Dead in the Water

The opening of Kate Shugak's third outing will have landlubbers wondering, What on earth is this woman doing? (Answer: shifting a crab pot on a boat deck during a storm.) But once readers get their sea legs, they'll realize that Stabenow ( A Cold Day for Murder ) offers a satisfactory blend of mystery and danger that is balanced by a gentler side, a view of Alaskan native culture. Kate, who occasionally investigates for the Anchorage district attorney, is working on the Avilda , a crabber, hoping to learn--on the quiet--why two of its crew members disappeared during its last trip. Harry Gault, the Avilda 's skipper, claims that, when water supplies ran low, the men went ashore on Anua Island to locate fresh water and failed to return. Just keeping up with the crabbing exhausts Kate, but with a bit of prowling she learns that Gault has his hands in more than one crab pot. Between crabbing jobs, she visits Unalaska Island, traditional home of her own people, the Aleuts. Here she meets Olga, a skilled weaver of grass baskets, and her daughter Sasha, who uses a ``storyknife'' to carve out a brief tale that is very much to the point of Kate's investigations. (July)