Customer Reviews:
lovely series.......2006-08-30
I got one of these books somehow and then went shopping to find the whole series. Bought some of them used since that is the only way to get them but you can see how much I liked the series. I am going to give them all to my local school library after I finish them. They will make great books for the teens and the teachers to enjoy. Lots of action, information about the Alaska lifestyle and the various groups living there, and writing that keeps your interest from start to finish.
Another excellent outing for Stabenow.......2006-07-22
I'm not an aficionado of mysteries. I make three exceptions: Robert P. Parker, Kathy Brandt, and Dana Stabenow. Stabenow, like Brandt, makes excellent use of her locations. Alaska is basically a character in each tale of sleuth Kate Shugak. Stabenow has a knack for drawing the reader into a different part of the Alaskan realm in each book, while keeping us interested in Kate's life, loves, and perils. This is another fast, enchanting read by a master of her craft.
Matt Bille
author
www.mattwriter.com
Pretty near perfect, and still my favorite Shugak.......2006-05-19
_________________________________________
Kate Shugak, a former investigator for the Anchorage DA, now lives on her
homestead near Niniltna and the Quilak range, near the Canadian border
east of Anchorage. Kate is an Aleut, the first in her family to go to college.
A major part of the charm of the series is the meeting of the Native and
white cultures. And Ms. Stabenow is a crackerjack storyteller.
The series is up to #14 now. It's not critical where you start - I've yet to read a
poor one. My favorite, "A Cold-Blooded Business" (1994), takes Ms. Shugak
to the North Slope oilfields. Ms. Stabenow spent 6 yrs working on the Slope
and it shows. Kate's new boss Toni is evicting a couple of entrepeneurs
from the camp:
'After a moment the door cracked. A large, round blue eye peered out. It
encountered Toni and paused. There was a long sigh, and the door opened
further, to expose a six-foot platinum blonde in a minuscule leather cowboy
vest... There was a lot more breast than there was vest. Kate sternly
repressed what she assured herself was merely a momentary feeling of
inadequacy...
A gentleman was just rising from the bed, buckling his jeans. "Why, Bob",
Toni cooed. "I haven't seen you in ages. Where've you been keeping
yourself?"
"Up yours, Hartzler", he snarled.
"Oh, goodness me, did I knock a moment too soon?" Toni wondered aloud.
Belle and Jane both giggled as he snarled again and shouldered Kate aside on
his way out.'
I started on Ms. Stabenow's mysteries after reading, and liking, her
"Star" science-fiction series - "Handfull of Stars", "Second Star" & "Red
Planet Run" - good space-operas all, light-hearted and fun. In part these are
the Klondike gold rush transposed to the asteroids - better done than most
such, and clearly written by someone who knows some mining history. Ms.
Stabenow passes a reality check in an area I know well, and thus gains
credibility for other background material.
In short, Dana Stabenow is a fine, conscientious writer and a helluva
storyteller. Highly recommended.
Review copyright 1998 by Peter D. Tillman
Drugs & Death on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline! .......2005-09-19
Aleut detective Kate Shugak, formerly a gifted investigator for the Anchorage D.A.'s office, moved back to Alaska's far north country after a horrible child abuse case left her scarred physically and emotionally. She now resides on a 160-acre homestead with her half-wolf, half-husky, half-breed canine named Mutt and makes her living as a private investigator. In "A Cold-Blooded Business," the business refers to cocaine and stolen antiquities, an unexpected added attraction.
John King, CEO of the Alaska Division of Royal Petroleum Company, hires Kate for $1000. per day, plus expenses, to discover who is importing wholesale drugs into the Base Camp and Operating Area at Prudhoe Bay and retailing the product to his employees. His internal security has been unable to halt the cocaine infiltration. The use of these drugs has resulted in lethal accidents and could potentially cause a major shut down of the Trans-Alaska pipeline, killing many people in the process. Kate goes undercover as a roustabout, an entry level position assigned the "dirty work," from chauffeuring to picking-up garbage.
