A Grave Denied

A Grave Denied (2003) Dana Stabenow

This is the book published right before where I entered the series (A Grave Denied), so I knew that at some point in this book a Bad Thing was going to happen to Kate. I was surprised when The Bad Thing happened quite early in the book.

The area handyman is found dead, but they’re having a hard time determining when he died, and who might have wanted him dead.

Like the previous book, there is a separate narration woven through the story. In this case it’s Johnny Morgan’s journal he’s to keep over the summer as a school requirement. Although I enjoyed the journal portions of the story, I’m not quite sure she got young teen boy down quite right. I realize it was supposed to be a school assignment, but the writing was just a little too adult in tone. It’s not a drawback per se, but it kept making me think Johnny was older than he actually was.

What I particularly liked were several other threads that wound their way through the book. Bobby Clark receives a visit from his estranged brother–a situation that doesn’t bode well, considering how Bobby speaks his mind voraciously. And Kate and Jim Chopin are going back and forth as to what the feel for each other. Since Jim has hired Kate to help him with the case, it’s an issue that repeatedly comes to his attention. And Johnny Morgan is still in fear his mother will find him–a situation that needs to be dealt with.

This was another solid addition to the Kate Shugak series–I’ve really enjoyed reading this series, and now wait impatiently for new books to come out. (I know I could go back and start at the beginning, but I just don’t feel up to reading about the death of Jack Morgan, so I’ll wait–perhaps indefinitely–for the start of the series.

As with the other books in the series you should be able to read A Grave Denied without having read any of the previous books in the series.
Rating: 7/10

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