A Grave Denied: A Kate Shugak Novel [Hardcover]

Dana Stabenow (Author)

Book Description

Series: Stabenow, Dana | Publication Date: September 9, 2003

Everyone knew Len Dreyer, a handyman for hire in the Park near Niniltna, Alaska, but no one knew anything else about him. Even Kate Shugak hired him to thin the trees on her 160-acre homestead and was planning to ask him to help build a small second cabin on her property for Johnny Morgan, a teenaged boy in her care. But she, the Park's unofficial p.i., seems to have known less about him than anyone.

Alaska is a place where anybody can bury his history and start fresh, and for any reason, but this particular mystery comes to light when Len Dreyer turns up murdered. His body is discovered, frozen solid, in the path of a receding glacier with the hole from a shotgun blast in his chest. No one even knew he was missing, but it turns out he's been missing for months.

Alaska State Trooper Jim Chopin asks Kate to help him dig into Dreyer's background, in the hope of finding some reason for his murder. She takes the case, mindful of the need for gainful employment as she copes with her responsibility for Johnny, a constant reminder of his father, her dead lover. Little does she imagine that by trying to provide for him she just might put him right in the path of danger.

A talented writer at the prime of her abilities, Stabenow delivers a masterful crime novel that turns out to be as much about living as it is about dying.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After a dozen mysteries featuring Aleut sleuth Kate Shugak, including the Edgar-winning debut A Cold Day for Murder (1992), Stabenow's framework remains simple, sound and effective. Take a strong-willed, independent woman and pit her against the beautiful and dangerous Alaskan wilderness and those, mainly men, who try to compromise her independence. Give her a faithful companion, Mutt, a half-wolf mixed breed, and an abiding sense of loyalty and fair play. One of the pleasures of the series is the tension that arises from the characters' need for both privacy and dependence on others. The result is closeness without intimacy, superbly illustrated when the body of Len Dreyer, town handyman, turns up at the mouth of a glacier. Only then does it become clear that the victim was a complete cipher. Challenges and changes also mark Kate's relationships with teenager Johnny Morgan, son of her late lover, Jack Morgan, and with state trooper Jim Chopin. Kate's professional training and investigative skills make her an able adjunct for the undermanned state police, but this time her efforts render her and Johnny and Mutt targets for a killer. Stabenow is a fine storyteller, but it is her passion for the Alaskan landscape and the iconoclastic people who inhabit it that fires this series and lifts this latest entry to its pinnacle. FYI: Stabenow is also the author of the Liam Campbell (Nothing Gold Can Stay) and the Star Svensdotter (Red Planet Run) mystery series.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

On an eighth-grade field trip to Grant Glacier in Alaska, students discover a corpse in an ice cave beneath the glacier. With too many cases, State Trooper Jim Chopin hires Aleut PI Kate Shugak to investigate. After discovering that the victim had a secret life, Kate becomes the killer's next target. In this thirteenth Shugak novel, Stabenow simultaneously builds on the series' strengths and moves in new directions. As before, she effectively combines a challenging, suspect-filled mystery with a vivid sense of place and some witty commentary on Alaskans. The field-trip premise gives her the opportunity to develop teenage supporting characters and to reflect sensitively on teen concerns. Fans will also enjoy the first tentative steps toward a wary romance between Jim and Kate. The wilderness settings and Kate's rugged independence will continue to attract fans of Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series and Sue Henry's Jesse Arnold series (also set in Alaska). John Rowen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (September 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312306814
• ISBN-13: 978-0312306816
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,015,650 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

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Winner for Stabenow!, September 9, 2003

By 

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

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Grave Denied: A Kate Shugak Novel (Hardcover)

This entry is number 13 in the Kate Shugak series. If you've enjoyed the previous 12 Kate Shugaks, then you'll love this entry.

Kate is still trying to deal with having young Johnny Morgan living with her in her one-room cabin. She knows that a confrontation with his mother will come sooner than either she or Johnny wants.

Johnny and some of his classmates find a dead body in a glacier. Trooper Jim Chopin has his plate full and asks Kate to investigate why the Park's handyman was killed. When she starts asking questions, she finds out more than she wants to know about her fellow Park rats.

In the meantime, Jim Chopin turns up the heat on their non-existent, but definitely "something's going on" relationship. Kate thinks she's sure what she thinks about that - well, maybe.

Stabenow is adept in this outing in keeping the identity of the killer under wraps until the end - and the reason for the killing will stun you.

Stabenow has written another excellent mystery. Her writing is so good you can almost smell the spring in Alaska and find yourself being glad the winter is over.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspense undenied!, November 9, 2003

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Grave Denied: A Kate Shugak Novel (Hardcover)

After a few gruesome volumes, it's nice to see Stabenow back in form. As other reviewers noted, Kate's friend and sometime lover, State Trooper Jim Chopin, asks her to investigate a mysterious death: a man found frozen in an advancing glacier, his cabin burned. And when Kate begins to investigate, her own life and property also (literally) come under fire. The steps of Kate's investigation will appeal to fans of the whodunit genre, with an Alaskan flavor. Kate methodically visits possible suspects, each a source of color and sometimes humor. The solution of the case left me feeling happily satisfied, an increasingly rare response to books I see these days.

Stabenow relaxes and lets us have fun with Kate. At times, the novel's style made me think I was reading a cozy. The author finds humor in Kate's new parenting role, as she learns how to cope with a teenager she has inherited from previous novels. Some of the best scenes involve Kate's relationship with her dog, Mutt, a part-wolf who seems to read Kate's mind. As usual, the cast of characters holds our attention, with tiny subplots: Kate's best friend gets a visit from a (deliberately) long-lost brother and fourteen-year-old Johnny remains determined to stay with Kate, rather than his blood relatives. The endings seem realistic, not at all contrived.

It is SO nice to pick up a book that doesn't tempt me to skip pages, let alone peek at the ending. This one was a joy to read -- I kept wishing it wouldn't end!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Kate Shugak novel, September 16, 2003

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Grave Denied: A Kate Shugak Novel (Hardcover)

Fourteen-year-old Johnny Morgan is on a field trip with his class from school when he discovers a body hidden in a glacier. The victim, Leonard Dreyer, was a handyman who was hired by many local people to do odd jobs for them. Johnny is living with Kate Shugak, a private investigator who was once romantically involved with Johnny's father Jack, and who promised him that she would take care of Johnny after Jack's death. Kate helps Alaska State Trooper Jim Chopin investigate the case. When Kate's life is threatened, Jim decides to fire her for her own protection, but to no avail. As always, this is an interesting mystery set in the beautiful Alaskan area near Prince William Sound. Stabenow hits all of the right notes in portraying the off-again-on-again relationship between Kate and Jim and shows us a softer side of Kate as she relates to Johnny and her friends. The final chapter in the book is a warm portrayal of the Alaskan spirit when people go out of their way to help their neighbors. This is one of my favorite books in this wonderful series.