Kirkus Review
Not particularly mild-mannered reporter Eldon Larkin, back for a fourth adventure (Banjo Boy, 1994, etc.), counters a case of burnout with an Alaskan fishing expedition. Right away, though, he's almost totalled by a totem pole: no ancient artifact but a recent work of art, it turns out. The surly native artist refrains from beating him up, while his hard-drinkin', hard-flirtin' agent, newspaper editor Anita, invites Eldon back to her homestead/office to write puff pieces on the local native celebrations--an arrangement he agrees to, considerng it an opportunity to subsidize his fishing trip. Eldon's excellent erotic adventure is complicated, however, by Anita's gimlet-eyed daughter Cassandra and the sexually competitive blond widow Maggie. When Max the artist is found fatally shot under a totem-in-progress, Chief Ed Katlean invites Eldon to solve the case for the good of the tribe. What follows is a catch-the-killer version of Northern Exposure, complete with winking squaw women, a control-freak storekeeper, a prospector with a paste-on beard, and a dog big enough to qualify for statehood. The wackiness of it all would work better if Eldon weren't so complacently in touch with his dirty-minded inner child, who yearns for mânages-É-trois and creature comforts at the expense of likability. Great local lore and a decent puzzle, but with a wit, in the end, too weak to bring them to life. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Eldon Larkin, ace reporter for Oregon's South Coast Sun, is in Alaska on a fishing vacation when he stumbles upon the crushed body of a noted Indian artist, a carver of totem poles, under one of his own works. Larkin solves crimes for only one reason--to get the girl. He is doubly motivated to solve the murder of Jason Baer, as the artist was associated with two beautiful and lonely women, both of whom show an unaccustomed interest in Eldon. The sleuth gets a crash course in Native American art and customs, plus an education in the perils of trying to conduct two romances at once, as he draws closer and closer, and finally much too close, to the murderer. This fourth leg in Kohler's delightfully bizarre Eldon Larkin series is fresh, fun, and thoroughly engrossing, just like its predecessors. Mystery lovers who haven't yet discovered Kohler have a treat in store for them. --Dennis Dodge
