Mystery Crime Books

This book is more than a mystery but a look at what is happening in Gaza. I thoroughly enjoyed the story even if I believe it portrays a rather implausible series of events. How does Yussef survive?

In a preface, the author states that the book is based on real events and folks were killed and died in the manner described. Is that aspect of the book credible? If so, there can be very little hope. Therefore, the author is indeed making a political statement. Why are good mystery writers so pessimistic about the future in their respective societies? I guess that is the nature of the beast. Is the author trying to link Henning Mankell and his wonderful Wallender series with this book by using a character named Wallender?

"As Omar Yussef came along the passage, the flies left the flooded toilets to examine him. The filth in the latrines soon lured most of them back, but a small, droning escort orbited him as he sweated toward Gaza". This is the opening paragraph in, "A Grave in Gaza", the second installment in the "Omar Yussef" mystery series by Matt Beynon Rees. Rees was the Jerusalem Bureau Chief for "Time" magazine and still lives there, now working as a freelance journalist and author.

The first book in the series ("The Collaborator of Bethlehem") was, in my opinion, a genre piece. In this book, the author appears to have established his metier. Omar Yussef is not a professional detective. Rather, he is a prematurely aged teacher, whose sense of justice has compelled him into the role of involved detective. The plot, which lacks some of the byzantine complexities characteristic of modern detective novels, is refreshingly linear. Without being a spoiler, suffice it to say that Omar Yussef becomes involved in an attempt to resolve the arrest of a teacher and is subsequently immersed in the investigation of more complex and inter-related criminal enterprises.

This book is well written and it is brutally honest about the problems that exist in the Palestinian lands, it is (to borrow a phrase from the text), "...a textbook of Gaza history". There are plenty of clever analogies and adroit use of symbolism, such as the khamsin, a 50-day-long dust storm, which obscures the view and permeates the story. The author makes every effort to describe Palestinian Arab culture in a sympathetic fashion, yet, he is quite candid about the role of tribalism (replete with revenge killings), the pervasive corruption of the PLO/Fatah, the pernicious and self-serving interests of the various militias, the corrosive cultural influences, the rampant criminality, the bad governance and the pervasive atmosphere of despair (tinged with a fatalistic element of hope). Israel and Israelis, when they appear at all, do so as a background feature: necessary to the plot, but not a part of it.

In summary, this is a first-class mystery and has other features of substantial interest: the author's narrative skills have gelled in this book. If the reader's attention is dulled by standard, academic histories, it would be hard to beat this book as a fascinating background source. I've pre-ordered the next Omar Yussef book in anticipation of another tour de force.

This second in Rees' series featuring the dogged 50-something former alcoholic Omar Yussef finds the Palestinian history teacher accompanying two UN officials - a Swede and a Scot - on a school inspection in Gaza. But they never get to the inspections.

One of their UN teachers, who also teaches at the university, has been arrested for collaboration, a death-penalty charge, with the penalty likely to come before the trial. The teacher's actual crime? He has accused the university of selling degrees to the security services, of which there are several factions.

Rees knows Palestinian politics, corruption, and ruthlessness and soon plunges the reader into this bewildering, hopeless mess of power struggles and intrigue. Though the first murder does not take place for more than 100 pages, the growing tension provides plenty of suspense. Inevitably, the tension explodes. Omar Yussef, acting as translator, go-between and investigator, fed up with Palestinian factionalism and corruption, finds himself at the center of a violent vortex.

Rees, who lives in Jerusalem, paints a portrait of Gaza even more hopeless than the one you might construct from news accounts. From vicious dust storms to righteous thugs, the place teems with misery. But family remains at the core of ordinary life, with food and hospitality providing dignity and comfort.

Deeply atmospheric and politically knowledgeable, Rees' novels are eye-opening page-turners.

One of the more interesting literary trends of recent years is the notable increase in the number of novels, mysteries and stories set in the Middle East and told from the points-of-view of those born to the region. Some of this fiction is written by citizens of that part of the world and some of it by Westerners who have spent significant segments of their own lives there. Regardless of the author's origin, however, the best of this new fiction presents memorable insights into everyday Muslim culture that are seldom as memorably obtainable from histories or other nonfiction written about the area.

Matt Beynon Rees, himself from Wales, but living in Jerusalem, has written one of the better ones with A Grave in Gaza, the second novel in his Omar Yussef mystery series.

