KATE SHUGAK is a native Aleut working as a private investigator in Alaska. She's 5 foot 1 inch tall, carries a scar that runs from ear to ear across her throat and owns half-wolf, half-husky dog named Mutt. Resourceful, strong-willed, defiant, Kate is tougher than your average heroine ? and she needs to be to survive the worst the Alaskan wilds can throw at her.

THE SINGING OF THE DEAD: Kate Shugak joins the staff of a political campaign to work security for a Native woman running for state senator. The candidate has been receiving anonymous threats, and Kate is to become her shadow, watching the crowds at rallies and fund-raisers. But just as she's getting started, the campaign is rocked by the murder of their staff researcher. To track the killer, Kate will have to delve into the past, in particular the grisly murder of a 'good-time girl' during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1915. Little can she guess the impact a ninety-year-old unsolved case might have on a modern-day psychotic killer...