|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Musher Jessie Arnold welcomes the advent of autumn, even though she knows that she will not be able to race this winter because of the knee injury she sustained during the summer. Trooper Alex Jensen is back in her bed. Most of her dogs are being cared for elsewhere, but her cabin has been rebuilt since the fire, and she still has her lead dog, Tank. When Alex tells her that he has to go to Dawson for a meeting on border security with RCMP officer Charles 'Del' Delafosse, and invites Jessie to go along to spend some time with Del and his wife, she is delighted. She is training Billy Stewart to race the remaining dogs in some starter races, but he can take care of the animals for a few days while she takes some time off. Then she gets a phone call from Laurie Trevino who, with Jim Beal, now owns the Five Finger Light at the beginning of the Inner Passage in southeast Alaska. The US government automated the lighthouses several years earlier, and the buildings were going to seed, so they were leased and then deeded to anyone who was willing to do the upkeep on the buildings, while the Coast Guard checked the lights periodically. Winter is coming and Laurie and Jim are having a house fixing party to get the building ready for the bad weather on this three-acre island. Jessie, Alex and Tank drive to Dawson, where Jessie spends a couple of days and then goes on to Petersburg where she is to spend the night before meeting with Jim who will take her to Five Finger Island by boat, a trip of about an hour. On the plane to Petersburg, Jessie meets a fisherman who sits in the seat next to her, promptly pulls his cap low on his head and goes to sleep, and a young woman sits in the aisle seat. Meanwhile, we meet a strange man who is on the ferry from Seattle to Ketchikan, looking for someone. In Petersburg, the woman strikes up a conversation with Jessie and more or less invites herself to sleep in Jessie's room at the hotel and come along with her to the island the next day. She seems to be frightened of something, but won't tell the full story. A couple of days later, a dead body is found on the island. In the 11th book in the series, beginning with MURDER ON THE IDITAROD TRAIL, Henry has again brought to light an interesting facet of Alaska history while allowing us to spend time with Jessie Arnold, by this time an old friend.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, March 2005
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
