The Bone Seeker by M. J. McGrath + a Giveaway

Edie is spending the nightless summer in Kuujuaq as an interim teacher for the local school. It's supposed to be a break from her home and the memories of her ex stepson's all too recent death. When one of her students goes missing and is later discovered gruesomely murdered, Edie once again gets drawn into the investigation. This time it's at the request of her friend Derek Palliser. With the only other officer in Kuujuaq off for training, the force is grossly unequipped to deal with a murder. His reinforcements - the medical examiner and forensics "team" tasked with the territory are unavailable and Derek knows that every lost minute could be detrimental to such an investigation. What's worse, the locals are all certain the killer is a soldier from the nearby base. The longer Derek takes in solving this one means increased bad blood between the townsfolks and the outsiders.

I was pretty excited to return to Edie after The Boy in the Snow. Before this I hadn't actually read any of the series I'd consider comparable (the Alaska based ones, that is). But even those are Alaska and to my knowledge there aren't any series featuring Inuit. (Flavorwire mentions Smilla of Smilla's Sense of Snow as being part Inuit, which I'd forgotten.) All in all, though, M.J. McGrath's series has a definite exotic flavor considering the setting.

As with The Boy in the Snow, McGrath does a fine job yet again of placing the reader smack dab in the center of this setting. This time it's a quite unforgiving part of the Canadian Arctic. And in the middle of summer with 24 hour sun (though the character's complaints of hot 10 degree C weather - which is about 43 F - made my jaw drop. I'm NOT made for cold weather climate!).

This is a little bit of an issue-y book but it wasn't overwhelmingly so. The incident that inspired part of the plot is outlined a bit in McGrath's afterword and is a nasty bit of history indeed. There's also a lot of attention paid to the relations between the people of Ellesmere and outsiders, which ties directly into the subplot. I've not actually mentioned it in the above synopsis, I think I'll leave it for you to discover, but it's definitely an element that makes The Bone Seeker intriguing from the very start.

One thing I did have a bit of trouble with in this third of the series was a series of sections that seemed to be fairly unnecessary to the overall plot. The appearance of Sammy, for example, did little in the way of helping the story move along. I wasn't even sure why he was there except to possibly add a little emotional turmoil for Edie (though I think she had enough otherwise).

The Bone Seeker is fairly well executed and thoroughly gripping. Like The Boy in the Snow, The Bone Seeker can work quite well for someone new to the series. Do know, however, that there are more mentions of the incidents from White Heat so if you were to go back to that first book later you'd have a handful of those plot points in hand already.

Thanks to the publisher I've got a copy of The Bone Seeker to offer up for giveaway! To enter simply fill out the Rafflecopter below before Monday, August 11 (US only and no PO boxes please):

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The Boy in the Snow by M. J. McGrath + a Giveaway

With the threat of snow in the forecast, I don't think I could have possibly chosen a more perfectly suited mysteries for the beginning of the week!

Edie Kiglatuk was supposed to be in Anchorage as part of her ex-husband's Iditarod team, but when she discovers the body of an infant in the woods she becomes embroiled in a murder mystery instead. The boy was carefully wrapped and left inside a small structure on land owned by a religious sect called the Old Believers. Edie had seen two of them passing by on a snowmobile just moments before making her discovery, which of course leads the police to believe the two were involved. Edie isn't so sure. To her, the scene seemed to have been undisturbed suggesting the body had been there for at least some time before she stumbled across the structure. The discovery just happens to coincide with Alaska's race for governor, though, and Anchorage's mayor is one of the hopefuls. As the battle heats up, he's determined not to let either the murder or the Old Believers stand in his way. 

I absolutely love when an author successfully tackles a unique setting and character in this way. Edie is half inuit and lives in a remote area of Northern Canada. For her, just about any part of Alaska is the big city. Both in terms of character (and her heritage and viewpoints) and setting, M.J. McGrath's series delivers something completely new for me as a reader.

It's interesting to note that McGrath herself, while not from Alaska or of inuit heritage, was a journalist who focused much of her time and research on this area. Her 2006 nonfiction release The Long Exile: A Tale of Inuit Betrayal and Survival in the High Arctic was a history of one family living and surviving on Ellesmere Island (the fictional Edie's home).

Character and setting aside, The Boy In the Snow is an extremely well put together mystery. The pieces fit together perfectly and the narrative is smooth and intriguing. I should point out that this is actually the second Edie Kiglatuk mystery, following White Heat. Considering I've not read the first as of yet, I can safely say that The Boy in the Snow can easily serve as a starting off point for any reader. As a bonus, and if you're looking for a taste of the series, there's an Edie Kiglatuk e short available as well. "Edie Kiglatuk's Christmas" which includes excerpts of both White Heat and The Boy in the Snow and is just $1.99.

Rating: 4/5

The Boy in the Snow is out in paperback today and thanks to the publisher, I'm able to offer up a copy to one of you! To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter below before Monday, November 11. US only - no PO boxes please.


a Rafflecopter giveaway