Cold to the Touch

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. (Apr.)