The Woman Who Married a Bear (A Cecil Younger Investigation Book 1)

For those who enjoy the adventure of traveling to unique environments while reading, Author John Straley skillfully offers this opportunity in his novel, 'The Woman Who Married a Bear.' How exciting to come eyeball to eyeball with a humpback whale, to witness the salmon running, to learn about some of the Tlingit traditions, and to get up close and too personal with a bear. For those who have been Alaskan tourists, there is also the fun of recognizing landmarks in Sitka, Juneau, Anchorage, etc. where private investigator, Cecil Younger, travels. This Alaskan author bases his title and plot on a Tlingit myth and ties his mystery snugly around it. His eye for detail helps create beautiful prose, and I found myself rereading certain paragraphs because the writing was so well-done. This is the first Cecil Younger book I have read in his well-established series. I ended up liking Cecil Younger. I was not a fan of his at first because I am not fond of story lines that feature alcoholics and the drunken exploits that befall them.

I don't usually care for hardboiled crime fiction written in the first person, featuring a flawed private detective, a la Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. I fell in with this book, having read the author's excellent quirky storyCold Storage, Alaska. I soon realised this was a very different novel. It wasn't just a different genre, it was written way earlier -- in the early 1990s. The start wasn't encouraging to me either. Clever authors these days know not to indulge in huge info dumps.But this novel has a lot of good points that drew me into the story.It' has an excellent mystery storyline, which kept me guessing.John Straley uses the sights, sounds and smells of Alaska to paint a vivid picture of the place.He finds the right balance to write about indigenous people with sensibility, humour and pathos.The ping and pong of many of his dialogue scenes soar -- offering a sneak preview of an author bound for better things.Now for some negative comments:I found the ending a bit lame, a bit like cheap and nasty television shows of the 1980s.It didn't answer all my questions either.You could say the first 15 per cent of the book and the last 15 per cent lost this book a star. But the middle 70 per cent was well worth the price of admission.

There’s already a crazy guy in jail for the murder of Louis Victor.  But his mother is not satisfied and wants the whole truth.  Old Mrs. Victor hires Cecil Younger to investigate. He has to probe the family dynamics to get at the truth. There’s a lot of Indian lore involved. Louis was Indian and a cunning hunter of bears. His mother, a good storyteller, recounts a story of bears to Cecil to guide his investigation.There’s lots of local color. This is Alaska with wild landscapes and thrilling sightings of humpback wales and eagles, and towns full of howling sled dogs and roaring snow mobiles.  Ravens seem to hang around Cecil a lot, when he’s not in a bar.Cecil has a kind heart, but his alcoholism was a turn-off for me. I got tired of his drunken escapades and frequent black-outs. I found his poetic descriptions of seedy bars tedious. When he declares, “There is something ardent and romantic about getting drunk,” I could not agree. The case had the potential to be interesting, but I will not be following this series.  Yet I can see how some readers might like the poetic writing. And hard-drinking PI’s are a staple of crime fiction, so having a falling-down drunk for an investigator might not trouble most readers.

Buk Guru and Mrs. Buk Guru took a low rent vacation hard by the warm blue green sea in western Puerto Rico. THE WOMAN WHO MARRIED A BEAR was a boon companion. For 5 days I basked in the balmy blue-green waters of the Carribbean Sea. I had bites of conch, grouper, and red snapper. Each night I took a small bite of John Straley. This work was penned in 1992 but the words are timeless. Straley worships in the cathedral of nature as the procedural bounces from Sitka to Juneau to Anchorage. The protagonist Cecil Younger is deeply flawed. He has dropped out of college, let down his judge father and separated from "the woman who once loved him". But when not swimming in a bottle of whiskey our deeply flawed hero is insightful, philosophical, pantheistic, sensitive, appealing to the ladies, and; a supplicant in the cathedral of nature. The highlight of Straley's pantheism is a description of 2 humpback whales blowing a bubble net to trap and eat herring. The prose is beautiful, mystical and unrivalled by lesser authors. 18 years after penning this fine wine has aged well. The novel is like an intricately woven Zuni basket weaving strands of Yupik legend, Arctic travelogue, and a stale unsolved cold-blooded murder. Leave the cell phone and laptop home. Take this book on vacation.

