DARK NIGHT

A traumatized woman slowly works through her personal issues while solving crimes in a remote Alaskan town.

Famous novelist Elizabeth Fairchild fled to Benedict after a hazardous escape from her kidnapper, which left her with a large scar and white hair. Calling herself Beth Rivers, her birth name, she runs a small newspaper and has made many friends, but only Gril, the police chief, knows her real identity. Beth’s world is turned upside down by the sudden appearance of her mother, Mill, who’s wanted by the police for shooting, though not killing, her daughter's kidnapper, Travis Walker. Beth gets more directly involved when wife-beater Ned Withers is found stabbed after yet another incident with his wife, Claudia. Ned’s been hiding his sister, Lucy, who’s also wanted by the police. Another wild card is Doug Vitner, supposedly a census man snooping around the area. Beth is both pleased and shocked by her mother’s visit. Mill’s been searching for years for both the husband who deserted her and for Walker, who as it turns out was dealing drugs with her husband and another missing man. But Beth begins to suspect that Mill has ulterior motives. Things get complicated as she and her friends search for a killer and try to track down Beth’s kidnapper.

A character-driven mystery in a near-mystical setting, a land of stark contrasts and self-reliant denizens.