Murder And Mystery In The Last Frontier

Was the Mafia involved in the 1972 disappearance of the plane carrying Congressmen Hale Boggs and Nick Begich, or was it just a simple case of bad weather? Who murdered the postmistress in Ruby? How did the Alaska State Troopers use cutting-edge science to find Sophie Sergie's killer? How does crime differ from one part of Alaska to another? Alaska has always had a high rate of violent crime. From the gold rush to the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to the heyday of king crab fishing, the state's rich resources have attracted eager workers and criminals alike. Travel through time and space with true-crime writer Robin Barefield as she tells you about murder and mystery in Alaska from the early 1900s to the present day and from Juneau to Kiana, Nome, Anchorage, Kodiak, and places in between. Learn about serial killers Ed Krause, Richard Bunday, Gary Zieger, Robert Hansen, and Israel Keyes. Why did Michael Silka suddenly start killing the residents of remote Manley Hot Springs, and what reason did Louis Hastings have for murdering his neighbors in McCarthy? Why was no one ever caught and convicted for the gruesome massacre on the fishing boat Investor? Alaska is vast and breathtaking, but it can also be deadly. Take a road trip and learn about Alaska's past and present through its violent crime. Get a glimpse of murder and mystery in the Last Frontier.

A fiercely independent woman looks into the murder of a working girl in 1919 Alaska in this “excellent” series debut (Mystery Scene). There’s many who feel the Alaska Territory is no place for a woman on her own. But Charlotte Brody, suffragette and journalist, has never let public opinion dictate her life choices. She’s come to the frontier town of Cordova, where her brother Michael practices medicine, for the same reason many come to Alaska—to start over. Cordova is gradually getting civilized, but the town is still rougher than Charlotte imagined. And when a local prostitute—one of the working girls her brother has been treating—is found murdered, Charlotte learns firsthand how brutal the frontier can be. Although the town may not consider the death of a prostitute worthy of investigation, Charlotte’s feminist beliefs motivate her to seek justice for the woman. And there’s something else—the woman was hiding a secret, one that reminds Charlotte of her own painful past. As Charlotte searches for answers, she soon finds her own life in danger from a cold-blooded killer desperate to keep dark secrets from seeing the light of day…

When the daughter of a US senator disappears from the center of Kodiak, Alaska, in the middle of the day, FBI agent Nick Morgan arrives to assist police detective Maureen Horner and Alaska State Trooper Dan Patterson with the investigation. Soon, the officers realize that other young people have vanished from the area as well, and they can find no evidence or eyewitnesses to explain the disappearances. Meanwhile, bored pilot Steve Larson spends his evenings sitting on the back deck of his floatplane air charter service while he recovers from a debilitating illness. He watches a plane land after dark and sees two men escort a seemingly incapacitated woman to the plane and push her into the rear seat. When the same thing happens a few days later, Steve wonders if he's imagining things or if these men are kidnapping people. He calls marine biologist and amateur detective Jane Marcus and asks her to sit with him the next time the plane arrives. Jane agrees with Steve: these men are drugging and transporting people against their will. But where are they taking them, and why? Jane's curiosity leads her into a nightmare worse than anything she could imagine. As law enforcement officers work to find who's behind the kidnappings and where the abductors have taken the victims, Jane fights to survive the monsters chasing her in the ultimate hunt.

This book explores the exponential growth of true crime podcasting and its effects on the growth of criminal justice reform advocacy in the United States. Sherrill argues that true crime podcasts exist as hybrid organizations with multiple goals, including entertainment, criminal justice reform advocacy, and journalistic inquiry.

Kodiak Island, nicknamed the Emerald Isle, gleams like a gem in the North Pacific. Lush green mountains soar skyward from the ocean, framing deep, fjord-like bays. The island's wet maritime climate and mild temperatures encourage thick vegetation growth, which provides sustenance for the abundant wildlife on the island. The Alaska Current flows northward near Kodiak, bringing warm water and nutrients to Alaska's frigid Gulf. These nutrients form the basis for one of the richest marine ecosystems in the world. Kodiak bears reign as the island's monarchs, which has among the densest brown bear populations on earth. They are one of the six endemic mammals found on Kodiak, while humans have introduced many other wild mammals to the Kodiak Archipelago. The ocean surrounding Kodiak teems with seals, sea otters, sea lions, porpoises, and whales, while bald eagles, puffins, rare black oystercatchers, and arctic terns (which migrate all the way from Antarctica) also call the archipelago home. Learn more about this beautiful North Pacific gem and its amazing wildlife—and the challenges the animals face, both human and natural—in this richly detailed book by local naturalist, wildlife biologist, and sportfishing guide Robin Barefield, with photographs by her husband, Mike Munsey.

Bruce Murphy's Encyclopedia of Murder and Mystery is a comprehensive guide to the genre of the murder mystery that catalogues thousands of items in a broad range of categories: authors, titles, plots, characters, weapons, methods of killing, movie and theatrical adaptations. What distinguishes this encyclopedia from the others in the field is its critical stance.

In the Alaska Territory, suffragette Charlotte Brody is a newspaper reporter in the frontier town of Cordova. She’s a woman ahead of her time living on the rugged edge of civilization—but right now the most dangerous element she faces may come from sunny California . . . An expedition has arrived in the frigid wilderness to shoot North to Fortune—an epic motion picture featuring authentic footage of majestic peaks, vast glaciers, homesteaders, and Alaska Natives. But the film’s fortunes begin to go south as a local Native group grows angry at how they’re portrayed in the movie, fights break out, and cast and crew are beset by accidents and assaults. Finally, production is halted when the inebriated director falls into a crevasse—and dies of exposure. Soon Michael Brody—the town coroner and Charlotte’s brother—starts to suspect that Mother Nature was not responsible for Stanley Welsh’s death. Charlotte, who’s been writing about all the Hollywood glamor, is suddenly covering a cold-blooded crime story—and as springtime storms keep the suspects snowed in, she has to make sure the truth doesn’t get buried . . .

When a floatplane mysteriously explodes above the Alaska wilderness, investigators begin digging into the lives of the five passengers and the pilot. Was the target of the bomb the U.S. senator in the midst of a hotly contended re-election campaign or her husband, a corporate raider with no shortage of enemies? Or could the bomb have been meant for the cannery owner involved in a contentious divorce, or the refuge manager who has a long list of adversaries, including one who has vowed to get even with him. Even the pilot could have been the target, since his girlfriend has violent tendencies and knows how to use explosives. Dr. Jane Marcus is determined to find who murdered her young assistant and the other passengers and the pilot of the floatplane, but when her own life is threatened, she knows she must and the murderer, before she becomes the next victim.