About Words Rating: 7 out of 10
About Words Review: It took a while to get into this series, of which there are three so far. It's not as good as the Kate Shugak series, but it is well worth reading, especially if you are an aviation or Alaska enthusiasist, or even just a mystery fan. As always, her characters are well-drawn and fascinating. However, you might spend most of this book, if not all, in a state of confusion about what is going on. The main character gets plunged headfirst into a small community which drags him around from one crazy situation to the next. There is definitely too much going on without understanding the context. It all gets straightened out in the end, though.
Even so, Dana Stabenow is one of the most talented mystery authors around. Every one of her books is well worth reading, including this one. And the next two books in this series revert back to the usual Stabenow excellence.

Amazon.com Review: Dana Stabenow won an Edgar Award for her books about Kate Shugak, a resourceful Indian woman living in Alaska. The series is full of respect for the landscape and the hard work it takes to survive in the far north. Now she starts a new series starring Liam Campbell, an Alaskan State Trooper with a troubled past and an uncertain future; the environmental issues of the 1980s appear to have been back-burnered in favor of the personal needs and feelings of the 1990s...[more]