Although I can't quite put my finger on it, Mr. Straley's writing style is so interesting! As an English Literature major in college, I have read a lot, and I enjoy detective stories, and this was certainly one that pleased. Amidst all the detective plot, Straley has a funny sense of humor that comes at times least expected. I think I will be reading more of his stories.

Cecil Younger is a detective from Sitka, Alaska, in the extreme southeast part of the state. He's asked to re-investigate a murder long after a presumed killer is imprisoned for it. The twisting story is intriguing, but Younger's alcoholism becomes tiresome. I hope he tames his personal demons in future books. The real star of the story is Alaska! Hunting cabins, fishing trawlers, people who live in cargo containers, and always the mountains looming in the background. I want to read the next book in the series.

I enjoyed the setting of the book as well as the interwoven bits of Alaskan history. There was a bit of intrigue, enough to keep me reading. I will read the next in the series.

アラスカ ジュノーにある国選弁護団を馘になり この街シトカに流れ着いて私立探偵を名乗りながら呑んだくれていた３６歳の私セシル・ヤンガーに老人ホームにいるミセス・ヴィクターが息子の事件捜査を依頼してきた。狩猟ガイドのルイス・ヴィクターが射殺され野に放置されたため熊に食い荒らされたという。犯人はすぐ挙がり警察は一件落着としたものの、母は「なぜ息子が殺されないといけなかったのか？」と動機を解明してくれとの頼みだった。集めた書類によると、１９８２年にルイスはアルヴィン・ホークスを雇いドイツ系企業の熊撃ちを連れて来た。ルイスが居ないときホークスからトラブル発生の電話がありルイスは親友ウオルター・ロビンズの船で一緒にでかけてルイスが森に分け入ると、まもなく森からホークスが血まみれで現れ「ルイスが気が狂って襲いかかったのでぶん殴って逃げて来た」という。ルイスの死因は銃創でホークスが銃を沼に投げ込むのを同行していたロビンスの子供デデが見ており、銃は警察が回収した。ところがホークスは「神の声が聴こえた。恐ろしい集団がいる」など精神状態が疑われる発言を繰り返して「罪に問えるのか」という疑問が生じた。１８歳のデデは船上からルイスが上陸した後に二人が争うのを見たと証言している。しかし裁判の前日になぜかデデは溺れ死んでしまった。目撃者を失い裁判はホークスを「精神異常ではあるが常時そうとは言えない」としかるべき施設への収容を求めた。ヤンガーがあれこれ動いている夜、同室の友人トッドが「誰か訪ねてきた」というので戸外に出るといきなり狙撃され、私を狙った弾がトッドに当たって瀕死の重傷を負った。なぜ私を殺そうとしたのか？　ルイス殺害の裏を探るのを良しとしない輩がいる、と、私は依頼者母の家族たちに探りを入れ始めるとアラスカの古い人間たちのしがらみが続々炙り出されてきた。サム・スペードとかフィリップ・マーロウといったスマートなハードボイルド私立探偵を想像して読み始めたが、このヤンガー君はドンくさくて銃を手にしたがらない人物で、読むうちになんだかわからないまま のめり込んんでしまった。とにかく1992年のこの第一作以来ヤンガーものがどんどん出ているのできっとファンも多いのだろう。どれかもう一つ手に取ってみたくなった。

A pleasant, entertaining read. Lovely locations, interesting characters. Great scene at the end where everything falsl into place, really cinematic. Once I feel like travelling to Alaska again, I will definitively read more of this author.

Lively, informative about Alaska - its mixed culture, geography, fishing, problems due to its island nature, intercommunication needed by sea, and a good yarn, Margaret Brough