Omar Yussef, in his mid-fifties, is the principal of a U.N. sponsored refugee school on the West Bank where he also teaches history. As the novel opens he is accompanying his boss, a U.N. employee from Sweden, on what is to be an inspection tour of U.N. schools in Gaza. But some things are not to be and, because the two men discover almost immediately upon their arrival in Gaza that a local U.N. schoolteacher has been arrested on trumped-up spying and collaboration charges, the inspection tour is forgotten in their efforts to gain the teacher's release before he is tortured or killed by those who hold him.

Yussef is a relatively simple man who has a keen sense of right and wrong, a man who loves his wife and grandchildren, and who feels a strong personal obligation to seek justice in a world gone mad, just the world he finds in Gaza. What starts as a simple quest to free a fellow teacher he has never met, becomes much more complicated when Yussef ignores a warning that there is no such thing as a "single, isolated crime (in Gaza)" and that his insistence upon freeing his colleague will anger and threaten some powerful and ruthless men who are willing to do whatever it takes to stop Yussef's snooping.

In a matter of days, violence becomes the order of the day and Omar Yussef desperately struggles to make sense of the several, almost tribal, factions that compete to dominate what passes for local government in Gaza while trying to stay alive long enough to free both the schoolteacher and his Swedish boss who has by now been kidnaped by unknown gunmen.

A Grave in Gaza is a wonderfully atmospheric novel, especially in terms of the prolonged dust storm that dominates the area, and almost the story itself, during most of Yussef's stay in Gaza. It leaves the reader with a feel for what everyday life in Gaza must be like for those who simply desire to live normal lives with their families amidst a society dominated by crime, corruption, violence, and a religious war that uses their children as disposable, human explosives. Some will consider A Grave in Gaza to be a political novel, some a mystery, and others will call it a thriller. However they categorize the book, most readers will agree that Rees has written a first rate novel and will look forward to the third Omar Yussef mystery

In the early pages of Matt Beynon Rees' new book, "A Grave in Gaza," one its characters observes that in the political and social devastation of today's Gaza territory "there is no single, isolated crime (here). Each one is linked to many others...when you touch one of them, it sets off reverberations that will be felt by powerful people, ruthless people." This is expressed as a friendly warning to the book's protagonist, Omar Yussuf Sirhan (Abu Ramiz), the principled teacher turned-detective, who travels to Gaza from the West Bank on a routine school inspection and finds himself trying to save first an imprisoned Palestinian whistleblower and very quickly after, his friend and kidnapped UN colleague, Magnus Wallender. Driven by personal decency and a sense of moral outrage, Omar Yussuf plunges into a labyrinth of gang warfare and dueling warlords on behalf of his colleagues and almost loses his own liberty and life.
Author Rees deftly uses Omar Yussuf's pursuit of his colleagues' liberation to take a hard look at the pervasive corruption and physical degeneration that characterize life in Gaza for all those trapped in that small territory. Rees enhances his novel with impressive explanations of the history of the area and, more interestingly, with one wonderful character study after another. The author's graphic and continuing description of the ever-present dust storms and what they do the human disposition and the physical landscape, are highly effective and extremely discomforting. As intricate and good as the plot is in this novel, the character studies and descriptions of the place are even better. This is an insightful and wise book that is rich with wonderful writing. Highly recommended.

I've no idea why Ms. Johansen does this. It's not the first time. She comes up with a very good story for a novel. The author then peppers most of the story with a romance dialogue between the two main characters. The drivel is repetitious & endless. It's the same dialogue over & over & over. Incidentally, it carries over to her son & mother in law as well.
Seth & his contacts are very good. Kate Denby, the heroine, is a doctor who will simply give you a headache rather than cure one. The heroine becomes tiresome, boring, & annoying.
I found myself mostly scanning the book every time I saw the word Kate.
The story does have a nice little twist toward the end which I almost scanned over since Kate was involved.
Ms. Johansen needs to decide if she's writing a suspense thriller or a romance novel since she can't seem to weave the two together in the same book. Why does she need to say the same thing repeatedly? I gave it 3 stars for the story. The story saved it from 2 stars; possibly 1

I don't often read a Johansen novel, in fact I think I've read two, but both have been pretty interesting and decent reads. That being said, Long After Midnight was a pretty good book. It wasn't the best suspense novel I've read this year, nor was it the worst. I think the main thing that sticks out about this book for me, since I read it two months ago, was just that the characters were very likeable and the plot was intriguing enough that you wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen. At times it moved fast, other parts seemed to drag a bit, but over all it was a good book. I might pick up another of her books, we'll see.

