Kate Shugak goes to Anchorage after she is hired by a determined daughter to get her terminally ill mother out of jail for setting fire to their home and killing her brother. Involving one of the founding families of Alaska, Kate has to uncover what really happened 31 years earlier. ( )

"A Taint In The Blood" is the most lighthearted, optimistic, Kate Shugak novel since "Breakup" (which was book seven - way back in time).

I liked the humorous start to the book, with Kate offering I-hate-owing-people-anything motivated "help" to the people who rebuilt her home at the end of the last book and driving them crazy in the process.

I also liked that Kate has now come out of her trauma-induced hibernation and is ready to toy with Jim Chopin, the habitual womanizer who keeps telling himself that he does NOT want a relationship with Kate - just good sex. Kate frustrates his expectations by taking him at his word, having mind-blowing sex with him and then leaving him to wake up alone while she heads off to work. Chopin's bemusement is a joy to behold.

Kate's relationship with the late Jack Morgan was always described as intensely physical but most of it happened off camera. In "A Taint In The Blood" everything is much more up close and personal.

It seems to me that, as well as being lighthearted fun and a development of Kate's relationship with Jim, this reawakening of Kate's sexual confidence shows her taking another step towards being more like her grandmother - a woman known for the impact she had on her lovers.

The murder mystery in this book is slight in terms of plot complexity but that's not really the point. This thirty-year-old murder case provides an opportunity to look back into how life used to be in Alaska. I enjoyed the tales of the old-timer bush cop and the peek into the rawness of the Alaskan "Frontier". I guessed the murderer fairly early on but that didn't spoil my enjoyment because the characters were so well described.

This was a light, fun, sometimes sexy read that gave a welcome change in pace from the depressed mood of the books that started with "Hunter's Moon". Now I'm looking forward to see what Kate is going to do with her life. ( )

Omg could these be any better ? I keep saying that and they keep getting better so I guess so, it makes me want to ditch my next planned book to read the next in this series. Kate is following a family crime drama that has so many twists she was baffled. She hates being baffled. Luckily Jim just happens to be in town doing his legal duty and is there to help her through it all. Yup he's a firm support to Kate.

Kate and Jim, well that's a fun one to watch. Jim is so silly thinking he can overtake Kate and lay down the law. The poor guy is struggling against the tidal wave that is Kate with only an innertube.

I can not wait to continue the series ( )

This, the 14th installment in the series, is set in and around Anchorage. Kate's hired to search a 30 year old murder. As always, the book's about Alaska; but, in this case, it's more about Kate. Her relationship with Chopper Jim evolves and becomes quite sexy--one wonders where Stabenow gets this stuff. Also, Mutt plays a big supporting role, almost human. Oh, and there is a plot too. Happily, I move on to #15. ( )

A Taint in the Blood: A Kate Shugak Novel (Kate Shugak Novels)
A Taint in the Blood: A Kate Shugak Novel (Kate Shugak Novels)
by Dana Stabenow
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Price: $7.99
111 used & new from $0.01

4.0 out of 5 stars Complex Mystery and a Sort Of Relationship With Jim - Can't Ask For More, June 30, 2015
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This review is from: A Taint in the Blood: A Kate Shugak Novel (Kate Shugak Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)
This is my umpteenth re-reading of this series and I still come away amazed at how this author can write a mystery. I love how the author can take Kate (us really!) out of the park and plop Kate in the city and have it be a smooth transaction this time. For those of us that have already read to the last book published, we have seen how Kate has grown, has become a bit of a player and has learned to use her strengths and not always her brute strength and Mutts snapping teeth! Although in this book Mutt does get to take a chunk out of someone and that is always fun for the fans.

Kates relationship, (for lack of a better word), with Jim seems to be turning a corner in this book and I like it. Jim doesn't but I do!

The mystery in this book was complex and really had me guessing...my jaw still drops in astonishment every time I read this book.

If I had one complaint it is that this book had so many side characters that I almost needed a score card. This book lacked a lot of the history we are used to but then again, it lacked a lot of the 'preaching' that the author is famous for and I for one was a little happy about that. ( )