one sad book. All seems going to hell thru the first half. It tries to be a meditation on Wobblie/Northwest US history, but the present day events are too burdensome to stay fixed on the past. Cecil, the not-so-effective private investigator, starts drinking and popping pills, heads off to hell-forsaken (that's really bad) islands and--even worse--Centralia Washingon, his autistic charge is failing even at a MacDonalds clone, the townspeople are drunk, disorderly, and murderous, the cops have Cecil's name, and a woman has a big hole in her. His new lady is off chasing whales, too--I forgot that. There is less wonderment at nature--still many eagles, but not so many bears. The wonder is focused on human animals, and they are a poor second to the furry, feathery ones. But you don't need to solve crimes in a mystery when animals do them. (OK, there was the hound of the Baskervilles but it had human prompting. And there was that trained snake that came down the bell cord, too--but Cecil doesn't care if a bear eats anyone, trained or not) ( )

I went on an Alaskan cruise and while in Sitka went into a bookstore looking for books by a local author or about the area. I found this, both by a transplant to Sitka and about a (fictitious) Private Eye working in town. This is the 4th book in the Cecil Younger series.

Cecil Younger is a private eye and recovering alcoholic whose services have been in low demand in recent months. He gets a conference call from both his lawyer and his shrink. A local, who is closing on the centurion mark and is believed to have killed a local mother in a bathtub across the street from the old folks home, wants to hire Cecil to 'kill' a man. Or so the duo claim. Cecil has his reservations about the whole thing, but since the bank is thinking about a foreclosure on his house, he decides talking to the old man can't hurt. Things get weirder from there.

Overall I would have to compare this very closely to Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone novels. While Cecil is not stupid, he is successful because of luck and sheer doggedness than any impressive insights. The book also does a great job of showing one a realistic look at the people and community of Sitka, Alaska. A good read. ( )

This is the first of the Felix Younger series of mysteries and it's a wild ride. Felix is a dangerous drunk on occasion and not the usual private eye. Straley takes you into some strange new ground with this inventive mystery. ( )