Kate Shugak mysteries

Between two suspicious murders and a series of attacks on snow mobilers up the Kanuyaq River, part-time P.I. and newly elected chairman of the Niniltna Native Association Kate Shugak has her hands full.

Inheriting a homestead from her late uncle, a stunned Kate Shugak receives a cryptic letter from him imploring her to discover his father's fate, a mystery involving a priceless tribal artifact for which Kate is targeted by murderous attacks.

The villages of Kushtaka and Kuskulana sit across the river from each other, but Kuskulana's always thrived while Kushtaka is slowly dying out. One hundred years of bad blood between the communties threaten to come to a boil when the body of a young Kushtaka ne'er-do-well is found wedged in a fish wheel. Sergeant Jim Chopin gets the unenviable task of investigating -- difficult since members of both tribes refuse to speak to Jim, and yet also critical...

"'... though there is no fixed line between wrong and right, There are roughly zones whose laws must be obeyed.' ... It is New Year's Eve, nearly six weeks into an off-and-on blizzard that has locked Alaska down, effectively cutting it off from the outside world. But now there are reports of a plane down in the Quilak mountains. With the National Transportation Safety Board unable to reach the crash site, ex-Trooper Jim Chopin is pulled out of retirement...