Book Review: Nothing Gold Can Stay

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Nothing Gold Can Stay     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Dana Stabenow
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Liam Campbell # 3
Dutton, Sep 2000, $23.95, 275 pp.

At one time, law enforcement official Liam Campbell felt he had it all. He loved and was loved by his wife and son, and enjoyed his work even as he seemed on his way to the top. However, his world collapsed with the deaths of his spouse and child, which led to his failure as a cop. Exiled to remote Newenham, the Alaska State Trooper begins to recover his life, especially with his hot and cold relationship with local Wyanet Chouinard. Everything is quiet on the northern frontier.

However, the calm ends when someone murders the postmistress of a nearby village in an apparent robbery that turned ugly. Other homicides follow along with several disappearances. Liam, ably helped by his assistant Diana Prince, begins to investigate a crime spree that seems linked to events over two decades old.

With the Kate Shugak and Liam Campbell novels, Dana Stabenow owns the Alaskan mystery. The current tale, the third Campbell story (see SO SURE OF DEATH and FIRE AND ICE) is a fabulous regional novel that brings the final American frontier to vivid life. The story line is exciting, has a touch of love in the air, but never loses sight of its prime theme, the police procedural investigation in a remote area. Liam is a tremendous star still struggling but clearly improving to regain his equilibrium. The support cast adds the touch of genuineness and reality to the locale, the lead character, and the mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner