Killing Grounds (Kate Shugak Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Dana Stabenow (Author)
Key Phrases: halibut heart, setnet site, four aunties, Old Sam, Auntie Joy, Anne Flanagan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Like Nevada Barr, Dana Stabenow writes mysteries so firmly rooted in the natural world that their sense of place becomes a vital part of the plot. In this book about Native Alaskan crime solver Kate Shugak, the ocean and the men who fish it for salmon are described in such vivid detail that you'll never look at a salmon steak the same way again. When a particularly nasty fisherman is murdered, there's no end of suspects--including members of Kate's own family. The story also sports a richly ironic undertone of political incorrectness, as Kate muses about the forest rangers, "who wanted to annex every square foot of land they saw and keep it pristine and inviolate, unsullied by human hand. They failed to recall that the indigenous peoples who came across the Bering land bridge during the last Ice Age had their hands all over anything that had the remotest possibility of nutritional value, and were every bit as much of the landscape and the wheel of life as the fish and the birds and the mammals." Previous Shugak sorties in paperback include Breakup, Blood Will Tell, Play with Fire, and A Cold-Blooded Business. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
In this gripping eighth appearance of former Anchorage, Alaska, investigator Kate Shugak, a fisherman is murdered, leaving almost as many suspects as fish in the ocean. Cal Meany was a cheat, a poacher, an abusive husband and father, an adulterer and an opportunist who disdains joining the fishermen's strike against the largest local wholesaler, which has drastically reduced the price it pays for salmon. While helping her relative Old Sam on his tender in the Gulf of Alaska, Kate discovers Meany's body in Alaganik Bay: he's been beaten, stabbed, strangled and drowned. Kate assists state trooper Jim Chopin's investigation. As they validate alibis, suspicions point to Meany's family. After Meany's daughter is murdered and his handyman disappears, Kate's lover, Jack Morgan, and his son, Johnny, visiting from Anchorage, help with her investigation. In a harrowing climax, Kate identifies the murderer and the unusual motive. The background allows Stabenow to examine the predicament of commercial fisherman threatened by fish farms, native subsistence fishing and lucrative sport fishing. As usual, Aleut customs are seamlessly woven into the plot; here, Auntie Joy is suing the government to retain traditional fishing rights. In powerful prose, Stabenow evokes Alaska's rugged physical splendors and the toll taken on the humans who live there.
Copyright 1998 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: 256 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425167739
• ISBN-13: 978-0425167731
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #310,680 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 8 in The Kate Shugak Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stabenow's Alaska is the real thing., March 9, 1999

By A Customer

Having lived in Alaska for over thirty years now, I usually find books set in Alaska a disappointment. Stabenow's Alaska is the real thing, in all it's complex and contradictory detail. Her characters are people I know, and her settings are right-on. This book is no exception to her tradition of excellence. The plot is intriguing and keeps the reader guessing, and Stabenow's humor will make you laugh out loud.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stabenow Can't Write 'Em Fast Enough For Me, March 10, 1999

By	N. Sausser "pucksau" (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just can't get enough of Dana Stabenow's humorous and clever style of writing. I loved Break Up and this one is even better. It's the kind of story you want to read out loud to someone else so they can laugh too.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spawning Murder, June 27, 2004

By	W. Kaplan "calyndula" (Wynnewood, PA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Killing Grounds (Turtleback)

In the eighth in the Alaskan Kate Shugak series, author Dana Stabenow lets us enjoy the Alaskan fishing scene during the wild and woooly salmon spawning season. And here I thought I knew all about it--salmon swim upstream, right?

Yes, but in the hundreds and thousands, and Kate is serving on an ancient fishing boat right in the thick of things. As we find out from this fascinating look at the salmon season, the work is backbreaking, intense, smelly and unending--and that's just the fights among the fishermen jockeying for a place to put their nets.

In the middle of this frantic fishing, which is governed by environmental and other laws, comes a nasty rogue aptly named Calvin Meany. He disregards the unwritten law of the waters, impinging on others' nets, catching their salmon, resorting to thuggery when he has to (and even when he doesn't), and beating on his crew--his own teenaged son.

Kate hates him on sight, as does everybody else, so when Meany turns up brutally murdered, it's hard to feel sorry. Still, Kate has to do her job. And her investigation into the nasty circumstances of the murder place her own life in jeopardy.

Another fast-paced, fascinating read from Stabenow!