<DIV><p>&ldquo;Strong and sobering &hellip; with his storyteller&rsquo;s sense of dramatic action [Straley&rsquo;s] in his glory.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The New York Times Book Review</i></p> <p>&ldquo;One of the strongest series since Hillerman set up shop.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Kirkus Reviews</i></p> <p>Cecil Younger is an investigator for the public defender in Sitka, Alaska. A woman who hired him to investigate her rape is found dead in the estuarial waters of Ketchikan township, &ldquo;her throat cut so deeply that the trachea flopped out like a rubbery white radiator hose.&rdquo;</p> <p><b>John Straley</b> lives in Sitka, Alaska, with his wife, a marine biologist who studies whales. He is the author of half a dozen Cecil Younger mysteries.</p></DIV>