Fine and Bitter Snow [Hardcover]

Dana Stabenow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2003

Change never comes easy, but it comes just the same, and it's on its way to the Park, to Niniltna, in southeast Alaska. This time it concerns the possibility of drilling for oil in a wildlife preserve near there, near Aleutian P.I. Kate Shugak's home territory. Battle lines are drawn across their community, but at least it gives Kate something to do. Still just months after her lover's violent death, though she doesn't know quite how, she is trying to get back into her daily life.

First, tensions run high as their resident park ranger, Dan O'Brien, is deemed "too green for them" by management and asked to take early retirement. Kate rallies the troops inside the Park to fight for his job, but before she can really start throwing her weight around, a long-time Park resident is brutally murdered, another stabbed and left for dead as well.

Alaska State Trooper Jim Chopin enlists Kate to help investigate, and together they tackle the loose ends: motive, timing, opportunity, means. One thing is for certain-in Dana Stabenow's masterful crime novels about the beauty and the danger of living and dying in Alaska, nothing is as simple as it seems.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is the 12th in a series (after 2001's The Singing of the Dead) that truly evolves rather than simply revisiting the same setting, although that setting is a doozy: an austere and beautiful Alaskan outback, populated with eccentrics and wild creatures. Kate Shugak could be considered a little of both, having grown up in this hinterland and being fond of her own ways. Kate discovers that park ranger Dan O'Brian is about to lose his job, probably because he is against drilling for oil in the local wildlife preserve. In an effort to garner support for Dan, Kate calls on her late grandmother's dear friends, Ruthe and Dina, who together taught Kate the name of every living thing in the park when she was a child. This longtime couple sits on a big chunk of pristine wilderness and works hard to protect other areas. Meanwhile, Dan has fallen for Christie Turner, the new waitress at the Roadhouse, and state trooper Jim Chopin, a notorious womanizer, is focused on the one woman who won't give him the time of day Kate. She isn't ready for a new relationship, as she is still mourning her dead lover, Jack Morgan, and trying to provide a stable environment for his teenage son, Johnny. When Dina is killed and Ruthe is put on the critical list at the hospital, Kate scrambles to solve the crime while keeping a balance in the rest of her life. Along the way, she finds herself in a brief but torrid encounter with Jim. Rich with details about life in this snowbound culture, the story moves at a steady pace to a classic ending.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The well-known Alaskan P.I. finds herself in the middle of a volatile situation involving proposed drilling for oil in a wildlife preserve. A ranger there is fired for political reasons, and then an important conservationist is poisoned. Be sure to have this on hand.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Sagebrush Education Resources (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613999460
• ISBN-13: 978-0613999465
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,495,076 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

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Her Best, July 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A Fine and Bitter Snow: A Kate Shugak Novel (Kate Shugak Mysteries) (Hardcover)

With each book, Dana Stabenow has gotten better and better. She has a strong voice and writes beautifully about Alaska, a state she obviously loves. She creates compelling characters and writes great action scenes. So I was really disappointed with this, her latest installment in the Kate Shugak series. In fact, I was so disappointed that I checked her website to see what was going on. It turns out that the author was required by contract to produce a book that had her writing much of it just when, like many of us, she got bogged down in a September 11th depression. All I can say is, too bad her publisher didn't give her more time.

At only 304 pages, the book is way too short (and not coincidentally it's list price is way too high). The author seemed to be treading water through most of the story and the murder mystery seemed to be added as an afterthought. Too much of the story was spent with various people describing others (including the murder victim) as outrageous characters. By the end, you don't care about the murder victim, the murderer, or the soap opera-worthy reason for the murder. This is not Ms. Stabenow's best book. If you're new to the series, read an earlier installment. If you just want to keep up with Kate, read this one and hope that Ms. Stabenow gets back in the game with her next book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Transition in the Series, June 23, 2002

By 

P. Bigelow (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Fine and Bitter Snow: A Kate Shugak Novel (Kate Shugak Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This is the 12th in the Kate Shugak series of mysteries set in Alaska. In this outing, Kate is back in the Park, winter is upon them, and she is beginning to emerge from her self-imposed cocoon. When two of the park's long-time residents are killed, she teams up with state trooper Jim Chopin to find the killer

I've been a big fan of Dana Stabenow since her first Kate Shugak mystery, A Cold Day for Murder. This is not one of her best. There's too much description and not enough action. There's not much plot - what there is takes place in the last 60 pages of the book.

It's more of a series transition - moving Kate from mourning Jack to a new relationship. It is as if the author had to meet a deadline for a book and this was the result. Stabenow's heart didn't seem to be in this book. I'm hoping that this really is a transition, and not the beginning of the end. I hope Stabenow will be back in form in the next Kate Shugak book.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another fine mess, July 15, 2002

By 

TundraVision (o/~ from the Land of Sky Blue Waters o/~) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Fine and Bitter Snow: A Kate Shugak Novel (Kate Shugak Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Dana Stabenow, lifelong Alaska resident, has important things to say about the preservation of the environment. And she says them while spinning a good murder mystery. The new Old-Boy Oil Administration in Washington wants to drill for oil in ANWR and they're dumping the long-time Park Ranger who may disagree with their agenda. An environmentalist is killed, her friend critically injured, and Kate Shugak and her endearing wolf/dog Mutt are on the case. Meanwhile, Kate's personal life is sloping towards a seismic shift. Hang on, folks, we're in for a bumpy ride!