Big Breath In

Praise for Big Breath In“For more than a quarter century, John Straley’s mystery and detective fiction has both enriched and diversified those genres at the same level as Dashiell Hammet, James Crumley, Carl Hiaasen and James Lee Burke. But in his new novel, Big Breath In, his deeply compassionate fiction transcends genre, taking us to altogether new places. Using the marine ecology work of his own internationally renowned wife, Jan, as a point of departure, John pays homage to the genius of one of the most beloved field biologists to ever emerge from the Pacific Northwest. No other fiction writer can do what John Straley has done." —Gary Paul Nabhan, recipient of the Western State Book Award, a John Burroughs Medal for Nature Writing, and the James Beard Award for Food Writing“The main character in Big Breath In kicked my heart to pieces. Straley’s book reads like an entire ecosystem, embracing the behaviors of whale species and motorcycle gangs; the minds of ticks compared to those of humans; an Augustinian prayer; coruscating humor; people both tender-hearted and heartless. . . As in a healthy ecosystem, everything in these pages—human and otherwise—illuminates the rest. My (bruised!) heart is smitten with Big Breath In.”—Melinda Mueller, author of Mary’s DustPraise for John Straley“[Straley] writes crime novels populated by perpetrators whose hearts are filled with more poetry than evil.” —The Wall Street Journal “It’s always a pleasure to read Straley’s vivid studies of these folks—the slightly cracked, rugged and very funny characters of the Far North.” —The Seattle Times “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“What a warm, engaging, profoundly human book this is: its skin crackling, its heart enormous and open. It's a mystery with judicious blasts of violence and dread, but it opens also onto the bigger mysteries—of community, of family, of place. The several lives that intertwine throughout the story reach moments of quiet grace that resonate stealthily but deeply.”—John Darnielle, author of Wolf in White Van “John Straley, one of Alaska’s best-known and best-loved writers, continues to deliver.” —Anchorage Daily News “Terrific . . . Like the earlier novels in the series, this one is funny and quirky, a lighter change of pace from the Younger books and a delight for fans of small-town comic mysteries with a bit of bite.” —Booklist, Starred Review “Excellent . . . Readers looking for action will be amply rewarded, but the book’s main appeal lies in the vividly drawn characters and the author’s enchanting descriptions of the Alaskan outdoors. This thoughtful look at the politics and culture of a bygone era should win Straley new fans.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review