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kate shugak cold day day for murder dana stabenow well written looking forward park ranger forward to reading story line enjoyed this book really enjoyed shugak series easy read character development set in alaska page turner good mystery good book district attorney read more of her books
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Anne - TX
5.0 out of 5 stars Kate & her Mutt - must read series....
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2017
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Hesitant about getting this book (as so short) but glad I did & then continued with the series. Thankful there are 21 books in series to date in 2017 & hope there are many more in future - not all the books are short. Should read in order to help become familiar with previously mentioned people & incidents. I've really enjoyed Kate Shugak's no nonsense manners and her wonderfully expressive/protective Mutt. Don't remember how I came across Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak books (maybe because listed under Diana Galbadon's Methadone book list ??) - but liked the hat tip to Diana Galbadon's Jamie Frasier in one of the books as Kate mentions him. The build ups are slow with lots of Alaska history (of which I know nothing but found very interesting), wild crazy Bering Sea fishing and very interesting cast of characters with family/friends dynamics. I've wondered if Dana Stabenow enjoy's diet 7 up and if her characters are based on people she knows. Thank you Dana Stabenow & keep them coming... great reading. Got paperback book not kindle/eread book as noted on review. Paper books don't need charging !
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars THE EVERLASTING COLD
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2018
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Everyone we are introduced to the different tribes/clans of The Alaskan Frontier. Really it's more the "Bush" where your self sufficient and hopefully prepared for the challenges living without inside bathrooms, ALWAYS aware of your surroundings. Kate Shugak who sometimes works for the Alaska's Attorney General's Office as an investigator. She's in tune to what's happening in her neighborhood; who are the drinkers and the women beaters. The ones who fly liquor in and sell it on the "Bush Black Market." Kate belongs to a large extended family so when she's called on for help by Jack an Alaskan Park Ranger, whose also her off and on lover it's usually a rough dangerous assignment. This assignment was sad because it involved the man who raised her, who also tried to murder her...like I said it's very sad but our girl Kate or as her Grandmother calls her Katya, which is her birth name, exposes the murderer of his damage and hurt he has brought into the lives of the village and families of the dead men..a deep mystery with lots of twists and turns..Oh we are introduced to "Mutt," Kate's husky/gray wolf mix, whose weighs one hundred and forty pounds of power...
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EB
5.0 out of 5 stars Red Hot Mystery in Ice Cold Alaska
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2020
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Anyone who's visited Alaska (even in the summer) will recognize the characters running through Dana Stabenow's terrific mystery, "A Cold Day for Murder." Stabenow knows this land and it shows in this book that moves as stealthily through the untangling of suspects, clues, and revelations as a mountain lion creeps in deep snow.

Despite reading the book in the warm spring of the lower 48, I pulled blankets around me to keep off the frigid cold Stabenow summons in these pages. I liked Kate, was intrigued by her history, identified with her complicated familial relationships, and couldn't put this book down.

Not much to add to other reviews except this is a book when you need a chilly escape from baking in summertime heat. Or any other time, either, for that matter.
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C. K. Harrell
5.0 out of 5 stars Weaving Alaska's history, Aleut Culture, Suspense, Murder into one fabulous novel!
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2013
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Loving Alaska history, Aleut Culture, suspense, murder, a smidgen of romance all weaved into a perfect beginning to a great series about a very courageous, intelligent, determined, driven woman born into an Aleut culture that brings pioneer living and all of its challenges to a boiling point.

Almost two years ago, the very beautiful, skilled, intelligent, accomplished full blooded Aleut Kate Shugak resigned her position as a detective for the Anchorage District Attorney's. Her four years as one of the most successful sex crimes investigators came to screeching halt.

After a life and death traumatic situation, Kate heads to her refuge on her father's primitive homestead cabin in the Alaskian Bush located in a national park in the interior of Alaska. She is soon surrounded by her "village" of family & friends that are "blood" bound to help her heal. She is one of the descendants of a very powerful family lineage that she has deliberately ignored for 8 years but soon realizes what an important part she plays in the intricate design of such a powerful and magnificent race of people.

Kate is recovering and exploring her new life back home content with baking bread every day, hunting, fishing and storing her food along with chopping her own wood and doing odd jobs here and there to get by. Her calm peaceful new life is interrupted when her ex-boss & ex-lover (hunky & yummy)Jack Morgan shows up unexpectedly to ask for her help in locating a missing Park Ranger and the missing detective that was sent in to locate him. It just happens to be one of the coldest Decembers in recent memory.

