Elements of a Kill — Christopher Lane

A Storm's Fury . . .

Awakened out of a sound sleep, Police Detective Ray Attla is disgruntled when he's assigned to the investigation of a death at an isolated oil rig in the icy Alaskan wilderness. Especially since he's off duty, tucked away in a little hut the used to call home on the Inupiat reservation. But Ray is the closest official to the scene and fierce Arctic storm has closed off the area.

A Shaman's Vision . . .

Despite dire warnings from his ancient grandfather and protests from his fiancee, Ray heads for the rig on his snowmobile and quickly determines that the frozen body encased in a piece of oil pipe is no accidental death. The victim's Rolex implicates a big-time oil man, and the marks of the Eskimo hunter slashed across his body point to ritual murder. With few clues, no reinforcements, and little help from a novice local deputy, Ray gives in to his grandfather's pleas that he consult the Inupiat shaman--but not before he's hunting a multiple killer, and not before he himself becomes the hunted . . .