Though Not Dead

Stabenow's latest Kate Shugak novel finds the intrepid Alaskan PI facing a personal tragedy and its unexpected repercussions. Old Sam, Kate's uncle and surrogate father, has died, leaving her heir to and executor of his estate. Kate has no way of knowing that Old Sam's actions will pull her into a life-threatening mystery whose roots hark back to Alaska in the early 20th century and continue to the present day. Marguerite Gavin gives an excellent reading of Stabenow's prose: she keeps the story moving at an energetic clip, which works especially well with the action sequences. With a nice sense of timing, she brings out the laugh-out-loud humor laced through the book, most notably in the scenes between Kate and her "Aunties," and manages to balance the book's extensive cast of characters, shifting points of view, time frames, and passages of Alaskan history with a bright, engaging performance that keeps the listener tuned in from the introduction to the final chapter. A Minotaur hardcover. (Mar.)