Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Cold Water Burning [Mass Market Paperback]

John Straley
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
Price: CDN$ 9.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 1 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Thursday, May 23? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout.

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --  
Mass Market Paperback CDN $9.99  

Book Description

Oct 30 2001
Award-winning author of The Angels Will Not Care

P.I. Cecil Younger works out of Sitka, Alaska, a land of perfect beauty and not-so-perfect lives, where there is nothing more dangerous than an unsolved crime — except maybe the man trying to solve it....

Three years ago someone brutally killed four people on the scow Mygirl. In a crowded courtroom Cecil Younger helped the accused go free. Now the man charged with the Mygirl murders has disappeared. As a storm bears down on the Alaskan coast, two people connected with the case die in separate, sudden, and bizarre explosions of gunfire.

Younger is certain that someone is trying to finish the grisly job begun on the Mygirl three years earlier. But to prove it he must chase down a wooden sloop on the wind-lashed sea. Out in the lethal storm Younger will come face-to-face with the shocking truth that has already twisted so many lives — and now could end his own.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product Details


Product Description

From Amazon

Cecil Younger, the protagonist of John Straley's series of mysteries set in Sitka, Alaska, isn't exactly a slacker, but as PIs go, he doesn't invest his job with a great deal of energy or effort. In Cold Water Burning, his sixth outing, Cecil stumbles with characteristic good nature through his assignment: to find a missing man he himself helped acquit of burning a boat and killing its occupants. The man's vanished, along with $50,000 a tabloid advanced him for his version of how the crime really went down.

A talented stylist whose prose sparkles like the sun on icy tundra, Straley excels at sketching unusually picaresque characters and painting brilliant word portraits of Sitka's beautiful and unforgiving setting. All the elements are in place for a satisfying thriller--the unsolved murders aboard the Mygirl, Cecil's role in helping the accused man go free, and the anger of the victims' survivors, which ultimately places our hero in the murderer's gun sights. But they take second place to Cecil's relationship with his most trusted mentor, George Doggy, and both the plot and the pace--not exactly a breakneck ride to begin with--suffer as a consequence. There's a brilliant scene right out of The Perfect Storm as Cecil heads out on a very large ocean in a very small boat to rescue Toddy, his autistic housemate. Straley manages to stitch the somewhat ragged edges of the plot together convincingly enough, but he may need to light a fire under Cecil if he expects him to continue to carry this series. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In this sixth Cecil Younger mystery, the low-key, rather inept PI from Sitka, Alaska, reopens an unsolved murder case. Three years earlier, Younger worked for Richard Ewers, a deckhand who was acquitted of murdering four people on the fishing scow Mygirl. Now Ewers is missing. His wife, Patricia, fearing revenge, asks Younger to find him, but the PI is hesitant because his mentor, retired police chief George Doggy, still thinks Ewers was guilty. Then a cop kills Patricia during a shootout at the trailer of Sean and Kevin Sands, whose parents were murdered on the Mygirl. A large sum of money, paid to Ewers by a tabloid newspaper, is missing, and Younger realizes he must follow its trail to discover what really happened three years before. During a climactic, white-knuckle chase at sea in the midst of a horrific storm, the easygoing Younger finds the answers, learning startling truths about trust and honesty. Straley's writing style is strong but, unlike most Alaska mystery writers (Dana Stabenow, Sue Henry), he allows the dazzling locale to serve only as background to his charactersASitka's often feckless inhabitants. The psychology of Straley's antisocial characters, like violent Kevin and emotionally damaged Sean, drives these novels as much as does the action. (Jan. 2)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5 stars
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery and Suspense, Alaska Style Oct 5 2003
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Cecil Younger is a private investigator in the town of Sitka, Alaska, and his greatest success as a defense investigator has left him suffering with nightmares of murder, fire and screaming children. Three years after the arson death of two adults and two children aboard a fishing scow, Cecil is still convinced Richard Ewers had nothing to do with the crime. But just as a raging storm heads straight for Sitka, Ewers, who was found innocent at a highly publicized trial, goes missing along with fifty thousand dollars and his wife Patricia asks Cecil to find him.

Cecil agrees, but when he doesn't act fast enough for Patricia, she takes matters into her own hands. Her attempt to interrogate a couple of the suspects ends in tragedy, leaving Cecil looking like the town villain, responsible for yet another miscarriage of justice. With almost everybody against him, Cecil doggedly plods on with tension building until another tragedy strikes the town. In a terrific conclusion to this five star tale, Cecil must battle not only a personal enemy but also the deadly forces of nature.

Reviewed submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

Was this review helpful to you?
5.0 out of 5 stars Local with a bias April 8 2003
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I will start out declaring my bias: I lived in Sitka, Alaska for 7 years (now in Juneau for the past 3) and know John and the people of Sitka well. It is for this reason actually I thought I would share something, possibily of interest, with readers or potential readers of John's work.

It was quite obvious to me that John used his latest novel not only to entertain his readers, but to tip his hat to the people of Sitka who have provided him such good material and, more importantly, friendship over the past many years.

Many of the positive side characters and a few of the main ones in this latest novel are John's friends and neighbors. If not in total, at least enough to convey a "tip of the hat" from John to them. While this is not unique to this book or John as a writer, he references so many local people and in such a way that reading the book was like watching him shake hands and pat the backs of his fellow Sitkans.

I hope readers are able to pick up on this and that it allows them to feel perhaps even more immeresed in the Sitka by the Sea John describes so well.

Was this review helpful to you?
5.0 out of 5 stars Cold Water Burning Feb 6 2003
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I've been a fan of Straley's books after visiting Sitka, which is where he lives. I have read them all and without question this is the best yet! I love an unpredictable book, Straley does well in this fashion.
Was this review helpful to you?
Want to see more reviews on this item?

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category


Feedback


Amazon.ca Privacy Statement Amazon.ca Shipping Information Amazon.ca Returns & Exchanges