Ms. Shugak, a Native American and environmentalist, finds herself appreciating the luxuries the oil company offers and almost hates herself for it. Employees are provided with gourmet meals, steak twice a week and prime ribs on Sunday, pool facilities, sauna, exercise room, etc., and congenial company. She is disturbed by how easily she grows accustomed to these "perks." A relative loner, Kate finds herself liking many of her co-workers, even her prime suspects. But the play is fouler than she ever imagined, involving the theft of ancient artifacts from sacred graves, as well as massive drug dealing and using, terrible greed and murder...perhaps even her own.
Kate's lover and former colleague Jack Morgan and her grandmother, Ekaterina Moonin, two terrific characters, appear in this novel. Grandma is not happy when she discovers that her own flesh and blood has gone to work for big oil!
Dana Stabenow won an Edgar Award for the series' debut mystery "A Cold Day for Murder." Her Kate Shugak novels are consistently good to excellent, and one of the reasons I enjoy them so much is their Arctic setting and the details of native life and culture. The author's descriptions of the region's physical geography are wonderful. And Kate Shugak is super savvy, tough, prickly, and vulnerable, although she hides it well. She has a deep loyalty and abiding love for her people and the land.
A terrific read and a winning sleuth series!
JANA
Kate Works the Pipeline.......2004-04-06
It is such a pleasure to read these early entries in the wonderful Kate Shugak series, and to get to know our main character book by book.
In this fourth book in the series, Kate, working undercover to find the source of a mighty cocaine habit among workers on the Pipeline (unnamed, but obviously a conglomerate of existing pipeline behemoths), hires on as a roustabout in Alaska's Far North. Knowing that her very presence at the oil company's home base will offend her formidable grandmother for all time, Kate nevertheless quickly gets used to the work, the comraderie--and most of all, the nonstop food, akin to a cruise ship. Between gorging herself on luscious steaks, homemade fries and all-you-can-eat ice cream sundaes, Kate begins to sense the evil and dangerous drug busines that lurks beneath the surface.
With some much-needed "down time" with lover Jack and wonder dog Mutt (half huskie, half wolf) to clear her head, Kate uncovers a plot that threatens to undermine not only the giant oil company, but her very life as well.
Fun, fast read...absolutely delightful.
Book Description
For centuries, diamonds have symbolized wealth, prestige and love; however, behind those symbols lies a world of deceit, monopoly and war.
Hart follows the diamond trail around the globe, from the basement room where Gabi Tolkowsky, the world's greatest diamond cutter, faced the 599-carat Centenary diamond, to the fogbound smugglers' paradise of Africa's Diamond Coast. He records the heroic struggle of the 24-year old woman who discovered a multibillion dollar diamond mine on the Arctic Circle and describes the company that feared her most, masterminds of the great and shadowy diamond cartel.
Combining history, science, business, and adventure, Diamond captures the essence of this priceless gem and the world that surrounds it.
Customer Reviews:
Diamonds and lessons in globalization.......2007-09-08
Though my background in diamonds - not counting some jewellery I got my better half sometime ago - is almost nil, I picked up the book because of the attractive title and jacket ... and I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the journey narrated by Matthew Hart.
The book, peppered by anecdotes and stories, presents a great overview of the complex diamond trade. The book is as much about globalization of business as it is about shining stones for which consumers pay millions. And this is where the author creatively weaves narratives around aspects of the Business of diamonds: production and extraction, value addition during each aspect of the chain, marketing and promotion and the complexities of pricing and gobalized supply chain.
