Bad Blood (Kate Shugak Series #20)

by Dana Stabenow

Overview

KATE SHUGAK is a native Aleut working as a private investigator in Alaska. She's 5 foot 1 inch tall, carries a scar that runs from ear to ear across her throat and owns half-wolf, half-husky dog named Mutt. Resourceful, strong-willed, defiant, Kate is tougher than your average heroine – and she needs to be to survive the worst the Alaskan wilds can throw at her.

BAD BLOOD: One hundred years of bad blood between two Alaskan villages come to a boil when the body of a young Kushtaka man is found wedged in a fish wheel. Sergeant Jim Chopin's prime suspect is a Kuskulana man who is already in trouble in both villages for falling in love across the river. But when he disappears, both tribes refuse to speak to Jim – so when there's a second murder which looks suspiciously like payback, Jim calls on Kate Shugak for help.

Now Kate must untangle the village tales of tragedy and revenge if she is to find the truth before it's too late...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781781852897
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	02/26/2013
Series:	Kate Shugak Series , #20
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	451,748
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Dana Stabenow was born in Alaska and raised on a 75-foot fishing boat. She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there somewhere and found it in writing. Her first Kate Shugak book, A Cold Day for Murder, received an Edgar Award.
Dana Stabenow was born in Anchorage, Alaska and raised on a 75-foot fishing tender. She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there somewhere and found it in writing. Her first book in the bestselling Kate Shugak series, A Cold Day for Murder, received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

Follow Dana at stabenow.com

Editorial Reviews

An affectionate nod to Romeo and Juliet, Stabenow’s absorbing 20th Kate Shugak novel (after 2012’s Restless in the Grave) focuses on two feuding villages in the 20 million acre Alaskan national park that Kate calls home. Kushtaka, founded by the Athabascan Mack family, is in decline, losing population and clinging to a subsistence lifestyle. Trappers led by the Norwegian Christianson family founded nearby Kuskulana, which has thrived with an airstrip, a growing population, and federal funds. When the body of Kushtakan Tyler Mack surfaces in a river, Sgt. Jim Chopin, a state trooper, thinks it’s likely a homicide; when a second body, of a Kuskulaner, turns up, Chopin is sure more violence will follow. The secretive romance between Kushtakan Jennifer Mack and Kuskulaner Ryan Christianson might turn the feud into a war. Meanwhile, Kate has a plan to save the couple. Edgar-winner Stabenow’s take on Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers ends in a tragedy likely to shock series fans. Author tour. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Entertaining 19th novel featuring the brash, fearless PI [Kate Shugak]…The book sparkles with energy and wit, and packs an unexpected punch.” —Publishers Weekly on RESTLESS IN THE GRAVE

“A combination of fast and furious adventure and the beauty and complexity of Alaska.” —Kirkus Reviews on RESTLESS IN THE GRAVE

“In her newest Kate Shugak thriller, Stabenow proves she's as comfortable dealing with Alaskan history as she is portraying Kate's insular contemporary world and the harsh, beautiful, changing landscape she and her extended family call home… A stand-out entry in a consistently good series.” —Booklist (starred review) on THOUGH NOT DEAD

“The latest in Dana Stabenow's robust series [is] her most far-reaching Shugak story yet, ambitiously incorporating some of Alaska's colorful history.” —Seattle Times on THOUGH NOT DEAD

From the Publisher

A clash of family cultures may be behind a series of murders. The Alaskan villages of Kushtaka and Kuskulana share a salmon-filled river and a deep-rooted mutual hatred. Kushtaka natives, mostly Macks, adhere to the old ways and live in near poverty. Across the river, the Kuskulana residents, mostly Christiansons, reap the benefits of modernity. When state trooper Sgt. Jim Chopin is called in, Roger Christianson takes him to the Mack fish wheel, where the body of Tyler Mack has been found. Although Tyler's family considered him a lazy schemer, they're covering up evidence and plotting revenge. Jim's girlfriend, private eye Kate Shugak, a Native Alaskan with many family connections in the vast area known as the Park, quickly becomes involved. No sooner is Tyler's death ruled a murder then the body of Mitch Halvorsen is found sealed up in the house he's building on the Kuskulana side of the river. Mitch's brother Kenny demands revenge against the Kushtakers. Jim is sure that Mitch and Kenny were smuggling in alcohol and possibly drugs for the nearby mine workers, but his questions produce only silence and lies on both sides of the river. In the meantime, Ryan Christianson and Jennifer Mack, who have fallen in love, are secretly meeting even though their romance is certain to cause more trouble. Kate (Restless in the Grave, 2012, etc.), along with her half-wolf, Mutt, works her own angle and takes steps that may put her in danger in more ways than she can imagine. To her usual atmospheric detection, Stabenow adds more than a hint of Romeo and Juliet, or the Hatfields and the McCoys.

Kirkus Reviews