This book grabs you and keeps you hanging on. Very well-written... you won't be able to put it down!

You'll get hooked since the first page and you wouldn't be able to put it down till you finish it. All the time you'll think that Kate is kind of ruthless. But at the unexpected end you'll see all the truth about her and her heart. Six stars for IJ.

Long After Midnight is only the second novel by Iris Johansen I have gotten around to reading. I loved everything about this book. Kate was a very likeable character. She was strong but towards the end willing to admit she needed help. Seth was great. At first I thought I wouldn't like him but he turned out to be good guy. Kate ended up with the right guy. Noah was to like herself. Ishmaru was a very creepy bad guy. The whole Indian mysticism was kind of scary coming from him. Some people take things to far. The only thing that wasn't plausible was RU2, it seems kind of unbelieveable. But all and all it was a very suspenseful journey.

This was a cute mystery with the turtle being a "witness". Until recently I wouldn't have given much credence to a turtle being able to communicate, but then I had the chance to see a pet turtle with its owner and I'm a believer now. I would recommend this book.

Mary Catherine Roberts is a pet psychic who can communicate with all types of creatures. She is world famous and has her own talk show on Lite 102 5 WRSC in Wilmington, Delaware. She has converted the building she owns into an animals shelter, which depends on donations to supplement the large amount of money she contributes.

One day when Mary Catherine was driving home she hears a noise as if a creature is in distress. She zeroes in on the anguished sounds until she finds a house. Inside is a woman whose throat is slashed. She takes Tommy the Turtle with her to her home, but is shocked to learn the victim was Ferndelle Jamison, her station manager Colin's aunt. He immediately becomes a suspect because he is expected to inherit her fortune. Mary Catherine rejects the notion that Colin killed his aunt, but someone threatens her by injuring her beloved cat Balor and makes nasty calls to her show. When she gets injured after someone breaks in her home, former cop Charlie, now a private eye is hired to protect her. He is like a guardian angel after someone cuts her brake lines. However in spite of him, an unknown adversary plans to make Mary Catherine deceased number two,

Joyce & Jim Lavene always write a charming cozy that immerses the reader deep into the story line. THE TELLTALE TURTLE is no exception as the audience will enjoy middle aged Mary Catherine's antics as the heroine does not slow down for a breather especially since her menagerie includes new guest Tommy, her cat Balor, a horde of canines, and some sly squirrels, etc. Plus she has a case to work as the cops focus on Colin while she looks elsewhere. The audience will enjoy this fine lighthearted tale and look forward to more capers in this delightful series.

Harriet Klausner

Let me put it this way: I started reading this book around 4 PM when we were evacuated to Huntsville, AL from Hurricane Gustav. I read all night and finished it the next morning! Although it is fiction, with it relating to 9/11, you think: This could have happened! And the biblical truths that were revealed in the character's lives (and deaths) touched my heart. Read it! You will be glad you did.

I love Karen Kingsbury and I enjoyed this book. It's not one of her best, but it is a great story. I have to say I had the ending figured out about half way through, but I was still interested enough to finish the book. Kingsbury did a great job of bringing the day of September 11th back to life. Everyone has a different story about that day and I think we can all relate to the pain and fear that you feel reading this story.

I couldn't put this book down and I have two small children to care for! I was able to stop only towards the end because I was crying so hard and couldn't see the pages. After a short break, I went back to it. The book showed how one person's life can have a huge impact on other people. It was inspiring!

Kingsbury handles a very difficult story line with grace, offering testimony of God's amazing love even through horrible times. The author says the story was given to her during the 911 attacks, and this book will help us all heal. Difficult to put down, this beautiful story lifts spirits out of the ashes of that dreadful day and its aftermath and into hope for times to come.

Excellent 10 out of 10! This author is fabulous! I have read many of her books and have not read 1 I did not like.

BLACK ORCHIDS is a two novella set where the reader gets to see Wolfe show off some of his worst traits. The title tale sends us to a flower show where Wolfe's lust for Lewis Hewitt's title creations causes him to behave in a manner that is so sycophantic that Archie is sickened by the display. The murder that occurs and Wolfe's scheming to get a hold of the aforementioned orchids are only interesting from the insight that Stout gives us into Wolfe's character. While Wolfe's various flaws are often mentioned by Goodwin, to see them in action is intriguing. The less said about the actual mechanics of the highly unlikely murder the better. Suffice to say it is one of the least likely murders in the series and that's saying something.
The second novella, CORDIALLY INVITED TO MEET DEATH deals with a death via tetanus, an estate with wild animals, (Did Stout know Trudy Lintz, the model for the movie BUDDY?) and the best scenes with an exasperated Archie dealing with these problems and Wolfe's fascination with one of the suspect's ability to add to Fritz and Wolfe's recipes. The final scenes of Archie storming out after being offered a julep will bring a smile to your face. A pair of slight mysteries with a lack of intrigue, but still worth a read for a fan.