The chapter (Rosy Blue) on the Indian contribution to the modern value chain of the diamond industry was especially interesting to read. Not many of us realize that much before Indians became synonymous with the global hi-tech and software industry, Indians were already well entrenched in the international diamond trade. The parallels between the two industries are unmistakable:
* Hundreds of thousands of cutters and polishers (programmers and designers?) work offshore in back-offices
* There has been a strong ambition to move up the value chain: by gaining representation as DTC sightholders (or management consultants to Fortune 500 clients)
* The majority of foot-soldiers in the trade remain `invisible' though a few leaders are the visible face of the trade in Antwerp (and in global technology consulting)
Interesting Gem.......2007-06-30
I thoroughly enjoyed the read. A good over view of the orgin, history, exploration, marketing, and commodity of the diamond market, without the dry technical jargon. I was completely facinated by the gamble one takes by purchasing large stones in the rough, and the tedicious craftsmanship that goes into cutting and polishing a beautiful diamond. I loved the history and discussion on famous diamonds and their journey though the hands of royality, soliders, religous conflicts, and theifs. Made you stop and think, what are diamonds really worth? I would of enjoyed color photos thou!!!!!
multifaceted intro to the diamond trade.......2006-07-04
This book covers the history of diamonds and the diamond trade from a series of viewpoints. Starting with a light introduction to diamonds before the 1800's, the book's emphasis is mainly on the last 200 years. Focusing on London, Antwerp, Brazil, India, the Diamond Coast, South Africa, Canada and a little on Russia, the book gives a good introduction to the geography of the diamond trade. The book shows us the lives of diamond miners, speculators, polishers, and the middlemen that connect all of these roles together to get stone from ground to a woman's hand. The text itself reads easily, and is part history book, part travelogue, part journalistic expose.
The history of De Beers is outlined, and its connections with various governments and high-up officials is touched upon, but this book is by no means a work of muckracking. The authorship is recent enough to cover blood diamonds from Africa, but not recent enough to include mention of diamonds as a source of capital and liquid wealth by Islamic terrorists. All in all a good book but not a great one. Worth the time to read it though.
Great overview, but lacks follow-through.......2006-03-12
I came away from this book with a picture of the global market for diamonds and how it's all tied together, from the palatial desks of moguls in London to the shacks of miners in Africa. Author Hart covers it all -- how diamonds are mined, processed, marketed, stolen; the ever-weakening power wielded by the De Beers cartel; the new low-end processors in India who have changed the dynamics of the trade. He does an especially good job elucidating the complex world of "war diamonds" emnating from bloody civil-warring states like Angola and Sierra Leone.
Author Hart is well-qualified for the task, having written on diamonds for numerous publications; but his ability to initiate a really engrossing story and drop it in mid-stream without taking us all the way there was frustrating for me as a reader. There were too many times when he started with an intriguing aspect of the trade, but moved too quickly to another aspect, leaving the reader hanging. How do the garipeiros, who found the "big pink" along a Brazilian river in chapter 1, live? Who gave them their $2 million for the big pink? Was it delivered in cash in a paper bag? How did the garipeiros spend the money so fast? After Eira Thomas finds a diamond pipe in the frozen Canadian north, he ends with this: "the pipes that Thomas found... contain some 138 million carats of diamonds. The deposit will support a mine for twenty years and supply the market with an annual $400 million worth of rough" -- that's it; that's all. What happened to Eira Thomas? Did she go on to find more pipes? Exactly how do the Canadian pipes alter the dynamics of De Beer's cartel? For a book like this, the devil is in the details -- the details that provide color and texture and take the readers along for the ride. Too often, Hart leaves out the details and doesn't finish the story, leaving the reader frustrated. The book would have really been enhanced by a few color plates of diamonds -- famous diamonds, rough diamonds, tiny brown diamonds cut in India, the big pink -- even if only two page's worth. In addition, as with so many books nowadays, copyediting is below par, with some really egregious typos in the text.
Still, this book is a great overview, and I feel that I learned a lot. Despite the limitations, anyone who loves gems, jewelry, commodities, and the romantic world of high-roller big business will enjoy this book.
