Though Not Dead

May 30, 2011
Stabenow's latest Kate Shugak novel finds the intrepid Alaskan PI facing a personal tragedy and its unexpected repercussions. Old Sam, Kate's uncle and surrogate father, has died, leaving her heir to and executor of his estate. Kate has no way of knowing that Old Sam's actions will pull her into a life-threatening mystery whose roots hark back to Alaska in the early 20th century and continue to the present day. Marguerite Gavin gives an excellent reading of Stabenow's prose: she keeps the story moving at an energetic clip, which works especially well with the action sequences. With a nice sense of timing, she brings out the laugh-out-loud humor laced through the book, most notably in the scenes between Kate and her "Aunties," and manages to balance the book's extensive cast of characters, shifting points of view, time frames, and passages of Alaskan history with a bright, engaging performance that keeps the listener tuned in from the introduction to the final chapter. A Minotaur hardcover.

Starred review from October 25, 2010
The demise of 89-year-old Samuel "Old Sam" Dementieff, Kate Shugak's friend, relative, and mentor, triggers a deadly treasure hunt in Edgar-winner Stabenow's brilliant 18th novel to feature the feisty Alaska detective (after 2010's A Night Too Dark). Through flashbacks, Stabenow covers key events in Sam's life and Alaska's history, from the devastating flu epidemic of 1918 to the state's newest and biggest gold mine, the Suulutaq. Sam's service during WWII in the real-life army unit known as Castner's Cutthroats, his meeting Dashiell Hammett in the Aleutians, and his surprising romances—all are foundation and prelude to the search for a missing Russian icon, a manuscript possibly penned by Hammett, and a monstrous gold nugget. Kate is at her butt-kicking best as she and Mutt, her inseparable half-wolf, half-husky companion, deal with murder, theft, and deception from Anchorage to the wilderness of Canyon Hot Springs, where Old Sam staked his homestead. Author tour.