Termination Dust [Mass Market Paperback]

Sue Henry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

The virgin landscape along the Yukon River has hardly changed since the gold rush began in 1897. Frostbiting winds slice the rugged terrain, and, like a shroud, the first dusting of snow covers the low hills. Braving thick snow on the Top of the World Highway - where one slip could mean a fall down thousands of feet - Detective Alex Jensen is hunting a cold-blooded killer. His only witness is Jim Hampton, a rugged canoeist whose vacation has abruptly ended. And Jensen's only clue is an 1898 journal - detailing an eerily similar murder - that Hampton discovered on the killer's path. Set against nature's most beautiful, yet cruelest, elements, Termination Dust weaves together legend and reality.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Overplotted and tamer than Henry's award-winning Murder on the Iditarod Trail, this sequel takes its title from the Alaska Gold Rush, when "termination dust" meant the first snowfall of the season, signaling the end of the year's prospecting. Alaska state trooper Alex Jensen is in Canada working with Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Charles "Del" Delafosse when a retired Alaskan senator Warren Russell is found murdered. Not far off, the police come across Colorado canoeist Jim Hampton, who appears hungover and dazed but denies shooting Russell and insists that he himself was attacked by two others who stole his gear, which has been mysteriously returned, along with a skull and some old bones Hampton had discovered upriver. As Del investigates the murder, Jensen reads the Gold Rush journal Hampton found near the bones. Henry crosscuts the account of the murder investigation with entries from the journal, which is offered in full at the end of the novel. The two plot threads remain tenuously connected, despite the Yukon blizzard that occurs in each.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Sgt. Alex Jensen Arnold (Murder on the Iditarod Trail, LJ 4/1/91) makes an encore appearance. Although damning circumstantial evidence fingers visiting canoeist Jim Hampton as the murderer of an ex-politician fisherman, Jensen intuits the truth of Hampton's story. As the investigation continues, bringing furtive assault and theft, both men become involved in a journal Hampton discovered dealing with the 1897 Yukon gold rush. Pristine scenery, in-depth characterization, and the historical sideline should duplicate the success of Henry's first.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Avon (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380724065
• ISBN-13: 978-0380724062
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #386,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gold fever just may grab you, May 26, 2000

By 

R. K. Smith (Texas Hill Country, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Termination Dust (Mass Market Paperback)

Sue Henry's second book is every bit as good as Murder on the Iditarod Trail. Set this time in the Yukon, she weaves the story of an unfortunate gold prospector of 1898 into a modern murder mystery. While history doesn't exactly repeat itself, it certainly won't let the modern characters escape from what happened way back then.

Ms. Henry intersperses today's mystery with passages from the journal of Addison Harley Riser, whose journal and bones were found by Jim Hampton, an outdoorsman on his dream vacation. The vacation turns into a nightmare when he's suspected of killing a controversial ex-senator. Alaskan State Trooper Alex Jensen, detailed to assist RCMP Inspector Charles Delafosse, is not convinced of Hampton's guilt, and soon is also fascinated by Riser's journal. The crimes are awfully similar.

You will not be able to put this book down, so just get comfortable. It's another keeper.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It captures the "Spell of the Yukon.", September 1, 1999

By 

John Kleber (Louisville, KY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Termination Dust (Mass Market Paperback)

Sue Henry came as a fresh Arctic wind into my Old Kentucky Home. Three times I have visited Alaska, and on two of those occasions, I hit the Yukon Territory. This book is especially meaningful for anyone who has been to Dawson City. She has caputured the spirit of that small isolated town so rich in history. And no one writes as well about the dangers of an Arctic winter. This book led me to all her other novels, and I enjoyed them equally as much. I never thought I would find anyone to equal Robert Service in conveying the feel for the frozen North, but Henry has come very close. Perhaps this work will make more of us in the lower forty-eight realize that the Yukon is a place apart from Alaska, with exciting tales and rich culture all its own. Certainly it demonstrates that crime knows no national boundaries, and Henry writes about it equally well on both sides of the line. Mush on Sue.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Past and present are interwoven, April 9, 2002

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Termination Dust (Mass Market Paperback)

Sue Henry writes another winner in "Termination Dust", the second book of her Alex Jensen Mystery Series. Canoeist Jim Hampton is on a trip down the Yukon River when he discovers the bones and the journal of a prospecter, Addison Riser from the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897. While pondering the question of what may have caused Riser's death, Hampton is attacked and left for dead himself. He escapes and is discovered by Detective Alex Jensen and Inspector Charles Delafosse who are investigating a stolen car ring and the murder of a prominent man. There is evidence to suggest that Hampton committed the murder and the two lawmen investigate that possibility. The story continues with the constant weaving of Riser's story from the 1800's with that of modern-day Hampton. The story includes lost treasure and a further murder. Henry makes the story rich and complex, yet manages to convincingly tie up all of the loose ends at the end. The reader is also treated to the rich background of the Yukon and a history lesson about the Gold Rush.