What happens when you take the elements of a pulp fiction crime novel but move it up to the 80s and set it in Alaska? You get Cecil Younger, the alcoholic private investigator main character of The Woman Who Married a Bear. We meet Cecil the morning after a bender, as he battles a hangover while preparing to meet a potential new client. The client, an older Tlingit woman, asks Cecil to find out who killed her son, Louis Victor. Only problem is, Victor’s killer has been tried and convicted, and is currently serving life in prison. But his mother doesn’t believe that’s the whole story. There are inconsistencies in the eyewitness’ stories, and the main witness for the prosecution was herself murdered before the trial.
As Cecil begins investigating it becomes clear that certain people do not want the truth to come out. He faces hostility wherever he goes, yet manages to piece together more of the story as he talks to the key players. Throughout, Alaska itself plays almost as important a role as the human characters. The mood noticeably changes between the small towns, cities, villages, and wilderness that Cecil’s investigation takes him through, while the descriptions are evocative and gorgeous. (And frankly made me want to book an Alaska cruise!)
The Woman Who Married a Bear is moody and contemplative, and you spend a lot of time inside Cecil’s head as he thinks about his life and his past. It started a bit slow for me, but once I was hooked, I was thoroughly hooked.