Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the Book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
A Kate Shugak Novel
by Dana StabenowThis article relates to A Deeper Sleep
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, after
which she says that she spent "one more
summer knee-deep in humpies (a type of
small salmon) and blew everything I
earned on a four-month backpacking trip
to Europe". Where she discovered English
pubs, German beer and Irish men.
On her return she found work with the
Alyeska Pipeline at Galbraith Lake and
later for British Petroleum at Prudhoe
Bay making "obscene amounts of money".
In 1982 she turned 30 and wondered what
to do with the rest of her life. She
enrolled in the University of Alaska's
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program and
graduated in 1985 with the ambition to
sell a book before she went broke. She
just barely made it: Second Star
was bought by Ace Science Fiction in
1990 but, according to Stabenow, "it
fell with an almighty thud on the
marketplace." In 1991 her editor heard
that she was working on the first Kate
Shugak mystery and offered her a
three-book contract. It was published in
1992 and won the
Edgar Award for best paperback
original in 1993 (the Edgar awards,
named for Edgar Allan Poe, are awarded
annually by the Mystery Writers of
America).
For more about Dana, visit her very
comprehensive
website. We particularly enjoyed
rummaging through the short back-stories
about each book's dedication page. This
is what she says about the dedication in
her first Kate Shugak novel, A Cold
Day for Murder:
"For Don Stabenow, my very own
personal air taxi service and
pyrotechnical adviser.
Don Stabenow was my father. When I
told him I was leaving a $63,000-a-year
job to become a writer, he said without
missing a beat, Shit, kid, if thats
what you want, you go for it. Never
once in all the years it took to get
published did he say I might be better
off trying my hand at something else.
When I ran low on money he installed me
in his spare bedroom and wouldnt even
let me pay for groceries.
He was the best. He died in 1998, and I
miss him every day."
Interesting Links
Bibliography
Kate Shugak Series
A Cold Day for Murder, A Fatal Thaw,
Dead in the Water, A Cold-Blooded
Business, Play With Fire, Blood Will
Tell, Breakup, Killing Grounds, Hunters
Moon, Midnight Come Again, The Singing
of the Dead, A Fine and Bitter Snow, A
Grave Denied, A Taint in the Blood, A
Deeper Sleep.
Liam Campbell Series
Fire and Ice, So Sure of Death,
Nothing Gold Can Stay, Better
to Rest.
Star Svensdotter Series
Second Star, A Handful of
Stars, Red Planet Run.
Standalone Novels
Blindfold Game (2006).
Prepared for Rage (US: Feb 2008, UK
Mar 2008).
This "beyond the book article" relates to A Deeper Sleep. It originally ran in January 2007 and has been updated for the
January 2008 paperback edition.
Go to magazine.
The Seven O'Clock Club
by Amelia Ireland
Four strangers join an experimental treatment to heal broken hearts in Amelia Ireland's heartfelt debut novel.
Happy Land
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel about a family's secret ties to a vanished American Kingdom.
One Death at a Time
by Abbi Waxman
A cranky ex-actress and her Gen Z sobriety sponsor team up to solve a murder that could send her back to prison in this dazzling mystery.
The Fairbanks Four
by Brian Patrick O’Donoghue
One murder, four guilty convictions, and a community determined to find justice.
Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.