Thin Ice (Alaska Wild Mysteries #1) by Paige Shelton

Beth Rivers, a.k.a Elizabeth Fairchild, a successful novelist, is kidnapped by her Levi Brooks, who has been stalking her for a long period of time. She manages to escape by jumping out of a moving van, but gets a brain injury which necessitates an urgent operation. Unfortunately, Beth cannot remember much about her kidnapping, although her doctor says her memory will come back gradually. Not being able to remember even the face of her tormentor, she doesn't feel safe in the hospital and after a bit of ingenious planning, she is on her way to a little town of Benedict (population: 500) in Alaska.

In her haste to put as much distance between herself and the hospital, Beth didn't do much research and managed to book herself into a halfway house, which is currently hosting only three non-violent felons. The local police chief has been informed about Beth's ongoing case (Levi Brooks hasn't been caught yet, so her whereabouts are known to just a few people) and is willing to do his best to make Beth feel welcome in the town. He offers her the positon of the editor of the local free newspaper and would even like her help in his investigation of a suspicious death of a local resident (okay, maybe this last bit was not entirely credible: a police officer involves a virtual stranger in an official investigation? still, I didn't find it hard to suspend my disbelief as the book was hard to put down and kept me up until small hours).

I really enjoyed this first novel in the Alaskan Wild Mysteries series. Beth with her uncanny powers of observation and sense of humour is a very likeable protagonist. The small town setting is ideal for the genre of mystery and the fictional world of Benedict, Alaska, is built up lovingly to make sure that the reader is going to look forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Minotaur Books for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.













From the book blurb:
First in a new series set in Alaska from beloved author Paige Shelton, Thin Ice will chill your bones.

Beth Rivers is on the run – she’s doing the only thing she could think of to keep herself safe. Known to the world as thriller author Elizabeth Fairchild, she had become the subject of a fanatic’s obsession. After being held in a van for three days by her kidnapper, Levi Brooks, Beth managed to escape, and until he is captured, she's got to get away. Cold and remote, Alaska seems tailor-made for her to hideout.

Beth’s new home in Alaska is sparsely populated with people who all seem to be running or hiding from something, and though she accidentally booked a room at a halfway house, she feels safer than she’s felt since Levi took her. That is, until she’s told about a local death that’s a suspected murder. Could the death of Linda Rafferty have anything to do with her horror at the hands of Levi Brooks?

As Beth navigates her way through the wilds of her new home, her memories of her time in the van are coming back, replaying the terror and the fear—and threatening to keep her from healing, from reclaiming her old life again. Can she get back to normal, will she ever truly feel safe, and can she help solve the local mystery, if only so she doesn’t have to think about her own?

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