“Highly refreshing setting, a great cast of characters and an intriguing plot.”—The Bloomsbury Review “Atmospheric.”—The New York Times Book Review “Flashes of the dark poetry of Ross MacDonald.”—Chicago Tribune “A rich stew of deception and menace.”—Anchorage Daily News “Outstanding . . . satisfies on all levels.”—The Kansas City Star Sitka, Alaska, is a subarctic port surrounded by snow-dusted mountains. In addition to honest work, there is a lot of alcohol consumed and other people’s money appropriated. Bars are loud, fights are mean. Rowdy youths party in the ancient Russian cemeteries, sitting on overturned gravestones. Sitka is hardly straight-laced, but murder is uncommon enough to be widely noted—like the Indian big-game guide killed by an ex-miner obeying voices from the earth’s center.
