[Horizons] Elements of a Kill by Christopher Lane - 4 stars

[Theresa]

Alaskan police detective Ray, a native Inupiat on a much needed break visiting his Grandfather, is called back to duty when a body is found stuffed into a section of pipe being laid on a new oil rig in Prudhoe Bay. Due to a blizzard settling in, the only help Ray has to solve this and the subsequent murders is the local deputy sheriff, Jim Bob, a Texan so wet behind the ears moss is growing. Ray also feels pressure to solve the murders or hand them off to others to solve so he can get back to Barrow in time for the wedding shower being thrown for his fiancé Margaret.

As Ray struggles to solve the murders with no clues other than certain native ritual aspect to the murder, and the complications of a suddenly missing corpse, little real cooperation from the oil men, and someone trying to murder him, Ray's inner personal conflicts reveal much about the current Native Alaskan conflict between tradition and the contemporary world. And also the interplay between native Alaskans and the oil companies and their workers, mostly brought infrom the lower 48 to work brutally long shifts at high pay. The author deftly weaves in the casual racism that Ray and other natives experience from the workers, adding great depth to this detective story.

There is a point just after halfway where the key clues needed to solve the murders are delivered on a silver platter, although Ray and Jim Bob take a lot longer to put it all together, and only do so after a life and deatb chase across the tundra and a confrontation with a jet about to take off. Much as I liked this book, the length of time it took Ray to put it all together after I had figured it out lost it a star. But I will absolutely read more in this series. And I really hope Jim Bob continues to assist.

The book has an excellent glossary and a bibliography for books about oil business in Alaska and native peoples and customs. Turns out the author has some first hand connections to Alaskan oil (his father) and Native Alaskans (his wife). It shows.

[Booknblues]

That sounds interesting.