Deadfall

Sue Henry

Someone is stalking Jessie Arnold. She is preparing for mushing season, thinking of entering two big races. But early in the morning of her birthday, one of her dogs is caught in a trap that appears to have been in the dog house. Her foot is mangled. When it is light and they can look at the trap closely, Alex Jenson discovers a note on the trap - "Happy Birthday, Jessie." Besides living with Jessie, Alex is an Alaska State Trooper. When Jessie barely avoids putting her hand into a similar trap in another dog house, he calls in Trooper friends and the case begins.

It gets so Jessie cannot leave her own home. Someone is threatening her life. After she and two friends nearly die in an automobile crash, she agrees with Alex and leaves home to hide away some place private and secure. There on an isolated island in Kachemak Bay she and her lead dog, Tank, try to stay calm while Alex is trying to identify her stalker. Then she discovers someone has been using the sauna on the island...

Deadfall has a great background in the different parts of Alaska. Jessie and Alex's relationship is furthered and changed because of the threat to her life. But the solution to the mystery is contrived and dumb. I don't like the motive or reasoning of the person finally unmasked. Stalking Jessie was a strange round about way to get what the person wanted.

Sue Henry has a good locale and good heroine and hero to work with. But this time the mystery is a dud. If you're reading the series anyway, you'll want to read Deadfall. Otherwise, there are better Jessie Arnold/Alex Jensen stories.

Murder on the Iditarod Trail
Termination Dust
Sleeping Lady
Death Takes Passage
Deadfall
Murder on Yukon Quest
Beneath the Ashes
Dead North
Cold Company
Death Trap
Murder at Five Finger Light
Degrees of Separation
Cold as Ice