Rex Stout's 9th Nero Wolfe outing is the first to contain more than one story. The novellas "Black Orchids" and "Cordially Invited to Death" reveal Stout at his best.

In "Black Orchids," Wolfe endures the perils involved in leaving the brownstone to attend a flower show. Ah, yet this is no ordinary flower show, but one in which the world's only black orchids are on display. Wolfe has as much fun as his enormous envy will allow until someone is murdered at the show.

The second story, "Cordially Invited to Death" is a fun romp for both Wolfe and Archie, but not for the murderer of a woman who organizes lavish parties. And Wolfe even (gasp!) allows a woman in the kitchen!

Stout's first eight Wolfe stories all contain good cases, interesting characters, and tough knots for Wolfe's sharp mind to untangle, but with BLACK ORCHIDS Wolfe and Archie finally find themselves. Their characteristics, mannerisms, and attitudes have been refined and honed to perfection. Stout was on it.

As other reviewers have noted, "Cordially Invited to Death" contains a mystery within a mystery. I wouldn't dream of spoiling it for you, so jump in and enjoy a couple of wonderful Nero Wolfe adventures. You won't be sorry.

In the title story in this little collection, Nero Wolfe has to see a rare black orchid for himself, and is thus embroiled in solving a murder in order to get home to eat.

It's a good story, but not, as another reviewer has suggested, one of the very best. More is made in the plot here about Wolfe's discomfiture than about the murder itself. Also, the characters, a thing I like an awful lot about Rex Stout's writing, are not as strong here as they are elsewhere.

It's worth reading, and hearing Michael Prichard read it is inevitably a treat. As Nero Wolfe himself said, we are far vainer of our luck than out merits...

THis combines all the eccentricities and quirky habits and mannerisms of the famous detective. Readers are already familiar with his obsession with orchids. Now we have a whole case revolving around them which makes for a good intro. Despite the age of the reissue, the dialogue is wonderfully fresh and the whole work has an air of film noire.

As usual, the problem is solved through an intellectual contest. A good read.

I thought Black Orchids was one of the best Wolfe mysteries...it is definitely one of my favorite (along with fer de lance and over my dead body). If you like Nero Wolfe in general, you'll definitely like Black Orchids.

Only Kathy Reichs can plot a suspense mystery from bird feathers, goldenseal and bears then interweave a budding romance for Temperance Brennan. BARE BONES is a can't put down read for fans of this series. The title was the selection for our bookclub this month and it will be fun to discuss.
Dr. Brennan is in North Caroline awaiting the arrival of a special friend to share the first vacation she's had in years. She goes to a picnic with her daughter and Boyd, her estranged husband's dog. Boyd digs up more than discarded hot dogs and a case of a burn baby gets complicated.
Forensic mystery at its best as the reader acquires extensive new information.
Writing as a Small BusinessQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelUnder the Liberty Oak

I loved this one! Years ago I read the first two books in Reichs' series and I remember enjoying them, so it was like going home when I picked this one up. In need of relief from reading submissions (I'm a publisher) and this was close at hand.

In this installment, Temperance Brennan is due for a vacation and is actually looking forward to it. At the worst possible time, Brennan's job kicks into high gear and bones begin dropping from the sky. And not just from the sky, while at a picnic with her daughter, their dog finds a bag of bones and Temperance has no choice but to put her personal plans on hold. Every time she thinks she sees a light at the end of the tunnel, more bones turn up. Each discovery puts another twist on an already puzzling and dangerous case.

BARE BONES is a great read, with enough twists and turns to keep you going from page to page without hesitation. Kathy Reichs is a fantastic writer and I'm looking forward to getting caught up on all the books I've missed.

