Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Discussion Group Selection For March


There is one thing about belonging to a mystery book discussion group - you find yourself reading books you might otherwise have not read. This month we find ourselves in Alaska - the location / setting for Dana Stabenow's book. The book is called A Cold Day For Murder and is the introductory book in the Kate Shugak mystery series.

Who is Kate Shugak? She is a native Aleut. She used to be an investigator for the Anchorage D.A.'s office. She left that job and returned home after an assignment went bad. Her companion is Mutt - a half wolf / half husky.

In this book, her ex-boss has come to ask her help. Two people have ended up disappearing - a park ranger with connections to a congressman and another investigator sent to look for him. The missing investigator was a friend of Kate's - and trained by Kate. Kate sets out to look for them and unexpectedly finds she is a target.

I do not want to give away any more of the story but have a few things to say about the writing. As I discovered, this book is a Winner of the Edgar Award. I certainly understand why. The author has some fantastic descriptions of the terrain and people in Alaska. She also uses some good analogies. As is tradition with our discussion group, I give this book a thumbs up. I will be missing our discussion group for this book but will get an update later to let you know how the entire group felt about the book.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree about getting "in" with groups or folks that open you up to books you may not have picked yourself. That's why I'm so thrilled with your reviews...I've read and want to read so many titles I would not have picked on my own. Again, THANKS for the great reviews without giving it all away!

David Snowdon said...

An interesting and well-written review.

misterreereeder said...

As a followup, the weather seemed to keep some persons away from our last meeting - only 6 persons showed up. But here is the vote - witju mine added in: 5 thumbs up - two thumbs down.