Fri 18 Jun 2010
Archived Review: DANA STABENOW – A Cold Day for Murder.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Reviews[6] Comments
DANA STABENOW – A Cold Day for Murder. Berkley, paperback original; 1st printing, June 1992.
The first Kate Shugak mystery, she being a former investigator for the DA’s office in Anchorage, here persuaded to check out the disappearance of a Park Ranger six weeks before.
This is as much about real life in Alaska as it is a mystery, which is OK, but I prefer my detective stories to have more meat to them, and not to be quite so obvious as this.
COMMENT: Stabenow’s book, I have later discovered, won an Edgar as best paperback mystery of the year. Obviously the MWA is looking for social relevance, and they could care less about what I personally read detective fiction for: a solidly plotted story.
[UPDATE] 06-18-10. My views on the objection I put forth in that last paragraph above have changed since I wrote it, back in 1993, but then again, not necessarily all that much. I still look for a detective story first, but if I enjoy the characters and the interaction between them, then a tightly knit puzzle is neither crucial nor first and foremost on my mind.
I do remember the general story of A Cold Day for Murder, but I don’t recall enough to know if I’d object as much now to the “social relevance” that I found as displeasing as I did back then.
But I certainly missed the boat on this one, all around. Not only I did have to admit I did not recognize the Edgar-winning quality of her first book, Dana Stabenow has gone on to well-regarded and solidly established writing career.
There are now 17 books in the Kate Shugak series, another four books with Liam Campbell, and two stand-alones. Liam Campbell is an Alaska State Trooper who, when live backs up on him, takes a post out in an isolated native town far from anywhere. I’ve read one of these also, and while I don’t have handy the review I wrote, I remember feeling the same way about it as I did this first one with Kate Shugak.
Which is to say, a weak story line, plotwise, and characters I didn’t find myself getting close to. If you were to say I’m all wet about this, I’d just have to grin and bear it.
June 18th, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Successful or not, my reaction was much the same as yours. I didn’t care what happened to the characters and there was no plot to carry me past that. I finished this one and got about halfway through the second and then just gave up.
Maybe we should both invest in a set of towels, but then I never thought I had to like everything that was successful or others liked. She has plenty of loyal fans, I don’t think she’ll be all that damaged by missing the two of us. Obviously we aren’t getting something her loyal readers are, but at this stage I don’t think I’m going to suddenly develop a taste for her books.
Popular doesn’t always mean good and even when it does it doesn’t mean everyone will like it. I think I’ll just take a pass on this one.
June 19th, 2010 at 4:02 am
No doubt this one came along at the right time. We have feminism, racial diversity and environmentalism, all in one book. Let me stress I am not criticizing any of these elements–I’m all for them–just noting that likely this was the sort of book people were ready for by that time. I personally like different sorts of mystery milieus, but I also like for them to be anchored by a solid problem.
June 19th, 2010 at 5:03 am
Curt
Like you it wasn’t the politics or related social elements that swayed me one way or the other, just that I didn’t much care for the lack of plot and the characters didn’t carry enough weight to get me past that. Obviously it does for her fans and more power to them.
I like Nevada Barr and Sarah Andrews who both have some things in common with her so it isn’t feminism, the environment, or social issues putting me off — there just wasn’t enough plot combined with I wasn’t that fond of the characters. If I liked the characters better I would have cared less about the plot.
But there is room for everyone and I have no problem with her continued success. There are many perfectly good successful writers that for one reason or another I don’t like, and I don’t feel the need to change just because they are popular. Once in a while I will try a later work by one of them to see if they (or I) have changed. Sometimes they (or I) have and other times I’m reminded what I didn’t like the first time around. Once in a while someone I used to like slips off the list for one reason or another.
What any of us like is not only subjective, but subject to so many variables as to be impossible to transfer to others. I cheerfully admit my tastes are eclectic (if not downright strange) and range from some highly respected and literary works to some awful trash.
