Because yes, in THE BIG EMPTY (co-authored by Patricia Watts), the death of this popular pair is quickly revealed to be intentional. Maybe if Nathan's friend Cowboy hadn't known the couple so well, they'd have accepted the idea of a flying accident -- accidents do happen. But it didn't make sense, and plain ordinary investigation by the pair shows a simple but clever way to defeat the plane's systems and good piloting.
The problem is, there's a lot of friction in Chukchi right now. And that, of course, is what makes a crime novel by Stan Jones so interesting: Isolated in distance and complicated by changing cultures, Chukchi provides a lot of reasons for people hurting each other instead of solving things together. Even in Nathan's home, there are layers of secrets and stresses: His wife Gracie, a survivor of terrible abuse, is pregnant with their child and not sure how (or whether) to handle it; their adopted daughter Nita, 13 and mixed up, isn't handling this well, either.
As a crime novel/police investigation, THE BIG EMPTY provides a clever set of small twists on its way to establishing that motive. But the biggest reasons to read the book are for the time spent "within" Alaska's Inupiat culture (handy to have a glossary at the start!), and the struggle over how a family forms and persists. Add the book to any Alaska shelf, but first to a stack of good winter reading, satisfying at the heart.
Once again, it's Soho Press bringing out the book -- available this week.
PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.
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