The Curious Eat Themselves: (2 Cecil Younger Investigation)

When Louise Root, a new client of Cecil Younger, is found murdered, the private investigator finds himself in the middle of an environmental law violation that has deadly repercussions. Cecil finds he is unable to leave behind Root, especially after her ex-lover Hannah asks him for help. On top of it all, Global Mining, the company that runs the gold mine where Root's body was found, hires Younger to get the dirt on an environmentalist who has a connection to the victim. In the midst of all this, Cecil's personal life is fraying as he keeps secrets from his ward, Todd, and tries to keep his drinking under control. In the sequel to The Woman Who Married a Bear, Straley returns with his sensitive, if slightly unstable, investigator.

About the Author :
The former Writer Laureate of Alaska, John Straley is the author of ten novels. He lives in Sitka, Alaska, with his wife, Jan, a prominent whale biologist. John worked for thirty years as a criminal defense investigator. Now retired, he writes in his weather-tight office overlooking Old Sitka Rocks.

Review :
Praise for The Curious Eat Themselves "Strong and sobering . . . with his storyteller's sense of dramatic action [Straley's] in his glory." --The New York Times Book Review "Straley is one of the best prose stylists to emerge from the genre in a long time, and his evocation of the chilly, dangerous landscape and climate effectively sets a foreboding tone." --San Francisco Chronicle "Haunting and mesmerising . . . strange, poetic and funny and unlike anything else you'll read this year." --Val McDermid, Manchester Evening News "Superior thriller writing, once again by Straley--an excellent plot against Alaska's gigantic and bizarre backdrop." --Janwillem van de Wetering, author of Outsider in Amsterdam "One of the strongest series since Hillerman set up shop." --Kirkus Reviews "With the second adventure of Cecil Younger, a PI in southeastern Alaska, Straley reconfirms his claim to the regional territory he staked out in The Woman Who Married a Bear . . . Straley's atmospheric prose takes hold and the action hums along, through unethical dealings and more killings, to the rugged, backwoods Alaska finale." --Publishers Weekly Praise for John Straley "Lesser writers look to their characters' poor choices and attempts to rectify them, John Straley loves his characters for just those choices. Hölderlin wrote: 'Poetically man dwells on the earth.' Some of us wind up in limericks, some in heroic couplets. But damned near every one of us, sooner or later, ends up in one of Straley's wise, wayward, wonderfully unhinged novels." --James Sallis, author of Drive and the Lew Griffin mysteries "Like the Coen brothers on literary speed, John Straley is among the very best stylists of his generation." --Ken Bruen, Shamus Award winning author of The Guard "Chandler, Ross Macdonald, James Crumley . . . Straley proves once again that he is up there with the great ones . . . His prose is as smooth as a well-tuned cello. He has tremendous feeling for the setting: not only the open waters and frosted countryside outside of Sitka and Juneau, but also the somewhat seedy streets of these cities." --Chicago Tribune "Now and then a writer dares to flout the rules and in so doing, carves out a niche that belongs to him alone. John Straley's novels are like no others." --San Diego Tribune "Like James Lee Burke, Straley transcends the genre . . . Marvelous." --The Tampa Tribune and Times "Straley's beautifully understated narrative, vivid sense of place and unapologetic, unadorned characters make this a riveting, unpredictable ride." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Outstanding . . . satisfies on all levels." --The Kansas City Star "Straley hits all the right notes" --Booklist, Starred Review