THOUGH NOT DEAD by Dana Stabenow

Critiquing a book that one has read on an E-Reader, in my case a NOOK, is a very different animal than writing a review on a hardback or paperback. Let me be clear, I love my NOOK but have yet to figure out how to "bookmark", "notate" or generally return to pages in which I wish to point out a discrepancy or favorite passage. THOUGH NOT DEAD by Dana Stabenow once again reeled me into the history of Alaska and the lives of Ms. Stabenow's most beloved and irascible characters. Her attention to detail and obvious love for Alaska is patently obvious  in her latest Kate Shugak mystery. However, I found this novel a bit disjointed at times and I felt that there were too many loose ends that did not get tied together at the end of the book. Make no mistake, Dana Stabenow is one of the best mystery writers today. Perhaps it was because I found several errors,(she needs a new editor or fact-checker or what have you...) that I was not so overjoyed with this book. Now I read this book in a day and a half, and it was for the most part engrossing but I would not recommend this book unless one reads the series or part of it before tackling this one. As Native Alaskans heritage is convoluted and intertwined so too is this latest book with Ms. Stabenow's previous novels. One needs a certain family history in order to connect all the branches of the various connections that form the basis for this novel. Even I who have read all of her books, and re-read them every winter as a tradition going back about five years, had difficulty with the familial bloodlines in this book. In conclusion, anything Ms. Stabenow pens about Kate Shugak, Mutt, Jim Chopin and "The Aunties" is definitely worth reading. I just would not start with this one.