Midnight Come Again [Large Print] [Paperback]

Dana Stabenow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2001

Edgar Award winner Dana Stabenow has written nine atmospheric crime novels featuring the very prickly, very human Kate Shugak, but her novels also have a scene-stealing costar: Alaska, unforgiving, breathtaking, dangerous, and beautiful. Stabenow's evocation of this wilderness, combined with her talent for bringing characters to life and creating knuckle-whitening suspense, has made her "one of the strongest voices in crime fiction." (Seattle Times).

Now in Midnight Come Again, all these elements come together for Stabenow's most compelling Kate Shugak novel to date.

Kate, a former investigator for the Anchorage D.A. and now a P.I. for hire, is missing after a winter spent in mourning. Alaska State Trooper Jim Chopin, Kate's best friend, needs her to help him work a new case. He discovers her hiding out in Bering, a small fishing village on Alaska's western coast, living and working under an assumed name-- working hard, as eighteen-hour workdays seem to be her only justification for getting up in the morning. But before they can even discuss Kate's last several months, or what Jim is doing looking for her in Bering, they're up to their eyes in Jim's case, which is suddenly more complicated-- and more dangerous-- than they suspected.

A magnificent crime novel about life in America's last wilderness, the heart-wrenching grief that goes with love, and murder, Midnight Come Again is Dana Stabenow's best novel to date.

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

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Aleutian PI Kate Shugak is hiding out in Bering, Alaska. Scarred, scared, and pretending to be someone else, she's trying to find a reason to go on living after the murder of her lover and her own close call with death (Hunter's Moon). Her self-imposed exile is threatened when Chopper Jim Chopin, a state trooper from her home village in the Bush, arrives in Bering with a new identity of his own. Tagging along are a couple of (barely) undercover FBI agents who think that criminals aboard a Russian fishing vessel docked in Bering's harbor are attempting to smuggle stolen plutonium into the United States to sell to terrorists. But Kate suspects that the Russians are involved in a very different game: laundering money through a local bank. To prove it, she enlists the help of an old college friend who happens to be the bank's chief teller. But getting the evidence costs Alice Chevak dearly; once again, Kate fears, she's brought death to someone she loves.

In this ninth outing for her popular series heroine, Dana Stabenow adds depth, texture, and vulnerability to Kate's inner life; reveals new aspects of Jim Chopin's character; and introduces Alice's daughter Stephanie, with whom Kate forges a bond of love and obligation that promises the youngster an ongoing role in future Kate Shugak's adventures. An expertly paced and plotted thriller with moody, moving undertones, Midnight Come Again will please the author's many fans and likely win her new ones too. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Kate's tough life took a tragic turn when her long-time lover, Jack Morgan, was killed in last year's Hunter's Moon. In this ninth entry in the award-winning series, a guilty, inconsolable Kate, impulsively leaving her Alaska bush home for a coastal fishing village, goes to work incognito for Baird Air, a cargo airline. At Baird, she soon runs into Alaska State Trooper Jim Chopin, a friend who's on an undercover job for the FBI. This is only one of several plot-churning coincidences in an otherwise poignant and gripping novel featuring breathtaking descriptions of natural scenery and incisive depiction of Alaskan natives caught between traditional and modern cultures. The FBI thinks that Russian gangsters are using a fishing vessel to smuggle stolen plutonium to right-wing groups, with Baird Air the likely shipper. Two arrogant "Fibbies" get their comeuppance when Jim and Kate uncover a Russian money-laundering scheme aided by a venal Alaska state senator and a crooked banker. The book has an uneven pace, with the slow first half reflecting Kate's grief; as the investigation speeds up, so does the action. In a heart-stopping climax aboard a hijacked airplane, pilot Jim performs aerial stunts to forestall the Russians pushing Kate out the door. Stabenow's evocation of the Kuskokwim delta and its inhabitants is as artful as her portrayal of the Alaskan bush country. And Kate, finally coming to terms with Jack's death, befriends a determined 10-year-old girl whose intelligence and independence mirror her own. Let's hope she reappears in further Shugak adventures. Author tour. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 351 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587240319
• ISBN-13: 978-1587240317
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,329,669 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

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gutsy, May 16, 2000

By 

John Elliott "Expatriot Texan" (Overland Park, KS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midnight Come Again (Kate Shugak Mysteries) (Hardcover)

In the best Shugak tradition this one goes straight for the gut and then kicks you in the crotch. Unlike other Shugak books this one spends more time from Jim Chopin's point of view than Kate's, but it gives a better feel for the action that way. Like all mysteries there has to be some difficulty in solving the crime and this time it's Kate and her grief. That is when it's not Chopin's emotional issues getting in the way.

I knew after "Hunters Moon" that the next book would be a real emotional wringer and this book did not let me down in the least. While the mystery here is easy to solve the reason I couldn't put down the book until I finished it is that Kate is so real and so spell binding.

I can't wait for the next one. I rate Dana Stabenow up there with Dick Francis and Kate Shugak with Travis McGee.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartwrenching mystery, April 25, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midnight Come Again (Kate Shugak Mysteries) (Hardcover)

No one seems to know where Kate Shigak is. The Aleut private detective owns and normally homesteads one hundred and sixty acres in the Alaska National Forest. However, Kate has disappeared. She still struggles with the loss of her beloved thanks to a maniac's bullet, a situation that has left her feeling empty and barren. Kate has traveled to an isolated fishing village in the Bering Strait under an assumed name. She fills her entire day working double shifts and more handling freight for Baird Airlines.

Her life changes again when her boss hires someone to work the second shift. Kate recognizes the new employee as State Trooper Jim Chopin, who is working undercover for the FBI. He is looking for the plutonium that the Russian Mafia has apparently smuggled into the area. When Jim is hospitalized with a bullet wound, Kate takes over the investigation.

The star of a Kate Shugat novel is usually Alaska, but in MIDNIGHT COME AGAIN the emotionally raw lead protagonist takes center stage. Kate is in transition as she grieves her loss while struggling to learn how to live life without her heart. Dana Stabenow serves up a fascinating and emotionally moving story line that keeps the reader's interest from first page to last. Fans of unpredictable, event-laden tales with plenty of regional color will gain much pleasure from Ms. Stabenow's latest achievement.

Harriet Klausner

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dana Comes Through Again!, May 4, 2000

By 

R. Wangerow "Ron" (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midnight Come Again (Kate Shugak Mysteries) (Hardcover)

After reading Hunter's Moon, I went back and bought all of Dana's previous Kate Shugak books, as well as those in Dana's Liam Campbell series. I got up-to-date only a couple of months before Midnight Come Again. Dana has come through again with another great story about Alaska and some very interesting and sometimes (in the cases of the "good guys") endearing charcaters. If you haven't read Dana's books, give them a try -- but be forewarned -- you, too, could become hooked on her wonderful books. (PS: I'd like to marry Kate Shugak, but I'm not sure I could keep up with her.) (PSS: Thanks, Dana, for the email recommendation for the bar near the Anchorage airport where you can sit and watch sea planes land and take off -- I'm coming back to AK in August and plan to go there again.)