When I read the first one of these the first time, this was not available electronically. Now - the first two have each blurbed the e-version of the next one. So, when I finished #2 late last night/early this morning, I got the next one. They also had the first one of her SF novels - free! My kind of price, so I got it, too.
Mutt is in heat and escapes Kate's attempts to contain her, so I suspect we will see puppies in the next book.
This one opens with a horrifying massacre. A madman gets up, dresses in brand new clothing, loads a brand new gun, and goes out and shoots and kills everyone he meets until Kate, warned by Chopper Jim (police helicopter pilot and all-round sexy dude) and with the assistance of the valiant Mutt takes him down. From there on it gets complicated. Turns out that one of the innocent victims wasn't as innocent as all that and neither was her death.
Stabenow's intro to the rerelease of this book discusses the ceremonial/ritual thread that runs through it. Like most of her readers, I probably wouldn't have noticed it without her big red arrow pointing at it, but it was interesting. In the opening, the killer's almost ritual preparation for his killing spree is paralleled with Kate's preparations for the changing season - winter to spring.
Another striking event is Ekaterina's potlatch in memory of the dead of the massacre. Ekaterina is Kate's grandmother and the actual, if not the titular, head of the tribe. She is also controlling and manipulative and has selected Kate as her successor - a fate which Kate desperately resists. At this potlatch, she calls on all the tribes - not just her own, also including the white man, and the black man, to join in the ritual dance. Here Stabenow lapses into mysticism in a way that was a complete surprise to me. As Kate leads the dance, she sees the dead present and is aware of their appreciation of the event in their honor.
I haven't read many of these, but I will certainly be looking for this sort of thing in further reading.
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