Occam's Razor (50 page)

While other members of the VBI run-down the local leads, Joe and Willy embark on a road-trip. The federal database of unsolved crimes turns up a connection between the MO of their arsonist and similar fires in New Jersey, where organized crime is still very much a force to be reckoned with. But why would a mafioso from the Garden State be torching barns in the green mountains of Vermont? And can Joe and Willy bring their quarry to justice before he lashes out again?

Alaska is about 68 times the size of Vermont. Its winters are colder, its mountains higher, its animals wilder and its remote places far more remote. None of which is to say that it's at all
better
than Vermont. Just different. More.

If you've yet to meet Kate Shugak, we think fans of Joe Gunther will find much to like in the often-silent Aleut investigator who rarely finds complete comfort in anything but her dog’s company. Dana Stabenow’s Edgar award winning series is now on its twentieth volume.

#1, 
A Cold Day for Murder. 
A young National Park Ranger—who just happens to be a congressman’s son—goes missing, as does the investigator sent to find him. Local Bush expertise is called for, and while Kate Shugak thought she'd retired from investigating, it’s her home territory, the money's good, and it’s personal.

#2,
A Fatal Thaw
. Long Alaska winters get to people sometimes. This one certainly got to Roger McAniff, who decided to shoot nine of his neighbors in cold blood. Except that ballistics tests show one of them was killed by someone else, a cunning murder hidden in the midst of madness.

#3, 
Dead in the Water
. Two crewmembers from the crab boat
Avilda
are missing, presumed dead. It’s a dangerous profession, but there’s more than a whiff of malice in the air. Enough that the DA wants Kate to be onboard, at sea, undercover.