The Bone Seeker

Narrator Kate Reading has a rich and compelling voice, and while the plot here is a little bumpy, she shines with the characters and dialogue. In McGrath's newest high-Arctic mystery, Edie Kiglatuk spends a summer as a teacher on Canada's Ellesmere Island, one of the northernmost permanent settlements on earth. There Edie investigates a murder and uncovers wrongdoing at the highest levels. Reading can draw listeners into almost any story, and she does a particularly good job here. She's taken the time to master the Inuit phrases and names that pepper McGrath's narrative. Most important, she convincingly conveys Edie's thoughts and the sorrows and hopes of an Arctic people buffeted by the demands of the world "in the south." F.C. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

April 14, 2014
A summer teaching job takes Edie Kiglatuk to Kuujuaq, a Canadian Arctic village, in McGrath’s unsettling third mystery featuring the Arctic guide (after 2012’s The Boy in the Snow). When Edie and Sgt. Derek Palliser, her policeman friend headquartered in Kuujuaq, find student Martha Salliaq’s body in a desolate lake, Derek deputizes Edie to help with the case. Martha’s father recently won a lawsuit against the government, enabling the village to reclaim land used for a Cold War radar base, and the military is about to start its cleanup. When the Department of Defense suddenly takes over the site and the case, the Salliaqs’ lawyer suspects that Martha’s death might be connected to government secrets. A subplot involving Edie’s relationship with her troubled ex-stepson, Willa Inukpuk, adds a redemptive note to an often bleak tale of jealousy, betrayal, and destruction. Despite some clumsy prose, McGrath effectively evokes the spare Arctic landscape and brings life to the people who have inhabited it for generations. Agent: Kim Witherspoon, Inkwell Management.