Dana Stabenow's 17th novel is about the Aleut private investigator Kate Shugak.
The plot of "A Night Too Dark" centers on the Suulutaq Mine, where vast gold deposits have been discovered. The gold isn't being mined yet because environmental questions must be answered, but the prospect of a billion-dollar bonanza has various hustlers and corporate vultures circling.
Sound familiar?
The Suulutaq Mine is fictional, but Stabenow has said it is based on the real-life Pebble Mine in southwest Alaska.
Kate has deeply mixed feelings about the mine; the region needs the jobs but doesn't need the environmental damage and the threat to its way of life. However, she and Sgt. Jim are drawn there after two of the mine's employees mysteriously die and a third goes missing.