Emperors of the Ice

Farr, Richard

Despite the title, this is an invented memoir of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, the youngest member of Scott's second Antarctic expedition. It resembles the real McCoy with maps, journal entries and archival photographs, but it's an imaginative rendering of the famous expedition. For those who can't get enough of South Pole discovery theories.


The End of the Road

Henry, Sue

Homer, Alaska is known for its great scenery and even better fishing but for widow sleuth Maxie McNab, a return home means just another investigation. Maxie invites a lonely tourist for a meal, but the next day he's reported dead, a suicide. Join this spirited woman and her miniature dachshund, Stretch, as they search for what really happened at the end of the Homer spit.


A Night Too Dark

Stabenow, Dana

The latest in a series featuring strong, sassy Aleut heroine Kate Shugak. In this outing, while national park visitors disappear, a gold mine seduces a native association and alienates environmental activists. This book captures the world of interior Alaska with its grand mountains, rivers, and wilderness lifestyles.


Ordinary Wolves

Kantner, Seth

This novel is about Cutuk Hawcly, a white child raised by a father, "our best friend, no dad at all," who rejected civilization to live in a sod igloo in remote northern Alaska. Cutuk learns to hunt and fish like the nearby Inupiaq, but is never fully accepted into their society. A coming of age novel set on the last frontier.


Smilla's Sense of Snow

Hoeg, Peter

Fascinated by Greenland? This thriller explores the death of a six year old who has fallen off a snow-covered roof. In the process of solving the mystery, dark secrets are revealed and contemporary life in Greenland and Denmark are explored.


White Sky, Black Ice

Jones, Stan

First in a series featuring an Inupiaq detective that is set in both village and urban Alaska. Jones knows the Arctic well and presents realistic scenes of contemporary Inupiaq life in the far north. Gripping writing that also presents very believable characters.