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Published in USA
Feb 2011
480 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
In the newest entry in Dana Stabenow's 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 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.
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"Starred Review. Kate is at her butt-kicking best as she and Mutt, her inseparable half-wolf, half-husky companion, deal with murder, theft, and deception." - Publishers Weekly
"Though longer than many of Stabenow's previous books, this one holds readers' interest with fascinating tidbits of Alaskan history from 1918 to 1965 as seen through Old Sam's eyes." - Library Jounral
"Starred Review. A standout entry in a consistently good series, though best appreciated by readers who have met Shugak already." - Booklist
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Dana Stabenow was born in Anchorage, Alaska on March 27, 1952, and raised on a 75-foot
fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska.
She graduated from Seldovia High School in 1969 and put herself through college
working as an egg grader, bookkeeper and expediter for Whitney-Fidalgo Seafoods
in Anchorage.
She received a B.A. in journalism from the University of Alaska in 1973 and later enrolled in UAA’s MFA program,
from which I graduated in 1985. Her first novel, Second Star was bought by Ace Science Fiction
in 1990. Her first novel of the Kate Shugak mystery series, A Cold Day for Murder, won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original in 1993.
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