Taint in the Blood

In Dana Stabenow’s latest novel, a woman hires Aleutian P.I. Kate Shugak to clear her mother’s name. Twenty years ago, the mother was convicted of arson and murder, of setting fire to the family home while her two sons were inside. One died, and one was maimed. Her daughter has always believed in her innocence, though the mother herself had accepted the verdict and the life sentence without protest. Now the mother is terminally ill, and her daughter wants her free. But as Kate begins the investigation, it seems the mother isn’t the only one who wants to leave the past in the past.

In this spell-binding crime novel, Kate must confront twenty years of secrets and regret--and murder--in one of Alaska’s most powerful families.

Dana Stabenow is the New York Times bestselling author of the Kate Shugak mysteries and the Liam Campbell mysteries, as well as a few science fiction and thriller novels. Her book A Cold Day for Murder won an Edgar Award in 1994. Stabenow was born in Anchorage, Alaska and raised on a 75-foot fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska. She has a B.A. in journalism and an M.F.A. in writing from the University of Alaska. She has worked as an egg counter and bookkeeper for a seafood company, and worked on the TransAlaska pipeline before becoming a full-time writer. She continues to live in Alaska.