The Singing of the Dead (A Kate Shugak Novel) Review

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(More customer reviews)Jack died over a year ago but Kate remains in shock as she still feels the pain of his death as if it happened yesterday. A former police officer and sometimes private detective Kate Shugak, a full-blooded Inuit, harbors her dead lover's teenage white son Johnny. The fourteen-year old young adult refuses to live in the lower forty-eight states or reside with his mother who hates Kate.

With another mouth to feed and potential future legal fees, Kate leaves Johnny on the homestead and accepts work as a bodyguard to Anne Gordaoff, a senatorial candidate. Anne has been receiving escalating threats that require her to hire Kate. While Kate protects her client, someone murders The candidate's son-in-law and a staffer leaving it up to Kate to unravel the truth before someone else is hurt.

The latest Shugak novel gives readers an early twentieth century Alaskan history lesson and how past events three generations ago relate to the present murders. The mystery is cleverly developed and the sexual tension between Kate and Trooper Jim is so thick the murder weapon cannot slice through it. That "non-relationship" bears future watching as Dana Stabenow continues to provide her audience with tales they enjoy reading.

Harriet Klausner

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Whisper to the Blood: A Kate Shugak Novel (Kate Shugak Mysteries) Review

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(More customer reviews)First Sentence: "Grin bought out Mac Devlin."
PI Kate Shugak, without her knowledge, as been made chairman of the board of the Niniltna Native Association. Gold, copper and molybdenum have been discovered in Alaska's Iqaluk Wildlife Refuge by Global Harvest Resources Inc., known to the park residents as Grin. The residents are not happy about the prospect of a large mine so the company has hired very attractive Talia Macleod to smooth the way by promoting jobs.
With the brutal murders of two residents, one an opponent to the mine, Kate is asked by Trooper Jim Chopin to help find the killers. There is also the unsolved homicide of park villain Louis Deem and attacks by residents by snowmobilers to be resolved.
It is so good to have Kate Shugak back again. These books include some of my favorite characters, not the least being Mutt, Kate's part-wolf dog. Stabenow brings her characters to life, making them fully dimensional and having them grow and deal with personal issues as the series progresses. There is wonderful interaction between the characters which builds the story.
Stabenow shows us Alaska and its people, good and bad, and now different life there is from the rest of the country. Her observations on Alaskan life, politics and people are fascinating. She is also a wonderfully descriptive writer, from being out on a snowmobile to Kate's cooking, the descriptions of which made me hungry.
Her dialogue is excellent, her use of humor is well placed as is her ability to convey emotion. There were a lot of characters and the history of each. It was important to keep them straight but did make the story seem slow. And there was a fair amount of redundancy.
This is a series I recommend reading in order as I found this book, in particular, called upon events happening in previous books. I felt she explained those events well, but feel someone who had not read the actual books might feel a bit lost.
You can bet I'll be reading the next Shugak book.


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