A Grave Denied: A Kate Shugak Novel

by Dana Stabenow

Book Overview

Everyone knew Len Dreyer, a handyman for hire in the Park near Niniltna, Alaska, but no one knew anything else about him. Even Kate Shugak hired him to thin the trees on her 160-acre homestead and was planning to ask him to help build a small second cabin on her property for Johnny Morgan, a teenaged boy in her care. But she, the Park's unofficial p.i., seems to have known less about him than anyone. Alaska is a place where anybody can bury his history...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312306814
• ISBN13: 9780312306816
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Terrific Writer

I think that Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak novels are some of the best reading I have ever seen. I am a prolific reader, with fiction being one of my main hobbies. Her novels, while giving a wonderful tour of Alaska, are easy to read, easy to follow, and always interesting. I first discovered her while recovering from a serious operation and I was bedridden looking for something to take my mind off my discomfort. Someone brought me a Kate Shugak novel and I hadn't read three chapters when I went to the front of the book to see if there were more out there. I immediately ordered the entire collection and paid extra for rapid shipping. I have never regreted that, I only wish she would write more often.

Suspense undenied!

After a few gruesome volumes, it's nice to see Stabenow back in form. As other reviewers noted, Kate's friend and sometime lover, State Trooper Jim Chopin, asks her to investigate a mysterious death: a man found frozen in an advancing glacier, his cabin burned. And when Kate begins to investigate, her own life and property also (literally) come under fire. The steps of Kate's investigation will appeal to fans of the whodunit genre, with an Alaskan flavor. Kate methodically visits possible suspects, each a source of color and sometimes humor. The solution of the case left me feeling happily satisfied, an increasingly rare response to books I see these days. Stabenow relaxes and lets us have fun with Kate. At times, the novel's style made me think I was reading a cozy. The author finds humor in Kate's new parenting role, as she learns how to cope with a teenager she has inherited from previous novels. Some of the best scenes involve Kate's relationship with her dog, Mutt, a part-wolf who seems to read Kate's mind. As usual, the cast of characters holds our attention, with tiny subplots: Kate's best friend gets a visit from a (deliberately) long-lost brother and fourteen-year-old Johnny remains determined to stay with Kate, rather than his blood relatives. The endings seem realistic, not at all contrived.It is SO nice to pick up a book that doesn't tempt me to skip pages, let alone peek at the ending. This one was a joy to read -- I kept wishing it wouldn't end!

Not All the Chills Are Because of the Weather

I love a good mystery series, which is why I wish I had made the acquaintance of Dana Stabenow and the marvelous Kate Shugak a long time ago. However, that oversight has now been corrected and you may be sure I'll be eagerly looking for more. I would also urge anyone who also has failed to make the acquaintance of these two to remedy the situation immediately.When a quartet of middle-schoolers discovers a body under the Grant Glacier while on a field trip, Kate is drawn in on two counts. First, her ward Johnny, son of her dead lover, was one of the four. Second, State Trooper Jim Chopin wants her help. He wants Kate, too, but that's another issue.Then someone burns Kate's cabin to the ground-and would have done the same to her and Johnny if they'd been home. Jim officially throws her off the case, but now it's become personal.I'll be the first to admit that, for me, Alaska is one of those places I'd like to visit but wouldn't live in. I'm too fond of being warm. But this particular visit was well worth the trip, an engrossing and multi-layered story that to a degree brought to mind the television series Northern Exposure. The people who inhabit Ms. Stabenow's book have the same unique character quirks while still never edging beyond the boundaries of reality. Meeting them for the first time, in all their fierce independence and determination to give no more to the Powers That Be than is absolutely necessary, it's not at all hard to believe that a man could live among them for decades without anyone ever learning much more about him than his name.Ms. Stabenow masterfully manages to untangle the basic mystery-who killed the handyman?-while at the same time drawing the reader into the lives of the people among whom it took place, and by the time she's done and the final, shocking answer is revealed, one feels just as affected as do the members of her fictional community.Those who have had the good fortune to make Kate Shugak's acquaintance will surely find this a worthy addition to their collection. Those who, like me, have just been introduced are going to want to start one.

Excellent Kate Shugak novel

Fourteen-year-old Johnny Morgan is on a field trip with his class from school when he discovers a body hidden in a glacier. The victim, Leonard Dreyer, was a handyman who was hired by many local people to do odd jobs for them. Johnny is living with Kate Shugak, a private investigator who was once romantically involved with Johnny's father Jack, and who promised him that she would take care of Johnny after Jack's death. Kate helps Alaska State Trooper Jim Chopin investigate the case. When Kate's life is threatened, Jim decides to fire her for her own protection, but to no avail. As always, this is an interesting mystery set in the beautiful Alaskan area near Prince William Sound. Stabenow hits all of the right notes in portraying the off-again-on-again relationship between Kate and Jim and shows us a softer side of Kate as she relates to Johnny and her friends. The final chapter in the book is a warm portrayal of the Alaskan spirit when people go out of their way to help their neighbors. This is one of my favorite books in this wonderful series.

Another Winner for Stabenow!

This entry is number 13 in the Kate Shugak series. If you've enjoyed the previous 12 Kate Shugaks, then you'll love this entry.Kate is still trying to deal with having young Johnny Morgan living with her in her one-room cabin. She knows that a confrontation with his mother will come sooner than either she or Johnny wants.Johnny and some of his classmates find a dead body in a glacier. Trooper Jim Chopin has his plate full and asks Kate to investigate why the Park's handyman was killed. When she starts asking questions, she finds out more than she wants to know about her fellow Park rats. In the meantime, Jim Chopin turns up the heat on their non-existent, but definitely "something's going on" relationship. Kate thinks she's sure what she thinks about that - well, maybe.Stabenow is adept in this outing in keeping the identity of the killer under wraps until the end - and the reason for the killing will stun you. Stabenow has written another excellent mystery. Her writing is so good you can almost smell the spring in Alaska and find yourself being glad the winter is over.