Dark Night

Paige Shelton's third Alaska Wild novel, Dark Night, returns readers to Benedict, a remote Alaskan town where winter is closing in. Along with the cold comes a stranger known as the census man. He seems harmless enough, but he is unwelcome to the residents who guard their privacy and would rather keep their affairs to themselves.

Beth Rivers, a writer of thrillers, has a visitor of her own: her mother, Mill. The last time Beth spoke with Mill, Mill had gone off to hunt for the person who kidnapped Beth. Seeing her mother in person unsettles Beth, since anyone who could find her daughter might be able to find others too.

Beth has little time to dwell on that. One night a battered woman staggers into the town bar, and the next morning her husband is found dead. Suspicion falls on the census man, but when he disappears as well, everyone in Benedict, police chief included, comes under suspicion. Beth and Mill must dig for the truth themselves.