This is the first of the long running Kate Shugak series which continues into 2023. That’s pretty much what I’ve been looking for – something to keep me going (as though I don’t have enough to read)! – lol.    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/dana-stabenow/kate-shugak

A Cold Day for Murder 
by Dana Stabenow 
1992 –  
Read by Marguerite Gavin 5h 27m
Rating:  C / crime  
#1 in Kate Shugak series

A couple chapters in I was really having some second thoughts, but then Stabenow threw some genuinely funny lines in there and things picked up for awhile.

Kate Shugak has moved to her family home in a remote national park in the Alaskan wilderness to be a ranger there. At the moment her job is to find two men who disappeared in the winter cold – one is anther ranger, the others is a man sent to find him. Kate has to interview whomever she meets, hunters, bar patrons, family, tourists, pipe-liners, lovers of the outdoors to see if anyone has seen them.

But nothing seems to be happening, in part because we’re being introduced to some of the regulars for the series, My enthusiasm waned. The coarseness and humor in the dialogue was over the top.The book is only 5 hours long but still, it got old.

In asking around Kate finds out that her cousin Xenia was “seeing” Miller, the missing ranger. This is very upsetting to both Xenia’s brother and Kate’s grandmother who is a real eccentric. And Xenia is very upset aw well because of some gossip. There’s no shortage of suspects.

But first, is Miller even dead?  He’s been completely missing for 6 weeks. In itself, that doesn’t mean he’s dead but, where’s the other guy?  

I was terribly disappointed with this one so if you’ve been considering it, don’t bother. The plot was mediocre and although the characters were interesting the dialogue was trying way too hard for stand-up comic routine. The ending was satisfactory.