Kate has to make a decision. Is it time to get back to work and put all of that education & experience to good use or tell Jack to take a hike? Is Kate willing to take her devoted companion(Mutt)which happens to be 1/2 husky & 1/2 wolf along with her to track what on earth could have happened to this Park Ranger & the detective that was sent in after him?

Kate has to deal with her formidable, demanding & manipulating grandmother which is Tribal Native Chief, Ekaterina Shugak, when she suspects that one of her own family members may be involved. Just to spice everything up the local state trooper, Jim Chopin, seems to keep popping up.

Excellent read.....and series.
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Sharon Weyant-Muir
5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery bookworm
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2020
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A new series which looks like it will take me out of my comfort zone learning about new locations, customs, and tribal laws. I enjoyed meeting the characters Kate Shugak and her family members, Jack Morgan, Bobbie, and Bernie. Hopefully they will be in next book also. The disappearance of a park ranger and an FBI guy with whom Kate has occasionally been sleeping with starts her on an inquiry with relatives and friends. Putting the pieces together, Kate comes to a disturbing and sad conclusion. Family tensions abound in this mystery as do tensions between Aleuts and Outsiders. Very good read.
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Top reviews from other countries

Sunshine
3.0 out of 5 stars A Cold Day for Murder
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 31, 2019
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Not only was this book recommended to me but it had some great reviews, therefore i suggested it to our book club.

I really wanted this to be a good read. It sounded a little different, especially the setting and the characters. Unfortunately it was not my favourite read. It was ok but i have to admit it was easy to put down then pick up.

I found it slow going and a bit boring. Weather and living conditions were harsh and you got a good feel of what it is like. The characters saved it a bit for me but even they were annoying.......actually, thinking about that.....I am sure some of them were meant to be annoying, especially as Katya was hampered at every turn with her investigation. For a short'ish story it seemed to take forever to read.

I was hovering over two or three stars, i decided on three because of the characters.
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Melancholie
3.0 out of 5 stars Set in wintry Alaska at Christmas, the story follows ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 13, 2018
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Set in wintry Alaska at Christmas, the story follows Aleut Kate as she visits family, friends and childhood neighbours on the reservation where she grew up as she tries to find a missing park ranger and the investigator previously sent to find him.

This one starts off well but at the point where Kate realises what has happened to the two men, despite the author not revealing to the reader the evidence which led her to her conclusion or indeed what her conclusion is, the outcome is fairly obvious. This did spoil a little bit what had otherwise been an interesting tale. I prefer a mystery that I am not able to work out.
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firipa
1.0 out of 5 stars not my cup of tea
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 29, 2019
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I love female detective series (Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone being my fav), but I found this is a very poor attempt at a detective novel. Forty pages in until the main character finally starts her investigation... Characters are not introduced properly, they show up in conversations and leave me wondering who they are and why they were mentioned. This is also not written in the first person, it's a third person narration, which I don't find particularly appealing in this type of books. Dialogues are poor and add nothing to the story. Why was the FBI involved? Who are the people whom Kate visits and why does she visit them? Why the constant place naming without any information as if I should be familiar with the geography of Alaska? Why so many descriptions of useless facts (houses, clothes, etc)? So many questions... it was frustrating to just read the first 40 pages.
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Feistyb
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome - a whodunnit with a difference
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2015
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Very very good, a slow build, slow burn mystery with a funny, sharp, tough yet emotional heroine, a fabulous half dog half wolf and a part time lover for rampant sex on occasion. A young park ranger goes missing as does the FBI agent sent to find him and Kate Shugak is reluctantly persuaded by the DA's office to go looking for them. We meet a host of characters that will crop up in later novels and learn about Kate's past; there is also some cracking scenery and historical information that you absorb almost unconsciously when reading, it never feels forced. I really enjoyed this and am working my way through them - it's nice to have a whodunnit that slowly builds and does not rely on shock tactics, instead you get realistically drawn, slightly-flawed characters who are intriguing to say the least. You are constantly reminded of just how amazing the Alaskan landscape is but personally, it's captured my imagination and I want to go there!!
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emailbod
3.0 out of 5 stars Not for me.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2016
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Everyone gave this a glowing write up and I so wanted to like, it was a different author and a different setting. Sad to say I only read 60% of it, went to pick up kindle to continue to read, and I thought You know I really do not care what happens next. So I deleted it. I found it slow going, and there seemed not a lot of point to the whole thing. I thought Katya would have been trekking out into the Park wilderness, and she would battle the snow and the cold, etc. Instead of which by 60% she had not left the village. Interesting to read about the Aleuts and there problems, but even that was a long moan.
Sorry maybe others will seen more in it than me.
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