnny, son of her dead lover, was one of the four. Second, State Trooper Jim Chopin wants her help. He wants Kate, too, but that's another issue.

Then someone burns Kate's cabin to the ground-and would have done the same to her and Johnny if they'd been home. Jim officially throws her off the case, but now it's become personal.

I'll be the first to admit that, for me, Alaska is one of those places I'd like to visit but wouldn't live in. I'm too fond of being warm. But this particular visit was well worth the trip, an engrossing and multi-layered story that to a degree brought to mind the television series Northern Exposure. The people who inhabit Ms. Stabenow's book have the same unique character quirks while still never edging beyond the boundaries of reality. Meeting them for the first time, in all their fierce independence and determination to give no more to the Powers That Be than is absolutely necessary, it's not at all hard to believe that a man could live among them for decades without anyone ever learning much more about him than his name.

Ms. Stabenow masterfully manages to untangle the basic mystery-who killed the handyman?-while at the same time drawing the reader into the lives of the people among whom it took place, and by the time she's done and the final, shocking answer is revealed, one feels just as affected as do the members of her fictional community.

Those who have had the good fortune to make Kate Shugak's acquaintance will surely find this a worthy addition to their collection. Those who, like me, have just been introduced are going to want to start one.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Writer
Review: I think that Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak novels are some of the best reading I have ever seen. I am a prolific reader, with fiction being one of my main hobbies. Her novels, while giving a wonderful tour of Alaska, are easy to read, easy to follow, and always interesting. I first discovered her while recovering from a serious operation and I was bedridden looking for something to take my mind off my discomfort. Someone brought me a Kate Shugak novel and I hadn't read three chapters when I went to the front of the book to see if there were more out there. I immediately ordered the entire collection and paid extra for rapid shipping. I have never regreted that, I only wish she would write more often.

Rating:
Summary: Atmospheric and suspenseful
Review: The Alaskan wilderness and the character of the people who live there form the heart of this latest Kate Shugak novel. It's spring in the Park, a breathtaking time of wildflowers and calving icebergs. Kate is feeling her way through parenting her dead lover's teenage son, Johnny Morgan, and possibly embarking on a romance with State Trooper Jim Chopin. Then a body is found beneath a melting glacier.

Everybody knew the dead man, Len Dreyer. As a talented handyman, his skills were in high demand. But, as Kate helps Jim investigate, she finds that while everyone praises his work, no one really knew him at all. This community of self-sufficient loners may be close, but it's not necessarily intimate.

This theme recurs again and again - during the investigation, but also in the human drama of Kate's prickly relationships with lovers, friends, her dead Aleut grandmother and her new son. Her independence is a property that requires a lot of room and good fences - with creaky gates.

The plot moves right along and danger threatens as Kate probes too deep. Though there's a little too much affectionate banter, there's also plenty of suspense and a disturbing, unexpected ending, but the power behind this one is magnificent Alaska - a place that sets its inhabitants apart.