John Straley

"Cold Storage, Alaska, is a remote fishing outpost where salmonberries sparkle in the morning frost and where you just might catch a King Salmon if you're zen enough to wait for it. Settled in 1935 by Norse fishermen who liked to skinny dip in its natural hot springs, the town enjoyed prosperity in the mid-20th Century, at the height of the frozen fish boom. But now the cold storage plant is all but abandoned and the population is shrinking every...

Cecil Younger is a defense investigator working out of Sitka, Alaska. Though most of Younger's clients are defendants, this one is the victim of a crime. Louise Roots wants Younger to break through corporate cover-ups and police apathy to find evidence against the man who raped her in an isolated mining camp. Before she can tell him the details, her throat is slashed.

A gripping period crime story, this book incorporates actual events and real places. The author has crafted a completely original thriller that pays homage to Raymond Chandler's gritty detective stories and John Dos Passos's evocative U.S.A. trilogy. This book is filled with complex characters, passion, greed, fear, and grief, yet buoyed by an undercurrent of hope and humanity. Rattled by the gruesome accidental death of a co-worker, Slip Wilson quits...

"Cecil Younger, local Alaskan investigator, is neither good at his job nor at staying sober. When an old Tlingit woman hires him to discover why her son, a big game guide, was murdered, he takes the case without much conviction that he'll discover anything the police missed. He really just needs the extra cash. But after someone tries to kill him, Younger finds himself traveling across Alaska to ferret out the truth in the midst of conspiracies, politics,...

"The sixth novel in John Straley's Alaska P.I. series takes Cecil Younger into rough waters as he grapples with his new life and past, unsolved murders. Three years ago someone brutally killed four people on the scow Mygirl. In a crowded courtroom, Cecil Younger helped the accused go free. Now the man charged with the Mygirl murders has disappeared. As a new father, Cecil just wants to move on from the Mygirl killings, but finds he can't just walk...

"The fourth entry to John Straley's Alaska P.I. series finds Cecil Younger with a contract to kill. Cecil Younger is a man that takes comfort in the absurdity of the universe, and the universe is obliging him when he gets a call from his lawyer and psychiatrist, who offers him a job. A client wants to hire Younger to kill someone. Though common sense tells him murder just isn't a good career move, his finances tell him it can't hurt to meet his potential...

"This new stand-alone from the former Writer Laureate of Alaska and author of the acclaimed Cecil Younger series introduces an amateur sleuth with an ax to grind-and a child to save. Diagnosed with terminal cancer, retired marine biologist Delphine is on the brink of throwing in the towel. She has outlived her PI husband and feels like a burden to her son and his growing family. One night, while contemplating how to go on, Delphine witnesses a woman...