The residents of Alaska's largest national park are stunned by the death of one of their oldest members, eighty-seven-year-old Old Sam Dementieff…Even private investigator Kate Shugak. Sam, a lifelong resident, dubbed the "father" of all of the Park rats--even though he had no children of his own--was especially close to Kate, his niece, but even she is surprised to discover that in his will he's left her everything, including a letter instructing her simply to, "find my father."Easier said than done, since Sam's father is something of a mystery. An outsider, he disappeared shortly after learning about Sam's existence, taking with him a priceless tribal artifact, a Russian icon. And in the three days after Kate begins her search through Sam's background, she gets threatened--and worse.
