Death Takes Passage (Jessie Arnold Series #4)

by Sue Henry

Overview

History is repeating itself on hundred years later on Alaska's breathtaking Inside Passage. Re-creating the famous Voyage of 1897, the Spirit of '98 is setting sail from Skagway, Alaska, en route to Seattle, Washington, carrying two tons of Yukon gold. Alaska State Trooper Alex Jensen and his love, famous female "musher" Jessie Arnold, are among the excited participants. The Grim Reaper is a passenger as well.

Dressed in period coustoume, Gold Rush buff Alex Jensen is only too happy to be representing the Troopers on this historic journey through a giant maze of scenic straits, harbors, and inlets. But the strange disappearance — and probable death — of a crew member pulls Alex rudely back to the present. As the only law officer in the vicinity, it is now his duty to unravel a twisted skein of lies, greed, and lethal shipboard secrets — before the Spirit's fateful encounter with murderers abroad a stolen ketch writes a grim new chapter in Alaska's history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780380788637
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/01/1998
Series:	Jessie Arnold Series , #4
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	447,642
Product dimensions:	4.19(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Sue Henry, whose award-winning Alaska mysteries have received the highest praise from readers and critics alike, has lived in Alaska for almost thirty years, and brings history, Alaskan lore, and the majestic beauty of the vast landscape to her mysteries. Based in Anchorage, she is currently at work on the next book in this series.

Editorial Reviews

Henry's celebration of Alaska, begun in Murder on the Iditarod Trail, continues in the fourth Alex Jensen mystery (after Sleeping Lady). Alaska state trooper Jensen and his girlfriend, Iditarod driver Jessie Arnold, embark on a cruise celebrating the centennial of the Klondike gold rush. The cruise ship carries a million dollars in gold locked away with armed guards. Jensen plans a mere ceremonial role, wearing his dress uniform and showing off his handlebar mustache, but several stateroom thefts and a crew member's disappearance force him to investigate. Meanwhile, two men steal a sailing boat; they dump the body of the owner who had died and head for a rendezvous with the cruise vessel. Then the dead body of the missing crew member is found in the freezing water, and Jensen and Arnold must decide which of their shipboard companions to trust. A wrong move could send all aboard to their deaths in the waters of the Inland Passage. The action occasionally flags, and Henry's dialogue is sometimes wooden, but Alaska's spectacular scenery, intriguing history and a well-engineered showdown should please fans of this series. Author tour. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Alaska state trooper Alex Jensen and girlfriend Jessie Arnold (Sleeping Lady, LJ 8/96) cruise down the Inside Passage as part of the 100th anniversary of the Klondike Gold Rush. When robbery and death strike the ship, Alex must investigate. More good stuff.

Library Journal

YA--Alaska State Trooper Alex Jensen and his friend Jessie are onboard the ship Spirit of `98 as it reenacts a historic moment from the Klondike Gold Rush. However, the fact that it is not truly a vacation becomes obvious as the officer must deal with a series of severe crimes: robberies, a disappearance, murder, major theft, and a bomb. The challenges intensify before any of the mysteries are fully solved. Historical and geographical details are skillfully woven into the plot. The map and diagram help to identify the location of each scene. The cover art of a large glacier looming over the ship is symbolic of the intensity of the climax.--Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA

School Library Journal

Alaska State Trooper Alex Jensen returns to the past in even more ways than the one suggested by the retro title (cf. Death on the Nile, etc., etc.) when he's assigned to the Spirit of '98's Inside Passage cruise commemorating the centennial of the Alaskan Gold Rush. There'll be tours of historic local sites, period theatricals hearkening back to the 1890s, and, just for good measure, the ceremonial transporting of a ton of gold in bars, flakes, and dust. Naturally, all that gold draws the attention of a mysterious shipboard menace who pilfers golden goodies from selected passengers' staterooms, tosses suspiciously reticent Spirit staffer Julie Morrison overboard, and aims, with the help of some outside muscle, to catch the ship napping while it's isolated from radio contact in the Grenville Channel. How serious are these guys? A couple of minor-league confederates have already stolen a sailboat and dispatched the luckless owner (the discovery of the floating corpse by the Spirit crew is only the most convenient of several whopping coincidences), and the ringleaders intend to blow up the Spirit as soon as they've off- loaded the swag. Despite a boatload of nondescript suspects who remain as remote as the majestic natural backdrops, Henry (Sleeping Lady, 1996, etc.) keeps the intrigue swirling and the tension mounting with a program of threats, mysteries, and great scenery as varied as anything in a tour director's bag of tricks, in what may be her best outing yet.

Kirkus Reviews