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A review by realadhdoug
The Singing Of The Dead by Dana Stabenow
4.25
This was the second book I’ve read in the Kate Shugak series, the other being a more recent one, and enjoyed this one infinitely more. I feel like Kate’s character is more thoroughly explored here and she’s less of a mere vehicle for solving the mystery. That’s not to say there wasn’t a good murder mystery here—there certainly was. But this story did an excellent job of detailing the history that made the murder mystery significant.
The story is told from the perspective of a murder victim a century before and it’s slowly revealed how that victim’s death is connected to the murder at present day and, more to the point, the present murder’s suspect—who happens to be a major political candidate running for office. It was really fascinating how these stories were woven together and I felt really invested in these characters across time.
One last thing that I found personally satisfying is how respectfully sex workers were treated in this story. They were given voices and depicted as fully human people just making their way in the world like every one else, and that perspective is very uncharacteristic in the crime/detective genre. So that was cool too.
The story is told from the perspective of a murder victim a century before and it’s slowly revealed how that victim’s death is connected to the murder at present day and, more to the point, the present murder’s suspect—who happens to be a major political candidate running for office. It was really fascinating how these stories were woven together and I felt really invested in these characters across time.
One last thing that I found personally satisfying is how respectfully sex workers were treated in this story. They were given voices and depicted as fully human people just making their way in the world like every one else, and that perspective is very uncharacteristic in the crime/detective genre. So that was cool too.