MIKE DOOGAN – Lost Angel. Nominated for Best Private Eye First Novel of the Year, 2007.

Putnam, hardcover, August 2006. Paperback: Berkley, August 2007.

   Book Description:

The icy interior of Alaska is the setting for this breathtaking first mystery from the winner of the Robert L. Fish Award for short fiction.

Lost Angel is an astonishing debut novel from Mike Doogan. In the tradition of Nevada Barr and C. J. Box, Doogan explores the darker side of man’s nature against the backdrop of stunning natural beauty.

Moses Wright founded the Christian commune of Rejoice. The rough-and-tumble interior of Alaska may seem a strange place for such a community, but for twenty years it has served as a beacon in the wilderness. Two decades later Moses granddaughter, Faith, is the star of the younger generation. Pretty and intelligent, she’s the first teenager in the town to choose to experience the outside world. When Faith disappears, the elders of Rejoice look beyond their village for help.

Ex-cop Nik Kane lost his faith long ago-dissolved in a bottle. A few drinks, a dark night, and a shooting led to seven years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Nothing can give him back his career or his family, but the search for Faith may restore his soul.

By turns lyrical and hard-edged, Lost Angel is a remarkable first novel from a powerful new voice in mystery fiction.

   About the Author:

Mike Doogan has been called “the columnist Alaskans love to hate.” A third-generation native of the state, he lives in Anchorage. Currently, he is seeking a seat in the Alaska State House.

   Review excerpts:

Publishers Weekly: “Meet Nik Kane, the charming star of a new series by Anchorage Daily News columnist Doogan. Kane, a 55-year-old ex-cop who’s also an ex-con, not to mention an ex-husband, heads to the Alaskan interior to do some detective work for a remote religious community called Rejoice. […] While Doogan telegraphs the solution to the riddle of Faith’s disappearance, engaging, lucid prose more than compensates.”

Booklist: “A white-knuckle flight in a bush plane over the Alaskan wilderness jump-starts this debut novel, establishing both the unforgiving setting and the desperate resolve of the main character. […] This is a richly textured novel on several counts. Kane is achingly well delineated; his struggle to adjust to a much bigger, louder, more confusing world after the confines of prison – and to try to find meaning in a life stripped bare of supports – is gripping. All the exigencies of struggling through an Alaskan winter ring true […], and the portrayal of a religious community that holds both secrets and dangers is fascinating. A top-notch start to a projected mystery series.”