Helpful Score: 1
Stan Jones' Nathan Active series has long been my favorite mystery series set in Alaska. Raised by white parents in Anchorage, Active's job with the Alaska Highway Patrol soon leads him to the small Inupiat village of Chukchi on Alaska's north coast where he is now Chief of Public Safety. The backbone of this series is its depiction of village life and how Active slowly becomes a part of it and of his heritage.
Now married and with a small child, Nathan finds monitoring Tommie Leokuk's midnight rambles a tough assignment, and I loved the solution one of his men came up with. When you live in a small indigenous village at the end of a very long food chain, you have to think smart because there's just no money available, and these "fixes" that everyone comes up with are just one way Chukchi village life feels so real.
Nathan's investigation leads him to the oil fields and a phrase that I wish would be erased from our vocabulary within my lifetime ("Boys will be boys") to the streets of Chukchi. The dead woman had two lovers, one male and one female, and Active almost wore a rut in the road being led in circles between the two suspects. This is a mystery where readers know one of two people did it, and they have to wade through all the lies to deduce which one is guilty.
Good-old fashioned armchair sleuthing in a hostile, fascinating environment that's brought to life by a master. If you're a reader, this is one of life's pleasures. If you're new to the series and want to give it a try, start at the beginning (White Sky Black Ice) so you won't miss all-important character development.
Now married and with a small child, Nathan finds monitoring Tommie Leokuk's midnight rambles a tough assignment, and I loved the solution one of his men came up with. When you live in a small indigenous village at the end of a very long food chain, you have to think smart because there's just no money available, and these "fixes" that everyone comes up with are just one way Chukchi village life feels so real.
Nathan's investigation leads him to the oil fields and a phrase that I wish would be erased from our vocabulary within my lifetime ("Boys will be boys") to the streets of Chukchi. The dead woman had two lovers, one male and one female, and Active almost wore a rut in the road being led in circles between the two suspects. This is a mystery where readers know one of two people did it, and they have to wade through all the lies to deduce which one is guilty.
Good-old fashioned armchair sleuthing in a hostile, fascinating environment that's brought to life by a master. If you're a reader, this is one of life's pleasures. If you're new to the series and want to give it a try, start at the beginning (White Sky Black Ice) so you won't miss all-important character development.