"...as if a curtain had been ripped aside and there was the diamond business, spattered with blood, sorting through the goods.".......2005-12-03
p.187
This book made me glad that my wife and I twenty years ago decided to get neither the traditional diamond engagment nor wedding rings. I gave her a nice strand of pearls (probably another book out there) and we exchanged diamondless rings when we wed.
Chapter 9: Diamond Wars was horrifying in the sheer numbers of dead and maimed. Whenever teenage boys are fed drugs to go and slaughter civilians, there's more to it than idealogy, it's fed by sheer corporate earnings.
Recommended further updated reading: the reports on [...] account how the Kimberley Process, designed to eradicate the conflict diamonds, has in part been used to legitimize them.
Average customer rating:
|
A cold-blooded business
Alec Ernest Haarer
Manufacturer: Staples Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
 General
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B0007J03JM |
Book Description
Norman L. Wolfson retired some years ago after serving many heads of corporations and heads of state in the communications area. Until then, his writing efforts had been rewarded by publication nationally in magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times. Five years ago, after a few idle years, he turned to authoring books and has completed three. The first, Pal of the God's is the story of the life of Frank Scott, the first agent in sports. Mr. Scott died before publication and the book is being held up by his family for they want the story—already approved by Mr. Scott while he was alive—told with all warts removed. The second, To Be or not To Be, is a novel about a family secret told to a child at age eleven which drives him to the brink of suicide. This book, Life's Snapshots, is a depiction of what it is like dealing with the rich, the powerful and the famous—and, believe me, at times it can become dangerous.
Customer Reviews:
Roller-coaster ride through big-time P.R........2003-08-24
Fasten your seatbelts for a wild ride through Norman Wolfson's roller-coaster life as a P.R. man! Wolfson's "Life's Snapshots" are literally verbal photographs of his experiences - full of excitement, tensions, threats and some very famous people.
His long personal friendship with the great sports columnist Red Smith has the tender overtones of "Tuesdays with Maurie." But his equally long relationship with cartoonist Al Capp is frank and grim about the man later convicted of rape.
On the other hand, he paints a terrifying picture of his client, Nicaraguan dictator Somoza. The man alternated between being cool to Wolfson, warm to the point of embarrassment, and finally trying to lure him back into Nicaragua so his henchmen could kill Wolfson..
There is one word to describe this life and this book: breathtaking.
Product Description
4 massmarket paperback Titles by Stabenow - A Cold-Blooded Business - Dead in the Water - A Grave Denied - Play with Fire
Product Description
Multiple books shipped as one item for your convenience. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.
Average customer rating:
- Night Smoke
- Nightshade & Night Smoke
- Smokin!!!!!!
|
Night Tales: Nightshade & Night Smoke: Nightshade\Night Smoke
Nora Roberts
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Anthologies | Romance | Subjects | Books
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Romantic Suspense | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Roberts, Nora | ( R ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
Paperback | Roberts, Nora | ( R ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
Anthologies | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
Anthologies | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
General | Roberts, Nora | ( R ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Paperback | Roberts, Nora | ( R ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Anthologies | Contemporary | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
General | Contemporary | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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Similar Items:
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Night Tales: Night Shift & Night Shadow
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Night Tales: Night Shield & Night Moves: Night Shield\Night Moves
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Spellbound
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O'Hurley's Return: Skin Deep\Without A Trace
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Red Lily (In the Garden)
ASIN: 0373285124 |
Customer Reviews:
Night Smoke.......2006-06-07
Night Smoke was an awesome book. It had a great storyline and was a definate page turner. This Book had my attention from the beginnning. Once I got going I couldn't stop, which says a lot for Nora Roberts, considering this was my least favorite.She is a great author who always comes up with good romance novels. I can't wait to read the next Night Tale, "Night Shield."