I had just finished reading DEADLY DECISIONS by Kathy Reichs and was looking forward to reading BARE BONES, but it was kind of late at night and I thought: :Well, I can start this tomorrow." then after reading the back cover 5 or 6 times I decided to just start it, read a chapter or two and then get into it for real the next day. The next thing I knew I thought I should go to bed because I had to work the next day and I was on page 183. Holy smokes!!! This is the third book I've read in the Temperance Brennan series and I just ordered 3 more. Every one of these novels move along at a brisk pace. BARE BONES again has Tempe discovering bones where they shouldn't be and begins to unravel a mystery, This one has plenty of plot twists and a few times I thought I had it figured out just to find (as Tempe did too) that I was wrong. Again in this book, Brennan is required to work with a detective that she does not particularly like but again softens her opinion of him by the end of the story, showing that she too can be wrong. Oh yeah, Andrew Ryan is again on hand as the love interst. Another good plot by Reichs makes this an easy one to recommend. Can't wait to start the next one.

Book came in the time frame and in the condition specified.

I couldn't put it down and go to sleep, just had to know what happened next.

John Sandford is a quality writer who produces books that are solid if unspectacular reads. I have read all of his Lucas Davenport series and they have been generally excellent.

With Invisible Prey, I felt that the author mailed the book in, so to speak. It was readable and not boring, but it did not enhance the writers reputation at all. It was the kind of novel that you will read and once it is finished, you won't touch again.

Having a pair of characters called Widdler makes one think that the author is not writing a serious novel rather playing for laughs. The main character Lucas Davenport is a person who could be used so well, he has the killer in him and I wonder if the author is toying with the idea of making Davenport a darker character than he is.

I have been a fan of Lucas Davenport for years and i have read each and every one of the novels in the series. I fell in love with Clara Rinkley and was going to quit out of sheer disappointment when Sandford killed her, but then more books came out and I just couldn't pass. Which turned out to be a good decision because Broken Prey was so deliciously good ("But there are no Beatles").

But now he comes up with this; a contrived and unbelievable plot. A couple who kill to cover up, and the more people they kill, the closer they move toward getting caught.

I could not stop feeling that the only reason they were killing was not to cover up, but so that there would be a plot for the novel.

Another disappointment.

Quitting the Prey series cold turkey after so many years is going to be difficult. What I am doing is reading other police novels. I recommend Joseph Wambaugh's police thrillers. The best one is, IMHO, "Delta Star" which by the way has a rare, perfect five-stars-only rating on Amazon.

I've loved John Sandford's Prey series ever since the first book of the series, "Rules of Prey" just blew me away with its very unusual ending. Sandford has been, since then, one of the most reliable detective novelists in the genre, with a marvelous cast of supporting characters and a particularly nasty series of villains for Lucas Davenport--the main character--to hunt down. This latest book shows that Sandford hasn't lost his creative touch.

There's never any real confusion about who the killer is, here, though the author does make a feeble attempt to conceal their identities by referring to them as "Big" and "Little" in the opening sequence. The Widdlers are antiques dealers in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, and a good portion of their success stems from the fact that they're frauds and criminals. As the book opens, they break into a house, murder the elderly occupants, and then steal some antiques. When the bodies are discovered, Lucas Davenport is brought in to investigate.

This is an especially good book from Sandford. Several of the supporting characters are very well-done, and interesting. Most amusing is a supporting cop named Virgil Flowers, who's constantly referred to in the book as "that f---ing flowers". There's also a brief cameo with Kidd, the main character from Sandford's other series.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, and the ending again was very satisfying. Highly recommended.

Too boring to finish. A first for me for one of the Prey books. Hope the next one is better.

A demented married couple is going around the upper midwest in order to murder old people for their antiques. This twist on what constitutes the "usual" serial killer in mystery novels, made this book stand out, for more reasons than just the excellent writing.

Davenport has quickly become one of my favorite American fictional police officers.

A nice murder mystery series with echoes of the Tony Hillerman Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn Navajo tales. If you liked those you'll warm to Trooper Nathan Active solving mysteries in the snowscape of Alaska's wilderness. There is a romantic subplot which results in a little not too explicit sex but still a pity we have to spy on Nathan's bedroom antics - one star off for that!
The next in the series Shaman Pass is a as good or even better - it gets 5 stars from me.

The Nathan Active police procedurals are a welcome read to those who enjoy their mysteries with a healthy dose of character development and cultural exploration. Alaskan State Police Trooper Nathan Active was given up at birth by his Inuit mother and raised by a white couple in Anchorage. His first posting is to the village where he was born. He returns as an outsider, more white than Inuit. Therein lies the interesting conflict. Eager to achieve and get promoted quickly out of this post, Active finds himself slowly and perhaps painfully putting down roots. The mysteries/crimes are secondary in my opinion to the fascinating character conflict. I look forward to reading more on this series.

