Synopsis
What's not to like? Wrangell, Alaska, rich in scenery, laden with native lore. A child who's not cute but sturdily self reliant. No victim, although needing shelter, James has been prepared by his grandfather for the weight of tribal responsibility. He knows where all the Tlingit bodies are buried. A great, half breed dog who neither talks nor detects. Sam's just a dog. A woman who's wounded but walking, struggling to make sense of her life. She's stubborn and somewhat rash, but you can forgive her as you warm to her prickly personality and watch her pilot her freighter/floating library. And a cop who's no SNAG (that's Sensitive New Age Guy) but working on his attitude. Toss in some Tlingit totems and you get a winning and colorful debut mystery which also has a winning concept: hardcover publication by us (April 30), mass market publication by its originating publisher, Berkley Prime Crime (May 8, $5.99).
Crow in Stolen Colors ($24.95) is reviewed in the April issue of Firsts, The Magazine for Book Collectors. While fairly citing some flaws, Kathryn Smiley sums up: ""Liza has lived several lives: daughter of a native American mother who left Liza and her Anglo father; wife of a policeman shot to death by a crazed druggie; skipper of a coastal freighter. Now Liza unwillingly takes on another incarnation, as protector of a seven-year-old Tlingit boy who himself is the guardian of a very big secret.... This is an entertaining debut with a vivid setting and a brisk pace. Simpson is obviously at home in a boat on the tricky waters of the Alaskan coast; after a session with Crow in Stolen Colors, you feel a need to wash the salt spray off your face....[it] provides readers a passage alongwaterways few of us have visited and a thoughtful look at the true value of cultural heritage.""
Reviews
Simpson's wordy debut novel features widowed ex-librarian Liza Romero, who runs a freight service and bookmobile on her old wooden schooner, the Salmon Eye, out of Wrangell, Alaska. While cruising the treacherous coastal waters with her trusty dog, Sam, Liza comes across seven-year-old James, a Tlingit native, washed up on a rock nearly drowned. James refuses to give his last name or say whether he was with anyone, but farther along the shore they spot the body of a man who turns out to be his uncle. The race is on when it becomes apparent that someone wants James dead as well. The independent Liza tries to enlist Police Lieutenant Paul Howard and Crow, an alcoholic Native American, to help her uncover not only the killer but also James's full identity. Paul, however, must also deal with the theft of Native Indian artifacts from a local museum and a custody battle for the young son that his ex-wife has taken out of state. Unhappy with her boyfriend, Liza finds herself attracted to Paul as the investigators struggle to stay one step ahead of disaster. Simpson puts her knowledge of Alaskan Indian lore to good use, but the underdeveloped plot fails to sustain interest. Each dramatic episode is needlessly drawn out, especially the detailed waterborne chases. Liza and Paul are adequate characters mired in a predictable plot with a routine, unexciting conclusion. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Widowed Liza Romero, struggling to advertise her waterbound delivery business and her cojones under the demanding conditions of the south Alaska coast, thinks her life can't get any bleaker even before this debut novel has gotten underway. But things promptly get heat up when Liza takes a seven-year-old named James from a spray-drenched rock in Alaska's Kindergarten Bay aboard her creaking old freighter, Salmon Eye, and finds that the men who bushwhacked Jamess uncle Goran, a friend of Liza's disreputable Tlingit acquaintance Crow, haven't given up on the idea of killing James too. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Alaskan librarian and delivery boat operator Liza Romero rescues a small Native American boy from chill waters; then, while investigating a corpse on the rocks nearby, she is nearly murdered. Liza reports these facts to Lt. Paul Howard, who discovers a connection between the corpse--which turns out to be that of a tribal elder and keeper of tradition--and the trafficking in stolen tribal artifacts. He hastens to identify the culprits before they can get to the boy (who knows the location of the "Listening Stone") and Liza. Great characterizations, a coastal Alaskan setting, a captivating plot, and comfortable prose makes this a strongly recommended purchase.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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