Dana Stabenow

Signs A Fatal Thaw (Poisoned Pen $25), her second Kate Shugak novel appearing for the first time in a hardcover edition and spends the afternoon from noon-five pitching her favorite books to you. We host a somewhat more structured chat about her book at 5:00 PM You can order Kate #1 A Cold Day for Murder ... (more)($25) also for the event. “The Alaskan terrain and native culture add texture–the narrative includes both a potlatch celebration and an avalanche….. The investigation reintroduces readers to some of the most intriguing characters from Shugaks’ previous mystery, including wheelchair-bound black veteran Bobby Clark and Shugak’s manipulative grandmother, Ekaterina. Meanwhile, the tension level rises when a park ranger is killed and Shugak herself is wounded by a sniper’s rifle, and Stabenow successfully sustains the tension until the killer is found.” — Publishers Weekly

In the newest entry in Dana Stabenow’s New York Times bestselling Kate Shugak series, Kate and the rest of the Park rats are stunned by the death of Old Sam, Kate’s eighty-seven-year-old uncle and foster father. In his will, he leaves almost everything to Kate, including a homestead deep in gold ... (more)mining country that no one knew he had and a letter that reads simply, “Find my father.” Easier said than done, since Sam’s father is something of a mystery: an outsider who disappeared shortly after learning about Sam’s existence, he took with him a priceless tribal artifact, a Russian icon. During the first three days of Kate’s search, she gets shot at, whacked in the head, and run off the road in deep snow and left for dead. Interspersed with flashbacks from Sam’s fascinating life, including scenes from major events in Alaskan history, Kate does her best to fulfill Sam’s last wish—as various people follow her every move, in search of the icon, Old Sam’s gold, or possibly some other secret remnant of his long, mysterious life.

Kate #1, A Cold Day for Murder (Poisoned Pen $25 Feb. 1), the Edgar winner, now for the first time in a hardcover edition. Eighteen months before, Aleut Kate Shugak quit her job investigating sex crimes for the Anchorage DA’ s office and retreated to her father’s homestead in a national Park in the ... (more)interior of Alaska. But the world has a way of beating a path to her door, however remote, and in the middle of one of the bitterest Decembers in recent memory ex-boss—and ex-lover—Jack Morgan shows up with an FBI agent in tow. A Park ranger with powerful relatives is missing. Reluctantly, Kate, along with Mutt, her half-wolf, half-husky sidekick, leaves her wilderness refuge to follow a frozen trail through the Park. Her formidable grandmother and Native chief, Ekaterina Shugak, is for reasons of her own against Kate’s investigation, her cousin, Martin, may be Kate’s prime suspect, and the local trooper, Jim Chopin, is more interested in Kate than answers…

Monthly mystery fiction discussion group at a neighborhood library. Participants are encouraged to read the same mystery novel in advance of the meeting, to discuss as a group. Participants are also encouraged to bring a small dessert selection to share with other readers during the meeting. Coffee and/or ... (more)juice will be provided. This month's selected mystery novel: A Deeper Sleep by Dana Stabenow

In her 16th case, investigator Kate Shugak faces challenges from her men and from her female relatives—that moral center of the "Park" composed of four widowed "aunties" who are (they think) grooming Kate to assume her grandmother's role. along with the bad guys. In its Starred Review, PW writes: "A ... (more)Canadian mining firm, Global Harvest Resources Inc., is planning a massive operation that will affect every park resident. Meanwhile, a lot of folks are taking the law into their own hands; a series of brutal snow machine robberies raises the stakes. No one writes more vividly about the hardships and rewards of living in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness and the hardy but frequently flawed characters who choose to call it home." How does Stabenow keep raising the ante, and the fun, every book? Check with us on a live webcast of her Feb. 17 party hosted for you by Laurie R. King, here beginning a Russell/Holmes campaign called "Fifteen Weeks of Bees" stretching from now with The Beekeeper's Apprentice ($14) to May's The Language of Bees (Bantam $24 to be Signed here). King signs Touchstone ($14) and other titles