A Duo by Dana Stabenow

I'm not sure how I'm finding all this time for reading. It might be that the new TV schedule has left me with some evenings empty of visual entertainment, or that I'm going to bed a little earlier at night to have some reading time. Or maybe it's just that I'm not spending quite as much time on the computer! But here are a pair of books by Dana Stabenow, an author I've really come to enjoy! I think that one reason I like her books is that she allows her characters to have shades of gray. They are able to do what needs to be done, the "right" thing, even it's it's not the legally right thing to do.

Breakup by Dana Stabenow


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm not sure if this was meant to be a light-hearted book because murder isn't ever light-hearted, but this book made me laugh out loud in a number of places. It's spring time in Alaska. The bears are waking up and after surviving the long arctic winter, it's not just the bears who are cranky. Kate's day starts with a bear charging her continues with a jet engine falling on her homestead. She becomes a tour guide for a friend's Boston Brahmin parents, and this tour becomes something to be remembered for quite a long time! Kate dodges bears, bullets, and brawls on nearly every page in this installment. As usual the Alaskan setting is a central character as is the conflict between native Alaskan culture and Outside. It was an enjoyable change from the darkness of some of the previous novels!


Killing Grounds by Dana Stabenow


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Killing Grounds is another good entry into the Kate Shugak series. Kate is deck boss for Old Sam for the annual salmon run. The cannery drops the price for the catch, and the commercial fishermen decide to strike - all but an Outsider by the name of Cal Meany. Meany has been buying up set claims using shady means, and he has a reputation for abusing his family. On the morning after a raucous July 4th celebration, Kate finds Cal floating dead in the water next to her boat. Who has killed him? His abused son or wife? A betrayed husband? Kate's Auntie Joyce? Once again the question of who owns Alaska's resources and whose way of life will prevail becomes central stage.

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