Stuart presents a murder mystery set in small-town 1970s Alaska.

Jonah St. Clair, the only police officer in the tiny Alaskan town of Koloshan, investigates the death of 10-year-old Johnny Simpson. The boy seems to have died as the result of a potion given to him by a native Tlingit shaman named Chaaky, who was trying to cure the boy’s limp. St. Clair is trying to withhold judgment; although the locals have already mentally tried and convicted Chaaky, St. Clair reminds himself that the death could have been an accident, although other events—including a disappearing man and a disappearing fortune—start to seem interconnected in ways that will test St. Clair’s skills, which were honed by six years with the LAPD (and two years of service in Vietnam). At first, the case of the missing man seems more straightforward, particularly since the world of Tlingit mysticism is, in many ways, the antithesis of the scientific, forensic world of modern crime: “With less science to explain their world,” St. Clair reflects at one point, “the Tlingits, like other people throughout the world, had welcomed actions that had the appearance of exerting control over the unknown.” But if Chaaky is innocent, who might be responsible for little Johnny’s death? His father? His older brother? And how does it all connect to the missing man and the missing money? Patiently and skillfully, the author unfolds a story that’s equal parts traditional mystery and atmospheric evocation of Alaska’s people and customs, in the tradition of Dana Stabenow’s beloved Kate Shugak novels. St. Clair emerges as a stolid, self-possessed rock of a hero for the book, and Stuart is equally adept at fleshing out her cast of supporting characters.

A solidly constructed and very satisfying murder mystery set in a largely vanished Alaska.

A suburban private investigator suddenly gets entangled in a complicated espionage plot in Stuart’s cozy mystery.

Cameron Chandler is a widowed single mother and private detective at a discount detective agency located in a mall.On her way to work one morning, she stops in a coffee shop and ends up in the middle of a shootout that claims the life of local boy Callum Goldberg. During the incident, a man grabs her and gets her out of danger; it turns out to be Gary Miles, a local man she already knows, who tells her that the shooters were after him because he works for a shadowy government agency. He’s clearly caught up in something dangerous, and he asks Cameron to watch his dog,Bandit, while he’s away on a mission. He won’t tell her much about that mission, though, so Cameron recruits her friend and co-worker, Yuri, to help her figure out what to do. Then a man shows up at the detective agency looking for a dog that was lost during the shooting—a pooch that matches the description of Bandit. The stakes get higher later on when someone looking for Bandit—and his owner—track down Cameron’s kids and steal one of their phones. Then Callum Goldberg’s parents hire Cameron’s detective agency to look into his case, putting her in a position to find out what’s really going on with Gary. Overall, the novel offers plenty of tension, which gives the novel a sense of forward momentum. The story particularly shines, though, when it spends time with its side characters, especially Cameron’s clever kids; her mom, who has questionable cooking skills; the trivia-obsessed Yuri; and Cameron’s mysterious boss, PW. However, this entry doesn’t entirely work as a stand-alone, as some of the characters have history that newcomers won’t be privy to. Also, although Stuart spends time describing rooms in elaborate detail, she omits relevant details that she doesn’t reveal until the end. Overall, though, fans of Janet Evanovich’s work will likely enjoy this book.

An often fun and suspenseful mystery.