After a few weeks of teaching, Edie Kiglatuk, a well- respected hunter and sometimes detective, is enjoying her new job teaching Inuit students, especially the young and pretty Martha Salliaq. Wanting a break from the reminders of her loss Edie feels in her home in Autisaq, Edie eagerly agreed to teach summer school in Kuujuaq, a settlement further north and east on Ellesmere Island. She has set up camp in a tent by the police detachment in the settlement there and is settling into her new life there. Despite being relatively new to the small community, Edie is trusted more than other qulunaat (outsider) as she is half-Inuit on her mother's side.
Missing Martha when the teenager doesn't show up for class and can't be found, Edie is disturbed as this is not like the girl she has come to know. So, Edie pesters her friend, Sgt. Derek Palliser of the Ellesmere Island Native Police, to do an air search for her.
As they scan over the lovely high Arctic landscape with its never-ending sunlight in the few short months of summer, they see a shape near the stagnant waters at Lake Turngaluk, or the Lake of Bad Spirits, a place Inuit consider taboo. After landing, they are shocked by what they see. Who could have done this to the young girl?
Despite being half-Inuit himself, Palliser is also half- Cree, the long ago enemy of the Inuit. So despite his extensive time in the Arctic, he is not always fully accepted and especially so by Charlie Salliaq with whom he has some bad history. Palliser decides to get around this situation by hiring Edie to help with the investigation. Despite the calming influence of Edie, Martha's father thinks that Darek and the police are stalling the case when they should be arresting the unataqti (soldiers) from the newly set Camp Nanook who the locals believe are responsible. Edie is not so sure and Derek leans that way, but is surprised by the overwhelming helpfulness from the Camp Commander. Why is the military so disclosing? That had not been his experience in the past. What is behind that? Why are they also barricading the area where the girl had been found? Too many questions and no answers...being shut out, what can Derek and Edie do?
Best-selling author of White Heat and The Boy in the Snow, M. J. McGrath has set her intrepid and ever curious Edie Kiglatuk in a new location in the high Arctic, the land of the midnight sun, in THE BONE SEEKER. Edie is a little more mature in this novel, but as a recovering alcoholic, she still has her down moments and needs to fight the urges to turn to the bottle rather than work through what is happening. After having read the first two books, I love how Edie is developing as a character; she is stronger in fighting for her convictions and is starting to get a better sense of her worth despite all the ups and downs she has experienced over her life. When confronted with delicate or tricky situations, she draws on her knowledge of the land, traditional customs, and ways of her people to help her decide the right path to take. She even (still rarely) takes advice from Derek.
While McGrath's fans are sure to relish THE BONE SEEKER, the third book in the Edie Kiglatuk/I> Mystery Series, each book can easily be read as a stand-alone adventure, each with its own compelling mystery to solve. McGrath is a master at developing gripping stories with multi-layer plots in a northern setting not very well known or understood by most people south of the 60 degree parallel in North America. So, this is a bonus as it may be a new environment for many, yet, it rings very realistic for those who are familiar with the far north and its various inhabitants.
McGrath is an internationally respected writer and, with her background as a journalist, she continues to provide well- researched and intriguing and at times humorous insights into the life and customs of Inuit and other residents in the north: some who are there for long times and others only a short while. I particularly like McGrath's descriptions in THE BONE SEEKER of how Edie copes with the "heat" from the sun as temperature reach a high of 10 degrees Celsius.
Given that, McGrath definitely does not shy away from serious issues, The plot in THE BONE SEEKER is tightly linked to major issues, such as toxic waste sites, land claims negotiations, military testing activities and their fallout, including references to the nuclear tests done in Amchitka, off the coast of Alaska in the past. Other important issues concern the treatment of health and police forensic services for Inuit compared to others, lack of understanding from southern based government bureaucrats and mental health issues. It is a grand mix that makes for a very captivating and chilling mystery! Do check it out and find out who or what THE BONE SEEKER is! You will be glad you did!
The intrepid Edie Kiglatuk discovers one of her female
students dead in a toxic lake in her third arctic
mystery
In the third novel in this highly praised mystery series
that will appeal to fans of The Killing, Top of
the Lake, and The Bridge, Edie Kiglatuk works
as
a summer school teacher in the Canadian arctic. When one
of
her female students is found dead in nearby Lake
Turngaluk,
Edie enlists the help of Sergeant Derek Palliser to pursue
the case, promising the girl’s Inuit family that they will
uncover the truth.
Meanwhile, lawyer Sonia Gutierrez investigates the
toxicity
of the lake and suspects that there might be a larger
conspiracy involved. As the three clamber over rocky
terrain
under twenty-four-hour daylight they start to unearth
secrets long frozen over—risking their own lives in the
process. With stunning prose, M. J. McGrath delivers
another
thrill ride through a hauntingly beautiful landscape.
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