Murder on the Last Frontier

Set in 1919, this tepid first in a new historical series from Pegau (Rulebreaker) takes journalist and suffragette Charlotte Brody from Yonkers, N.Y., to Cordova, Alaska Territory, where she hopes to write a series of articles for the Modern Woman Review about frontier life, but she finds that her liberal views set her apart. Since Charlotte’s doctor brother, Michael Brody, lives in Cordova, she quickly meets such important locals as the Reverend Samuel Bartlett and his daughter, Ruth, who’s engaged to Michael. When prostitute Darcy Dugan is beaten to death outside Charlotte’s boarding-house window, Charlotte talks to Darcy’s friends and Miss Brigit O’Brien, Darcy’s employer, in an effort to solve the crime. Handsome deputy James Eddington urges caution, and Charlotte indeed soon learns that uncovering personal secrets in Alaska, where people come to start over, can be dangerous. Against a colorful backdrop, the action builds to a predictable conclusion. [em]Agent: Natalie Lakosil, Bradford Literary Agency. (Dec.) [/em]