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Kate Shugak #1-3
The Kate Shugak Novels, Vol. 1
Kate Shugak used to investigate for the Anchorage DA's office—a job that brought her face-to-face with some of the very worst of humanity. You can only do that sort of work for so long without it getting to you, though… and then, once it does, once it really does, you have to put a lot of distance between you and it. Fortunately for Kate, if there's one thing Alaska has a lot of, it's distances.
So, she's moved back to The Park, to a homestead cabin that's off the grid and a lifetime away from the city…and yet, condo or cabin, Polo or parka, somehow people manage to be bad all over. And though always reluctant, Kate Shugak seems unable to remain uninvolved. She investigates.
Volume One contains the first three Kate Shugak novels—the Edgar-award winning A Cold Day for Murder, along with A Fatal Thaw, and Dead in the Water—as well as the short story prequel, "Nooses Give."
So, she's moved back to The Park, to a homestead cabin that's off the grid and a lifetime away from the city…and yet, condo or cabin, Polo or parka, somehow people manage to be bad all over. And though always reluctant, Kate Shugak seems unable to remain uninvolved. She investigates.
Volume One contains the first three Kate Shugak novels—the Edgar-award winning A Cold Day for Murder, along with A Fatal Thaw, and Dead in the Water—as well as the short story prequel, "Nooses Give."
563 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2012
About the author
Dana Stabenow
103 books2,183 followersDana Stabenow was born in Anchorage and raised on 75-foot fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska. She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there somewhere.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 28, 2026
The Kate Shugak Novels Volume #1
A Cold Day for Murder
A Fatal Thaw
Dead in the Water
If there is one line that almost sums up Kate Shugak perfectly it is in book #2 when Kates friend Bobby, a macho type Viet Nam vet says to Kates sometimes lover and sometimes boss Jack “It’s hell when us macho hero types have to let the heroine rescue herself, ain’t it?”
Kate can save her own butt.
If you have been thinking of trying this series but are perhaps daunted by how many books there are and the expense of it all, then this may be the way to go. This works out to be about $3.33 a book.
In these three books you will meet Kate Shugak and all of the important people in her life, as well as her companion Mutt a half wolf half Husky mix, a total sweetheart as well as Kates ‘bodyguard’ .
The pacing of these novels is excellent; the narrative is sharp and the character growth (even after 19 and soon to be 20) novels, is heartening. Sometimes the story can be a little comedic and sometimes the horrors of it can rip the tears right out of you.
In book #1 of this 3 novel compilation – “A Cold Day for Murder” you learn so many things about Kate, about Alaska, mining, the heritage of the Native Alaskans and the mystery is truly a great mystery to boot. In this book, a park Ranger is missing and while the locals may not think it’s that great a loss his family does and so someone else is sent out to look. Unfortunately, he goes missing, too, and Kate takes this disappearance a little personally and starts the search.
Ms Stabenow puts a lot of research into her work and you can tell that she loves what she does. One thing I will caution you about is that continuity isn’t always the greatest, and you will find some mistakes in the Kindle edition that may or may not be in the paper editions.
Book #2 is titled “A Fatal Thaw” and opens horrifically enough with a mass murder – only one of these murders isn’t like the others. Now Kate has to find out who in the Park has murdered one of its less popular inhabitants.
An interesting aspect of this particular novel is that Kate lives through an earthquake while in the middle of a climb up a mountain and the description is hair-raising to say the least.
In the last full-length novel, “Dead in the Water”, we learn a completely new appreciation for crab fishermen on the Bering Sea and that Kate can keep up with even the best of them. She will be doing her best to help the DA’s office find out just why two young crab fishermen went missing while trying to track down fresh water when their ship runs out.
I find that our heroine Kate seems to have a lot in common with the author Dana Stabenow and you will too if you read the introduction to each of her novels. And it seems that if Dana hasn’t done it in real life she has researched the heck out of it.
So much of the action that takes place, takes place with Kate in the middle, not relying on a man to help but not being overly stubborn and taking the help when really needed. There is so much to admire about Kate’s abilities and also the author's ability to suck you into not only a great story using her wonderful narrative but interesting, if not always complicated, mysteries. If you stick with the Kate Shugak novels, you will find that the mysteries will get more complicated and you will find that Alaskan politics will sometimes play a fairly large roll in them.
A Cold Day for Murder
A Fatal Thaw
Dead in the Water
If there is one line that almost sums up Kate Shugak perfectly it is in book #2 when Kates friend Bobby, a macho type Viet Nam vet says to Kates sometimes lover and sometimes boss Jack “It’s hell when us macho hero types have to let the heroine rescue herself, ain’t it?”
Kate can save her own butt.
If you have been thinking of trying this series but are perhaps daunted by how many books there are and the expense of it all, then this may be the way to go. This works out to be about $3.33 a book.
In these three books you will meet Kate Shugak and all of the important people in her life, as well as her companion Mutt a half wolf half Husky mix, a total sweetheart as well as Kates ‘bodyguard’ .
The pacing of these novels is excellent; the narrative is sharp and the character growth (even after 19 and soon to be 20) novels, is heartening. Sometimes the story can be a little comedic and sometimes the horrors of it can rip the tears right out of you.
In book #1 of this 3 novel compilation – “A Cold Day for Murder” you learn so many things about Kate, about Alaska, mining, the heritage of the Native Alaskans and the mystery is truly a great mystery to boot. In this book, a park Ranger is missing and while the locals may not think it’s that great a loss his family does and so someone else is sent out to look. Unfortunately, he goes missing, too, and Kate takes this disappearance a little personally and starts the search.
Ms Stabenow puts a lot of research into her work and you can tell that she loves what she does. One thing I will caution you about is that continuity isn’t always the greatest, and you will find some mistakes in the Kindle edition that may or may not be in the paper editions.
Book #2 is titled “A Fatal Thaw” and opens horrifically enough with a mass murder – only one of these murders isn’t like the others. Now Kate has to find out who in the Park has murdered one of its less popular inhabitants.
An interesting aspect of this particular novel is that Kate lives through an earthquake while in the middle of a climb up a mountain and the description is hair-raising to say the least.
In the last full-length novel, “Dead in the Water”, we learn a completely new appreciation for crab fishermen on the Bering Sea and that Kate can keep up with even the best of them. She will be doing her best to help the DA’s office find out just why two young crab fishermen went missing while trying to track down fresh water when their ship runs out.
I find that our heroine Kate seems to have a lot in common with the author Dana Stabenow and you will too if you read the introduction to each of her novels. And it seems that if Dana hasn’t done it in real life she has researched the heck out of it.
So much of the action that takes place, takes place with Kate in the middle, not relying on a man to help but not being overly stubborn and taking the help when really needed. There is so much to admire about Kate’s abilities and also the author's ability to suck you into not only a great story using her wonderful narrative but interesting, if not always complicated, mysteries. If you stick with the Kate Shugak novels, you will find that the mysteries will get more complicated and you will find that Alaskan politics will sometimes play a fairly large roll in them.
January 13, 2013
I enjoyed the first 2 novels that took place in Alaska onland, the 3rd novel took place in Alaska but on a crabbing boat at sea. I could not get into the "at sea" story.
March 29, 2015
Good!
I hadn't read this in a long time, so I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this series. It makes Alaska seem very real.
I hadn't read this in a long time, so I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this series. It makes Alaska seem very real.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews