A Fatal Thaw (A Kate Shugak Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Dana Stabenow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1993

On the first day of spring a man went berserk, killing eight of his neighbors. Only there were "nine" bodies lying in the snow. The last victim was a golden blonde with a tarnished past - and her killer was still at large. It's up to Kate Shugak and her husky, Mutt, to track down the suspects - before the murderer melts back into the snowscape. But the guilty party could be anyone, because in the Alaskan spring, old hatreds warm up quickly...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stabenow's ( A Cold Day for Murder ) writing has matured in her second effort featuring native Alaskan sleuth Kate Shugak. The Alaskan terrain and native culture add texture--the narrative includes both a potlatch celebration and an avalanche. Spring brings not only a thaw to the Alaskan wilderness, but a mass murderer. Roger McAniff cracks along with the ice on the first day of spring and goes on a killing spree, murdering nine and wounding two others. Or so it seems until ballistics tests prove that one of the victims, Lisa Getty, was killed by a different rifle. Shugak's investigation reconstructs Getty's life, uncovering her promiscuity, drug-dealing and endangered species-poaching, but all those leads prove false. The investigation reintroduces readers to some of the most intriguing characters from Shugak's previous mystery, including wheelchair-bound black veteran Bobby Clark and Shugak's manipulative grandmother, Ekaterina. Meanwhile, the tension level rises when a park ranger is killed and Shugak herself is wounded by a sniper's rifle, and Stabenow succuessfully sustains the tension until the killer is found.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"The Alaskan terrain and native culture add texture--the narrative includes both a potlatch celebration and an avalanche. ....The investigation reintroduces readers to some of the most intriguing characters from Shugak's previous mystery, including wheelchair-bound black veteran Bobby Clark and Shugak's manipulative grandmother, Ekaterina. Meanwhile, the tension level rises when a park ranger is killed and Shugak herself is wounded by a sniper's rifle, and Stabenow succuessfully sustains the tension until the killer is found." —Publishers Weekly

 

“An ingenious premise, and Stabenow carries it out beautifully.” —Denver Post

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Books (January 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425135772
• ISBN-13: 978-0425135778
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #352,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dana Stabenow was born in Anchorage and raised on 75-foot fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska.  She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there somewhere and found it in writing. 

Her first science fiction novel, Second Star, sank without a trace (but has since been resurrected as an e-book), her first crime fiction novel, A Cold Day for Murder, won an Edgar award, her first thriller, Blindfold Game, hit the New York Times bestseller list, and her twenty-eighth novel and nineteenth Kate Shugak novel, Restless in the Grave, comes out February 14, 2012.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Pleasing Continuation to the Series, February 28, 2004

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Fatal Thaw (A Kate Shugak Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I found "A Fatal Thaw," the second in the Kate Shugak series set in the Alaskan wilderness, much easier to read and follow than the first, and I zipped through it with great interest.

Stabenow is herself an Alaskan, and she makes you feel the very essence of the place, in all its rough and ready wildness. I felt I was there in the first spring thaw with Kate and her wonderful half-wolf dog (a bona fide character in her own right) as they stretch their winter-weary limbs. Kate has spring fever, and her very female dog, Mutt, is mesmerized by a giant and gorgeous he-wolf who can't seem to keep away from Kate's cabin.

This serenity is shattered very quickly, however, by the doings of a crazy-mad serial killer who, in one short span of a few hours, goes on a murder spree so deadly and so accurate that almost nobody in the tight-knit communty is spared outrage, shock or unbearable grief. After the dust settles, however, the real shocker sets in: One of the dead was not shot with the same gun. Somebody has used a crazy man's murder spree to cover up a real and nasty additional killing--and it's up to Kate to find out who.

I found the mystery less than the story telling, which kept my interest all the way through. This is a good, solid series, one that I am reading from the beginning, and I see no reason at all not to move on quickly and with pleasurable anticipation to the next!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally on kindle!, April 3, 2011

By 

P. Henderson (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Fatal Thaw (Kate Shugak #2) (Kindle Edition)

Thanks for finally putting some of the earlier Kate Shugak books on Kindle. I love the depiction of life in Alaska, both harsh and beautiful. Kate, Mutt, and an assortment of other great characters, make this one of my favorite series.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Alaskan Mystery, October 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Fatal Thaw (A Kate Shugak Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Mystery and a peek into Alaskan lifestyle combine to make for good reading. A good plot and finely drawn characters are a plus. Made me want more of Ms. Stabenow's stories.