Starred review from February 1, 2024
DEBUT Twelve days before Christmas when a body is found, ravaged by scavengers, Anchorage homicide detective DeHavilland Beans catches the case. He's stunned to recognize the victim, Jolene Nilsson, a barista at his favorite coffee shop. Beans and Jolene often talked about their childhoods growing up as multiracial children in small villages in the remote Alaskan Bush. Even before the coroner can gather details from the body, including the unusual murder weapon, another victim is found. She was another barista, but this time found on federal land, so the FBI sends in an agent. While the Anchorage police try to quash media rumors of a serial killer, Beans worries about a friend dependent on pills, another one caught up in the disappearance of a bookie, and his own sister, who just started a new job as a barista. The one thing the Anchorage police department doesn't have is time as they race to stop a murderer who targets young coffee-shop workers. VERDICT Alaska in the winter and a likable protagonist come to life in this excellent, fast-paced police procedural. Suggest for fans of Harlan Coben or Lissa Marie Redmond.--Lesa Holstine
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 25, 2024
A serial killer targets baristas in and around Anchorage, Alaska, in Hakoda’s immersive debut. When homicide detective DeHavilland Beans is called to the grisly scene where Jolene Nilsson’s corpse has been ravaged by predators, he feels “an eerie sense of abandonment”—Beans regularly bought coffee from Nilsson at the Snow Bunny café, where she worked as a scantily clad barista. With help from his ex, a wildlife expert he still harbors feelings for, and canny Oregon FBI agent Isabelle O’Reilly, Beans launches an investigation into Nilsson’s death. Over the next few weeks, more young baristas turn up dead, and Beans, the son of a Japanese mother and Irish Athabaskan father, identifies a pattern: like him, all of the victims are mixed-race. Though the familiar plot is hampered by a protracted climax that succumbs to hackneyed psycho-killer tropes, Hakoda’s skill for setting and character development save the day. Beans, in particular, is a memorable leading man, and Hakoda’s Alaska is a diverse, fascinating landscape readers will want to get lost in. This has series potential.