A Cold Day for Murder (Kate Shugak, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Jan 23, 2023 Maria rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, audible, 2023

I try to pick up any book set in Alaska (that fits into the genres I like) and this was a perfect fit - the setting and people were described so well, I felt like I was there. In exchange for this description, the story itself ended up moving slowly and it didn't pick up until over halfway through. I enjoyed getting to know Kate and the other residents and will continue with the series, hoping that there will be more action in the future books.
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Mar 07, 2013 Chaitra rated it did not like it

Shelves: cozy-mystery, mystery, crime-fiction, part-of-a-series, first-of-a-series

Yeah, ok. I didn't think it completely horrid. It was a bit hokey, how the heroine just goes around ignoring the most obvious signs. I mean, when 40 pages in if someone familiar with the park tells you there are poachers no one knows about and that they heard gun shots a couple of weeks ago and you're there for the express purpose of finding some guy that went missing a couple of weeks ago you don't just ignore it as yeah, poachers, right? Dear Kate does. She ignores it until I guess the author ...more

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Jan 19, 2016 Olivermagnus rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, usa, 2016, alaska

Former District Attorney Investigator, Kate Shugak, retired after having her throat cut while capturing a serial killer. Both physically and emotionally scarred she now lives alone on her 160 acre homestead in Alaska. When a rookie park ranger and son of a congressmen goes missing in a huge wilderness area known as the 1CPark 1D an investigator and friend of Kate's is sent to find him and now he's missing too. Former lover and boss, Jack Morgan, convinces her to go looking for the missing men be ...more

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Feb 22, 2018 Darlene rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-in-2018, audiobook, books-i-own, bought, mystery, audio-1000

I've seen this book at the library and wanted to read it for a while. When Audible featured it as a Daily Deal, I couldn't resist buying it. However, the book left me a bit underwhelmed.

Let's start with the pluses! I actually love the main character, Kate Shugak. The reason why she retired from the District Attorney's office is because she was involved in a knife fight with a child molester (he lost) and she was injured. She had the highest conviction rate of anyone in the DA's office, and the F I've seen this book at the library and wanted to read it for a while. When Audible featured it as a Daily Deal, I couldn't resist buying it. However, the book left me a bit underwhelmed.

Let's start with the pluses! I actually love the main character, Kate Shugak. The reason why she retired from the District Attorney's office is because she was involved in a knife fight with a child molester (he lost) and she was injured. She had the highest conviction rate of anyone in the DA's office, and the FBI tried to recruit her. Kate is tough as nails, and she is perfectly happy living on her remote and isolated homestead in barren Alaska.

Kate's former flame and boss, Jack Morgan, pays her a visit and pleads for her help in locating the national park's ranger who has mysteriously disappeared. Jack also has a FBI agent in tow, because the ranger's father is a congressman from Ohio. The investigator that Jack sent to look for the ranger has now disappeared as well. Kate agrees to help out, but she is going to wish that she hadn't!

I thought that this was going to be more of a cat and mouse type of book, with Kate trying to stay one step ahead (or annihilate) the bad guys. She seems the perfect heroine to do that, but it wasn't that type of book. For the first third of the book, Kate was preparing for her search. Finally, when the search started, it was just a lot of talking and very little action. The pace of the story was very slow, and I actually found it to be a bit boring. It won the 1993 Edgar Award, so perhaps I am in the minority. Even so, I do think this series has potential, and there are 21 books published so far. I do love Kate as well as the Alaskan setting, so I am willing to give this series another chance and will continue with the next book in the series, A Fatal Thaw.

This book was narrated by Marguerite Gavin, and she did a fine job but I felt that her voice didn't quite match the main character. Stabenow describes how Kate was slashed across her throat from ear to ear and how the injury damaged her voice and left her with a nasty scar. As a result, I expected Kate to sound more hoarse or gruff. Even still, I am glad that I listened over reading because listening makes it easier to get through a slow story.

This review was posted on my book blog:
https://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.ca/... ...more

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