The Curious Eat Themselves

August 30, 1993
With the second adventure of Cecil Younger, a PI in southeastern Alaska, Straley reconfirms his claim to the regional territory he staked out in The Woman Who Married a Bear . Louise Root, who was raped at the Global gold mine where she worked as a cook, hires Cecil to gather evidence of the crime, although she won't tell him who assaulted her. Only days later, Louise's body is pulled from a river, her throat slit. Cecil is soon hired by Global's Lee Altman and Charlie Potts, who want to know ``everything'' about environmentalist Steven Mathews. They pay in cash, want no written records of the transaction and warn Cecil to ``stay clear of this Louise Root thing.'' But social worker Hannah Elder, Cecil's former lover and Louise's childhood friend, has no qualms about involving Cecil in her probe of Louise's death, especially after she discovers in Louise's things letters addressed to Steven marked ``return to sender.'' Once past the gimmicky assignments that initiate the plot, Straley's atmospheric prose takes hold and the action hums along, through unethical dealings and more killings, to the rugged, backwoods Alaska finale. Author tour.

August 1, 1993
The second of Straley's Alaskan mysteries featuring the "low-rent" sleuth Cecil Younger, this is a bluesy tale of corporate irresponsibility, murder, and bittersweet love. Cecil is an ex-drunk with a penchant for melancholy, which is reflected by the relentless rain that pounds the shabby little town of Sitka. It's raining when the cops pull the marble white body of Cecil's client, Louise Root, from the swollen, salmon-flashing river; it's raining when Cecil finds the corpse of his autistic roommate's beloved dog in a ditch, and it's raining when he and his feisty ex-lover Hannah plunge into the cold sea for a postsauna swim. Cecil is warned away from pursuing Louise's killers, since she was involved in exposing an evil oil company's hazardous waste scam, but he persists, even after accepting a stack of cash from that very company to investigate her cohort, a phony "spiritual environmentalist." Straley's story line is more than adequate, but the real appeal of this stormy mystery is its artful moodiness, which depicts a far grittier and more intriguingly complex Alaska than we usually envision. ((Reviewed Aug. 1993))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1993, American Library Association.)

September 1, 1993
Alaskan private investigator Cecil Younger has troubles with his autistic roommate, with ex-love Hannah, with any form of alcohol, and with the special assistant in charge of Louise Root's murder case. Louise hired Carl to find the men who raped her at the Otter Creek gold mine, but someone kills her before he has a chance. Cecil approaches his work at an angle: desiring a source of drink or food, he locates instead a likely source of information. A love and appreciation of Alaska shine through Straley's quietly compelling prose. For all collections.

Copyright 1993 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.