Nightshade & Night Smoke.......2005-09-23
Two engaging romantic suspense stories by Nora Roberts. Strong intelligent women in both stories matched to interesting men, with good, involving story lines. Definitely a page-turner, and only the fact that there is a previous book and a book-still-to come in this series prevents one from regretting from racing through it at top speed.
Smokin!!!!!!.......2005-08-16
This is a re-release for a new generation of Nora Fans.
NIGHTSHADE: This is Boyd Fletcher's partner from Night Shift, Althea Grayson's story. Her 'nemesis' is Colt Nightshade. Their relationship is hot and heavy. Lots of wonderful tension. He gets under her nails and then, she lets him. Basic mystery story comes close to my profession of abuse counseling, and it was well done by Nora. I am convinced that Althea is the prototype for Eve Dallas in Nora's J. D. Robb series. It was fun recognizing the signs. The story was very good. Nora sure knows how to write a love scene.
NIGHT SMOKE: This was Natalie's story and my least favorite of the four "Night Tales". But it did bring back all the characters from the 3 previous stories. The 'family' aspect of that is something I liked a lot.
I consider all of Nora's books Keepers. They entertain and what more could you ask?
Customer Reviews:
an absolute pleasure to read.......2007-01-15
with four distinct books all revolving around the "night" theme, nora roberts once again captures the beauty of love
in "Night Shift", you're thrust into the world of DJs and radio stations, a world most people know nothing about. Throughout the entire story, your rooting for Boyd to win over Cilla's heart and capture the person who is plotting against her.
in "Night Shadow", you see that Cilla's sister's story is just as incredible as her own, maybe better. It was amusing to see how Ms. Roberts fared dipping into the "superhero" element with Nemesis. This story has sort of a spiderman romance about it, which makes it all the more enjoyable
"Nightshade" deals with the story of Boyd's partner, Althea. She is one tough lady, but Colt Nightshade manages to romance her in time. The crime they're both investigating makes the story suspensful and interesting to follow.
"Night Smoke" certainly lives up to its name. Boyd's sister butts heads with arson investigator Ryan Piasecki. Through some dangerous moments, I assure you the ending, is indeed happily ever after.
The best part about reading all four of these is that you get to see how characters in the earlier stories develop with their marriages and children.
I urge everyone to read not only these stories, but the other two "Night Tales" books Ms. Roberts has produced in "Night Tales: Night Sheild and Night Moves", but stunning.
Once again I applaud Ms. Roberts with her astonishing series, "Night Tales"
4 very early Nora tales that are outstanding.......2004-10-07
Some of Nora Robert's Early works, the "Night" tales are hard to find. You find them in secondary bookstores used - maybe - and for very high prices. Here you have all four tales (four complete Silhouette novels) in one volume - Night Shift, Night Shadow, Nightshade and Night Smoke. They are some of the best of her early works and it's great to get them all under one cover.
Night Shift has Detective Boyd Fletcher assigned to protect Cilla O'Roarke. She is a nighttime talk Disc Jockey at a local Denver radio station whose life has been threatened. Cilla is a tough cookie, but even she knows she needs Boyd's help. While being her bodyguard, Boyd falls for her, which jeopardizes his objectivity he needs to catch the psycho. But he cannot deny the attraction.
Night Shadow is Cilla's sister's story. Deborah O'Roarke. Deborah is an assistant DA, and she gets into danger because of the case she's involved in. Gage and his alter ego Nemisis (think Daredevil with sight) see it as their duty to protect the gusty DA. The Fantasy element in this is outstanding and I love the strong leads.
Nightshade is the story of Boyd's ex-partner, Althea Grayson (we met her as she helped Boyd protect Cilla in Night Shift). She is an early Eve Dallas (...In Death Series - the "role" model for Eve?) a very independent lass, who is a by the book cop. Sexy Colt Nightshade is a Private Investigator who disdains rules, unless he makes them up. They are both strong willed detectives with their own methods, and naturally clash - on the streets and in bed - as they are forced to work together to stalk a killer.