"White Sky, Black Ice" came highly recommended to me by a friend, and I am glad I picked it up.
It's a mystery/police drama set in Alaska. While reading I couldn't help but be reminded of one of my all time dramatic/comedy shows, "Northern Exposure". That made me like this book all the more.
Also, I thought the character of Nathan Active, the state trooper who becomes suspicious of two deaths and investigates them much further, was one of the best character's I read. Trooper Activ is born to a Native Alaskan woamn, but raised by a white couple. He is a single man, probably in his late 30's early 40's, cynical, witty in a dry off putting way, and just an amazingly well written character. I totally appreciated everything he said and I could easily see that character being brought to life on film because he is so vivid.
Once he hears of some strange and illegal goings on at the mine called "The Grey Wolf", he is moreso even more leery. He does everything in his power to find out what has really happened and why.
I got put off of mysteries after attempting to read the terrible writings of Sue Grafton, but my friend, Diana, gave Stan Jones such high regard, I knew I had to try it. I am very happy I did. I've always been a fan of the genre, and this book was unique and very well written. It has very interesting characters, and paints a beautiful picture of Alaska.
In the beginning of the book there is a page of terms used by the Native folk. Thank you for this Mr. Jones. I have not only read a wonderful book, but I have been educated. How often do mysteries do that?
Awesome job, and I await the next "Nathan Active" mystery!

I love regional mysteries, especially when they're regions I'm unlikely ever to visit. The Nathan Active series takes place in a remote village in Alaska, far from the glamour and tourism of the big cities. It is here, in Chukchi, that Inupiaq trooper Nathan Active is assigned. Raised by a white couple in the metropolis of Anchorage, Nathan tries to find his native roots while solving mysteries closely related to the Inupiat culture. The novel is entertaining as a mystery, but it is the vivid narrative about place and culture that gives the book its real punch. Enjoy!

I don't know if I've ever read a romantic novel about Eskimos. The land is savage and so are the stories. Two Eskimo men commit suicide at the beginning of "White Sky, Black Ice" and no-one seems to question the coincidence except for 'Dudley Do-Right' Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active.

Nathan Active, an Inupiat Eskimo himself, is actually called 'Dudley Do-Right' by yet another man who is about to commit suicide. This comes much later in the book. Initially Nathan is suspicious of the suicides because both men appeared to have shot themselves in their Adam's Apple. Both of the dead men also had jobs at the Gray Wolf Copper Mine, run by a Norwegian conglomerate called GeoNord.

Aha! You say. Evil Big Business ruins pristine Alaskan wilderness and destroys anyone who gets in its way.

Well, no, not quite. "White Sky, Black Ice" is much more complex than that. There are also many subplots, one involving a shaman's curse on an Inupiat family who had already lost two sons by suicide. When the third son seemingly kills himself, everyone shrugs and says, "It was Billy Karl's curse." As Nathan Active puts it, "Despair blew through Chukchi's streets like the west wind. He wondered if he could endure it long enough to get his transfer to Anchorage."

Active himself was given up for adoption by an unmarried Inupiat girl, and was raised by white parents in Anchorage. He certainly had no plans to return to Chukchi where his birth mother lives. Yet here he is, and all of the old Inupiat 'Aanas' plot to find a bride for the 'nalauqmiiyaaq' (almost white man) State Trooper, including his birth mother.

Nathan slowly sifts through the clues offered up by alcoholic Inupiats, and little old 'Aanas' who blackmail him into giving them rides to the bingo game with his Explorer's flasher on.

Author Stan Jones was born in Anchorage, and has worked as an award-winning journalist there for most of his career. He is also a bush pilot, and readers will be imbibing lots of authentic detail about Alaskans, both native and white, and about the Alaskan wilderness, along with the bones of this well-plotted mystery.

In fact, one of the characters is a rather likeable bush pilot, who we come across while trying to fix a tear in the fabric of his plane with a roll of duct tape. Unfortunately, it's too damn cold for the duct tape to stick. He takes Nathan up anyway. It's the code of the bush pilots not to get too excited about a little tear in the tail flap.

This mystery is definitely not a cozy. It is edgy, boozy, and sad. The author's style and preferred setting remind me of Peter Bowen more than than Tony Hillerman. I will definitely be looking for the sequel to "White Sky, Black Ice."