From Less Than a Treason, the twenty-first Kate Shugak novel: Tuesday, November 1 the Roadhouse Ernie Ivanoff held forth in fine voice. “Opera is not some goddamn mystical redemptive force. It’s fat people singing really loud in French or Italian or Russian or some other language that ain’t English. It might help Nicholas Cage or…
From Bad Blood, the twentieth Kate Shugak novel: It was a beautiful morning, clear and cool. Mist smoked up from the surface of the water, broken temporarily by the bow of the skiff moving upriver, closing in again behind its stern. Night, in summer only a suggestion of twilight between midnight and two a.m., gave…
From Restless in the Grave, the nineteenth Kate Shugak novel: “So, you’re not even sure a murder has taken place,” Kate said. “No.” “And without more evidence, you can’t justify investigating it yourself.” “Plus press of other business,” Campbell said. “Mocassin Man’s started a meth lab somewhere, and I’m riding herd on the usual assortment…
Read more “So, you’re not even sure a murder has taken place,” Kate said.
From Though Not Dead, the eighteenth Kate Shugak novel: “That was his middle name.” Dan remained incredulous, and Kate said, “It was in his will and everything.” “Jesus,” Dan said again, “the things some people name their kids. You’d think they wanted them to get beat up in kindergarten. Okay, Samuel Leviticus Dementieff, a single…
From A Night Too Dark, the seventeenth Kate Shugak novel: He was running flat out, straight at them, squealing and growling a challenge, turf kicked up behind him by those long, sharp, deadly claws. Distantly, as if it were happening to someone else, she could feel his weight hitting the ground, a steady, rhythmic vibration…
From Whisper to the Blood, the sixteenth Kate Shugak novel: “What’s going on?” Jim said. “You’re never in bed during the day.” “None of your business. Leave me alone.” She pulled the cover back over her head. The weight of him on the bed didn’t move. Neither did Mutt’s. “Oh. Has this got something to…
From A Deeper Sleep, the fifteenth Kate Shugak novel: “The perp says he was out of town at the time. Real sincere on the stand, as I recall, young and clean-cut and all his family in the courtroom, including his Miss Alaska fiancé.” “Please tell me you’re kidding.” “I would if I could. She spent…
Read more “She spent the whole trial trying to hold hands with him over the divider.”
From A Taint in the Blood, the fourteenth Kate Shugak novel: Johnny Morgan, elbows on the railing, watched from the deck. It was pitiful, was what it was. Here was this tiny little woman, couldn’t weigh 120 pounds wringing wet, facing down this big, strong, good-looking guy, an Alaska state trooper no less, a man…
From A Grave Denied, the thirteenth Kate Shugak novel: It took Mutt precisely seventeen seconds, trotting back and forth with her nose to the ground, to pick up Johnny’s scent from the T-shirt Kate held out to her to where the boy smell from it led into the bushes. It took them forty-six minutes, Kate…
From A Fine and Bitter Snow, the twelfth Kate Shugak novel: The grin had faded, and Dan looked tired and for the first time since she’d known him every one of his forty-nine years. “When’s the last time you had a vacation?” she said. He rubbed his face again. “I was Outside in October.” He…