Murder on the Iditarod Trail
by
Sue Henry

Read by

Mary Peiffer

Books on Tape, 1999, 9 hours, 6 cassettes
ISBN: 0-7366-4413-X

Genre: Detective/Mystery

Reviewed: 8/12/2002

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Read Part of the Book

"There was something in the food, wasn't there?" Jessie Arnold asked.

Sergeant Alex Jensen didn't answer immediately, but stood looking down at her, considering. She was asking a lot of questions, but so, he supposed, were most of them at this point. She was asking straight important questions anticipating the same kind of answers and he had a hunch she could probably handle them.

Most people were wary of the law. The automatically hedged, or told you only what they thought you wanted to know. A basic fear or resentment of authority made them pseudo respectful. You wondered what they really thought and said about you behind your back. Sometimes you knew because they said it to your face. 

This woman stood her ground, said what she thought and asked what she wanted to know. She was treating him as an equal, not awed by his authority, but not disrespectful either. It made him want to answer her candidly. The impulse was tempting, but it conflicted with his training.

"Wasn't there?" she asked again.

Throwing his head back and taking a deep breath, he reached into his pocket for his pipe. She watched him fill and light it, waiting.

"I don't know," he said finally, puffing smoke. "It will have to go to the lab for tests."

An amused expression took the edge from her next comment. "That's some smoke-screen you've got."

He shrugged and smiled, admitting it.

"But you know there was something, and there was something wrong with George too, wasn't there?"

"Why do you think so?"

"Oh, questions with questions." A bit of exasperation showed now. "Because it makes sense. I'm not a Trooper, but I'm not stupid. And neither are the others. I guess what I'm thinking is there will probably be someone else, won't there? If this race  goes on, there could be several someone elses. Somebody is killing mushers. What I want to know is what we're going to do about it. It scares the hell out of me. I've never been around anything like this and I don't like it. But we have a race to run. There's a lot at stake: money, time, reputations. But none of its worth lives. What are we going to do?"

We. She kept saying "we" as if she were a part of finding out who was responsible. And maybe she was, maybe they all were.

Review

Early in the Iditarod Race in Alaska, an 1,100 mile dog sled race, an experienced musher mysteriously dies when he takes a turn incorrectly and impales his head on a broken branch on a tree. Soon after, a female musher tumbles over cliff and ends up breaking her neck and being crushed beneath her sled. Sergeant Alex Jensen quickly arrives and is taken in by the race. Some of the mushers are quite hostile toward the officer, as they are only interested in winning the race, even if someone is out there killing mushers. They train all year for this race, and nothing is going to stop them from continuing on. When Jensen meets Jessie Arnold, a female musher that finally has a shot at winning the race, he finds himself strangely attracted to her. They work together to help solve the murders; she keeping her ears peeled, and he gathering and studying the clues.

This is an audio version of the book Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry, published in book format in 1991. The story is read by Mary Peiffer. This audio book is in cassette format, consisting of 6 cassettes and plays for 9 hours. This is a complete and unabridged version of the novel.

I thought this was a great story. Sue Henry has done a wonderful job of writing about a subject most of us know little about in a way that sucks the reader, or listener, in and makes them want to know more. Mary Peiffer does a nice job of reading aloud the story using some animation. The story engrossed me from the start and I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next. Although it is not too hard to figure out who the villain is, the story itself is what I found interesting. I now know a lot more about dog-sled racing and about the Iditarod Trail now. So, if you want a fun book about murders during one of the most grueling races in the world, pick of this book and enjoy.