I don’t think I’ve ever found a critic I agreed with more than a bit over half the time, but as with most of the people here I learn to appreciate their opinions and their special knowledge in certain areas, and even when I disagree it’s in the spirit of a shared love of the genre over all. And sometimes the disagreements are more interesting than the agreements because that’s usually when I learn something I didn’t know. It may not change my opinion, but I don’t mind my perception being expanded.
June 19th, 2010 at 6:18 am
I’ve read most of this series and, while uneven, in general I do like it. I guess I wouldn’t keep reading it otherwise. It’s probably the alien (to me) setting that holds my interest.
Nevada Barr, on the other hand, is an author I think I should like but I don’t. The main character left me cold in the one book I read.
June 19th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Jeff
On the other hand, I do like the Nevada Barr books, strangely enough. I’ve read two of them, at any rate, which is two more than a lot of other contemporary authors. In Anna Pigeon’s case, she seems to flit from one National Park to another, which means it’s impossible to get tired of the same old location, and she has to keep meeting new people.
I don’t recall a lot of detective work going on her books, though. I remember them more as thrillers than as detective puzzles.
I was particularly taken by A SUPERIOR DEATH, perhaps her second one, since it took place at Isle Royale National Park far up in Lake Superior, not far from where I went to undergraduate school, Michigan Tech.
Ties like this can kept you more closely aware of a series than otherwise, though Anna has certainly moved on from there a long time ago.
Curt
I almost didn’t post this review, if you could call it that, since it consists of only two sentences, which I separated into two paragraphs when I put it online.
And I was totally reluctant to spell out in my subsequent Update what I thought I had meant when I referred to “social relevance” in the book, rather than storytelling values.
But you put your finger right on it when you bring up “feminism, racial diversity and environmentalism,” and how the book came out at exactly the right time. Thank you for this. Obviously I didn’t find any of the above as crucial elements in what makes a successful mystery story, but I’m happy you were able to say exactly what they were.
David
I think you and I may agree more than 50% of the time, but then again I’m speaking for myself and not for you. Perhaps when you disagree with me, you do not say so, although I find that difficult to believe.
The fact remains, that even with a two-sentence throwaway review, there is much that can be discussed. I will keep that in mind the next time I wonder whether an old review is too short or too inconsequential to post online.
And yes, before I forget to add this, it is where we disagree that we learn more than if we all nod our heads in agreement and move on.
— Steve
June 19th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Steve
50% was a broad generalization and there are some like you (and a few others here) who it is probably closer to 80 or even 90% of the time, but the point was that the diversity makes for the interesting part.
I agree about the thriller elements in the Nevada Barr books, and she does move Anna Pigeon around a lot, which I understand is not untrue of some careers in the National Parks Service. It may well be the thriller elements that got me through the first couple of books in the series, but since then I just want to know what happens to Anna next — which is the essence of many a popular series.
Sarah Andrews’ Em Hamilton probably hit closer to home since she is a geologist and the plots have involved her in the oil field, mining, and even with paleontology. And again, the main character appealed to me and the writing, and if the mysteries aren’t always complex they are well plotted and presented.
The social relevance in the Stabenow books was no problem, in fact it was probably the best of the books, but the characters didn’t appeal all that much to me and having known quite a few people who lived and worked in Alaska the setting wasn’t enough alone to keep me turning the pages — despite the fact John Hawkes ADVENTURES IN THE ALASKAN SKIN TRADE is a favorite novel.
Anyone interested in the Alaskan setting and a pretty good mystery should check out Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon’s THE YIDDISH POLICEMAN’S UNION, an alternate reality novel where after WW II Alaska was made a refuge for Jewish survivors of the Holocaust until 1999. As the deadline comes closer a young detective is drawn into a murder involving the past and the politics involved.
Chabon is that rarity, a literary figure who both respects and writes genre fiction well, and it is an interesting premise with an attractive hero and good mystery at its heart.
Gee, you can keep an opinion to yourself? Someone should have told me.