Village of the Ghost Bears

Starred review from October 12, 2009
Northwest Alaska is the shining star of Jones's fourth Nathan Active mystery (after 2008's Frozen Sun
), often viewed from a Super Cub plane flying perilously over wilderness foothills, craggy ridges and autumn tundra. While on a camping trip to a remote lake, Nathan, an Inupiaq (native) Alaska state trooper, and Grace, the woman he loves, come upon a body in a creek, its face eaten by pike. Arson soon follows murder. Back home in the village of Chukchi, the recreation center goes up in a blaze, claiming eight victims, including the town's police chief. Rumors of polar bear poaching complicate both cases. Jones, who's been a bush pilot and an investigative reporter, brings stomach-wrenching verisimilitude to crimes despoiling the land and the people, while he sensitively renders the tender, painful romance between Nathan and Grace. His sympathetic portrayal of Alaska's mixed-ethnic traditions is a tribute to both the state and the states of mind it inspires.