Killing Grounds

By Dana Stabenow

Book Overview

Summer in Alaska is synonymous with salmon, and the latest Kate Shugak mystery finds our heroine up to her ears in chinooks and chicanery.Every time I think Ms. Stabenow has gotten as good as she can get, she comes up with something better. Wrap your ribs for safety, find a place where you will not be disturbed for a couple of hours, and indulge yourself, The Washington Times advised its readers in its review of Breakup. In Killing Grounds, Kate finds that commercial fishing can be a deadly business.Deckhanding for Old Sam Dementieff on board the fishing tender Freya, Kate helps haul in salmon, halibut, and the body of a widely disliked fisherman, whose apparent murder is greeted with such boisterous rejoicing that she's unsure whether to arrest the killer or give him a medal.Drafted by State Trooper Jim Chopin to assist in the investigation, Kate draws up a list of suspects that includes the dead man's troubled teenaged son and daughter, his not-so-grief-stricken widow, and half the skippers of the fishing fleet. At the same time, Kate's Aleut aunties, attending a fish camp on Amartuq Creek, are mixed up in some fishy dealings of their own, which Kate must prove do not include murder. A coterie of colorful supporting characters, including a Native American-wannabe, an idealistic fish hawk, and a Presbyterian minister, alternately hinder and help Kate's investigation.With the attention to the details and difficulties of Alaskan life and another of the brilliantly crafted plots that have made her one of the Pacific Northwest's finest writers, Dana Stabenow has created in Killing Grounds a picture postcard from the Last Frontier: where the call of the wild should never beunderestimated in politics, in commercial fishing, or in murder.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399143564
• ISBN13: 9780399143564
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Fishing is Murder

Following hard on the heels of her Edgar award winning BREAKUP, Dana Stabenow gives her fans a deep look into the world of salmon fishing with KILLING GROUNDS. This story is tightly woven around many of the minor characters of the series as they ply their ancestral fishing grounds for both substance and livelihood. Kate with Jack Morgan's son Johnny join Old Sam on the Freya to weigh and haul the catch to market. But part of the catch is the body of the most despised fisherman on the waters and no one is grieving at his loss. This one moves at a rapid pace from the culture, to Kath & Jack's romance, then to the murder and its solution. Stabenow is a writer for "keepers" of fish or books. Nash Black, author whose books are also available in Kindle editions. HaintsWriting as a Small BusinessSins of the Fathers

A winner!

Top-notch author and another winning story. Alaska is featured and described with accuracy and affection. Just one of the many stories in this land of mystery and challenges.

Stabenow Can't Write 'Em Fast Enough For Me

I just can't get enough of Dana Stabenow's humorous and clever style of writing. I loved Break Up and this one is even better. It's the kind of story you want to read out loud to someone else so they can laugh too.

Stabenow's Alaska is the real thing.

Having lived in Alaska for over thirty years now, I usually find books set in Alaska a disappointment. Stabenow's Alaska is the real thing, in all it's complex and contradictory detail. Her characters are people I know, and her settings are right-on. This book is no exception to her tradition of excellence. The plot is intriguing and keeps the reader guessing, and Stabenow's humor will make you laugh out loud.

Brilliant social commentary and a great mystery

Once Alaskan native Kate Shugak was a sex crime investigator, working out of the Office of the Anchorage District Attorney. However, five years of coping with abused women and children have taken their toll on Kate. She retreats from the craziness of the city to make a life for herself on her family's homestead. Though the area is quite a bit more isolated and less populated than Anchorage, crime still exists, and Kate is ready to take on those individuals who threaten her native soil. To supplement her income, Kate hires on as the deck boss on the salmon fishing vessel, the Freya. When the food processing firms lower the price per pound for salmon by fifty cents, the fleet goes on strike. The only scab is notorious spouse and child abuser Cal Meany, whom is a person despised by everyone who knows him. When his mutilated body is found floating along side the Freya, Kate begins to investigate a case in which everyone has a motive for murder. KILLING GROUNDS is a mind boggling mystery that is filled with many characters with ample reason for killing the culprit. This makes it almost impossible to determine who the murderer is. As usual, Dana Stabenow affords readers a special glimpse into Alaska as seen through the eyes of the state's Native Americans. A Kate Shugak tale always seems to be an emotional experience that takes readers in an environmental and civic roller coaster ride that is both thrilling and illuminating. Harriet Klausner