Night Smoke sees Natalie Fletcher, Boyd's sister clash with arson investigator, Ryan Piasecki. When several of the buildings Natalie owns has fires, she and Ryan clash, soon they are proving where there is smoke, there is in deed fire!
Four early Robert's tales guaranteed to delight her fans.
Four Fabulous Stories!.......2002-11-12
After being sooo disappointed in "Full House" I had to read something to renew my faith and Nora Roberts did the trick. What an entertaining book and each story stands alone but is connected.
Each story has a great hero and heroine, pretty good mysteries and great romance. One is sort of a fantasy and that one needs you to believe. The others are full out good reads. Thanks you, Nora. I will re-read this whole book again and again.
Fabulous book!.......2002-10-25
Everyone who is at all a fan of romance or romantic suspense knows how popular Nora Roberts is. Her books sell for a reason. I think this series is Nora at her best. All 4 of the books are filled with the strong characters, sexual tension, and suspenseful moments that make her such a good writer. I also like having all the related books published together in one package.
Another thing that makes this series unique to me is how each of the books has a common element: the night, but still manages to be fundamentally different too. The first, Night Shift, is pretty standard romantic suspense, but it is also well written. Night Shadow is more fantasy with some supernatural elements thrown in. Night Shade, the third and my favorite of the series, has the most fleshed out characters in my opinion. The clash between the two main characters is what makes this story work. Night Smoke, the last of the stories, is more a classic case of rich girl meets working class boy. Nora adds suspense and good dialogue to raise it above the average romance. Be warned though. The subject matter IS a little dark in these novels. They are grittier than standard romance novels. If you are looking for light fluff, you might want to try some of her other novels. But if you are looking for good romantic suspense, you can't go wrong here.
Not up to her usual standards........2002-07-12
This is a set of four stories about the same family. Night Shift is about Boyd Fletcher and a lovely DJ who is having stalker problems, it is probably my favorite of the four. In Night Shadow Boyd's sister-in-law Deborah O'Roarke is falling in love with a man who has an amazing secret. Nightshade is about Boyd's partner Thea . Night Smoke is the story about Boyd's sister Natalie Fletcher, arson and the sexy fireman who helps find the arsonist.
As is typical with Nora Roberts series, each story can stand on it's own. However, I like the fact that you can revisit old characters and catch up on their lives through Nora Roberts other books. There is a follow up to these four stories about Boyd's daugther and a private investegator. It is a great story and out of the five stories, my favorite.
I typically rate Nora Roberts stories with fives. However, this one has a four. I found this a little bit too 'off the wall' for my tastes. The idea that some man can become invisible at will was just to wild. I think that the connection being made in other reviews between books written by Nora Roberts under the name JD Robb is correct. These books have another world/futeristic type feel to them. The cities are darker, more evil, particularly in Night Shadow. The JD Robb books are some that I do not enjoy and I'm dissapointed to see that leaking over into the Nora Roberts romance books.
However, having said that, let me stress that I find any Nora Roberts book to be above and beyond the normal romance book and worth reading.
Books:
- A New Leaf (Cape Light Series #4)
- A Story Like the Wind
- Against the Tide of Years
- Alex Haley's Queen: The Story of an American Family
- An Hour To Kill: A True Story of Love, Murder, and Justice in a Small Southern Town (St. Martin's True Crime Library)
- Another Man's Wife: A Novel
- Aunt Dimity: Snowbound
- Behold the Man (Kingdom and the Crown, Vol 3)
- Blow-Up: And Other Stories
- Blowout
Books Index
Books Home
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Dead in the Water (Kate Shugak Mystery)
A Cold Day for Murder (Kate Shugak Mystery)
Play with Fire (Kate Shugak Mystery)
Blood Will Tell (Kate Shugak Mystery)
Breakup (Kate Shugak Mysteries)
