Ghost Light: 7 (Nathan Active)

With the help of a demented Alaska Native elder Chukchi police chief Nathan Active hunts for the killer who left a womans expertly dismembered body in the ice cellar of an abandoned Inupiat Eskimo fish camp. The investigation pulls Active into a dark tangle of love and jealousy even as he struggles to recover from the PTSD that has haunted him since being wounded in a shootout in an earlier case.The case starts when Tommie Leokuks husband brings her to Actives office to show him what she found in her latest midnight ramble around the Arctic hamlet of Chukchi. From the pouch of her traditional atiqluk she pulls a human jawbone with a single molar still in place.Tommies dementia means she cant explain where she found it. As her husband explains She lost her brain few years ago.At first Chief Active doesnt know whether shes found a murder victim or an old grave opened by erosion or scavengers.He soon discovers its very much a murder case one of the most tangled hes seen. The victim had two lovers one male one female. Both become suspects as the investigation proceeds.At the same time Active grapples with PTSD from being shot in a prior case. When he starts to wonder how his gun would taste he realizes its time to see Chukchis tribal healer Nelda Qivits who believes anything can be cured by a cup of bitter sourdock tea in her little cabin on a back street of Chukchi.______________________Ghost Light is the seventh installment in the critically acclaimed Nathan Active seriesdelivers a complex investigation and plenty of twists...Jones and Watts have emphasized the investigative side of this story rather than the action appealing to their readers intellects. They toss plenty of red herrings at Active and thus at readers and keep things going nicely to the conclusion.--David James Anchorage Daily NewsGood-old fashioned armchair sleuthing in a hostile fascinating environment thats brought to life by a master. If youre a reader this is one of lifes pleasures. If youre new to the series and want to give it a try start at the beginning (White Sky Black Ice) so you wont miss all-important character development. -- Amazon reviewerWhen you are reading a book and you have to pause and you continue to think about the story and the characters plus you are anxious to return to reading you know the authors got something. Jones and Watts got something. Hopefully another one is in the works. Thank you Stan and Patricia. -- Amazon reviewerThis book was so intriguing I literally could not put it down. I read it in two days and was sorry at the end that I hadnt gone slower so I wouldve been able to enjoy it longer. I have read all the Nathan Active series and this is one of my favorites. The action goes from the north slope oil fields to the village of Chukchi and down into Anchorage giving insights into life on the pipeline as well as the village and the cosmopolitan city of Anchorage -- Amazon reviewerPraise for previous volumes in the series:: Painterly descriptions of Alaskas natural beauty and the lives of the native people are fascinating. - USA TodayAn enchanting series - PeopleYou can feel the bite of the west wind that comes screaming across the Alaska tundra and sense the isolation of the Inupiat Eskimos who live in this desolate part of the world. - New York Times Review of Books