Beth has almost found a home in Benedict, Alaska. Then her fugitive mother shows up and throws everything in chaos. Doesn't help that a dead body is found, and Beth and her mother team up to investigate the murder.

This book had a slow beginning while introducing new people and situations. It was interesting having Beth show her mother around. You get a feel for Beth's character development and ease with her new life. I felt proud when she decided to tell people her true identity.

The central mystery of the book series is about Beth's abduction. We got some answers in this book, but more questions were raised too. The murder mystery of the book wasn't as riveting. The established characters and setting overshadowed the murder. I wasn't invested in the identity of the murderer.

Review based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up for an entertaining mystery set in a small remote Alaskan town, accessible only by plane or ship. Beth Rivers has moved here to hide from Travis Walker, who kidnapped her in a previous book in this series. This is book 3 in the series and I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous books in the series. There is an interesting assortment of people in Benedict, many of whom have secrets like Beth. I was not sure who the killer was until the end.
There are occasional grammatical errors which are distracting.
The plot moves along very well. I read it in 2 days.
Thanks to St. Martin's Press for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.
Pub. date Dec 7, 2021

Alaska, winter, thriller, murder, murder-investigation, law-enforcement, sled-dogs, amateur-sleuth, trauma, journalist, writers, PTSD, isolation, small-town, false-information, family-dynamics, friendship, rural, suspense*****

Just to catch you up a little earlier (the book gets around to it but I hope this helps):
Beth, an author, is still hiding out in a remote area of Alaska from the man who kidnapped/traumatized/brain injured/stress disordered her in her hometown of St Louis. A fiction writer and journalist, she has assumed the local paper and uses its building as a writer's retreat and even uses a typewriter to work on a novel to keep off the grid while staying in a former hotel, now a sort of minimal security women's rehab and only using burner phones. She has confided in the local law and an interesting man who has more than enough secrets of his own.
Now to the current story!
There are many people living under secretive identities and some who wish they were. There's the married couple with abuse issues, an untrustworthy young woman on the run, and now Beth's mother comes into it (she's on the run but also following a trail). Then comes the murder. Beth thinks she's losing her mind and having sleepwalking episodes. Everyone is isolated because of a deadly winter storm so it's worse than a locked room mystery. Very well crafted and riveting with vibrant characters. Loved it even though it kept me up too late!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

I felt the cold, the dark, the fear in the Alaska winter and that made this mystery all the better. It is the third book in a series of three (or more?) that also reads well as a standalone. I never read the first book because I wasn’t aware of it, yet when I jumped into #2, and now to #3, it felt comfortable and not as though I was behind and had to figure out the past. DARK NIGHT is full of quirky characters, some with sketchy pasts, some indigenous people, and some that just make you scratch your head and wonder where they came from. If you put all this together in the dark night of Alaska with a murder with many suspects, you have a recipe for a book that pulls you in and holds you there from beginning to end. This was a great book and I look forward to the next in the series, if there is one. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance read copy.

The third book in the Benedict, AK series is in my opinion, the best. We get a bit more of insight into Beth’s past with the appearance of her mother. Beth and Mill work with the local sheriff to help solve a current case, all while we get snippets of Beth’s past. I cannot recommend this book or series enough. I would encourage you to read the first two books in the series, as they aren’t stand alone s. The only negative about the book is that it ended!

3.4 stars
This is Book #3 in the Alaska Wild series. Although I didn’t read the first two books, this story starts with a lot of back information on main character Beth River’s being abducted from her home in St. Louis, Missouri. She was held prisoner for three days and then was able to escape.
She does end up in Benedict, Alaska ~ an isolated remote village~ at the ‘Benedict House’, which she accidently booked as it is a halfway home for female felons.
Beth is an author with the pen name Elizabeth Fairchild and writes thrillers and is an amateur sleuth (aww amateur sleuths somewhat typical in Cozy Mysteries).

When I heard this story was a cozy with twists and turns, I was super excited. I love psychological thrillers with all the expected twists and turns but I also enjoy a good ‘Cozy’.
We cozy readers know that a cozy has little to no profanity, no excessive violence nor explicit sex.
This story follows most of the “Cozy’ guidelines but has a bit more nasty language than I thought necessary.
This story has some interesting characters including Beth’s mom Mill Rivers who wasn’t in the other two stories much but we get to know her in this story.

BTW: Author:, Paige Sheldon has written several series ~ here is a Cozy Mystery link to her page that has a list of her books!
Paige Shelton | Cozy Mystery List (cozy-mystery.com)

Want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press ~ Minotaur Books for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for December 7, 2021

Dark Night by Paige Shelton is a well-written mystery novel that combines traditional police detective work and amateur sleuthing. Secrets, murder, and a horrific experience that continues to haunt and traumatize the main character make for a suspenseful and riveting read. It’s the third book in the Alaska Wild series and is set in fictional Benedict, Alaska.

Beth Rivers, a successful thriller writer known as Elizabeth Fairchild is still hiding and recovering in Alaska while the Missouri police look for her stalker turned kidnapper. The only person that knows her secret is police chief Gril Samuels.

Winter is starting, but the ferry to and from Juneau is still occasionally running. In comes a census taker, Doug Vitner. He’s not wanted as many in Benedict have secrets of their own or just prefer privacy. On top of that, Beth’s mother Mill shows up expectedly. If she could track down Beth, then could Beth’s stalker find her here? But that’s not all that is happening in this small community. Will Beth’s kidnapper finally be arrested? Will she stay in Alaska? Will Beth learn to fully trust more people in the Benedict community? These are only a few of the questions that must be answered.

Beth’s character was well-developed. She continues to be a flawed protagonist who has shown some growth through making friends and learning to deal with her post traumatic stress disorder, but she still keeps secrets and finds it hard to trust people. Several of the secondary characters gained depth in book of this series as some secrets are revealed while others continue to add to the enjoyment of the book. There are a large number of characters in this story, but several of them were introduced in the earlier books so it felt like I was catching up with old friends.

The author does a great job of portraying the hardships and lack of amenities as well as the friendships, pace of life, the wonders, and the dangers of living in and around small town Alaska. I could easily visualize the town, the people, the road conditions, the cold, the isolation and much more.

This story hooked me immediately and kept me interested throughout. It’s suspenseful and there are twists and turns and surprises along the way in an intricate plot that kept me guessing. From the small town residents to the descriptions of Alaska to the various mysteries, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Several themes run through the tale including murder, disappearances, secrets, domestic abuse, dysfunctional families, and much more.

Overall, it was an enjoyable mystery that was engaging, suspenseful, fast-paced and compulsively readable. The well-developed ideas with good pacing from scene to scene kept me turning the pages. If you enjoy well-written mysteries, then I recommend you check out this series. The books are best read in order, but there is enough background that this one could be read as a standalone. I’m looking forward to book four.

St. Martin’s Press - Minotaur Books and Paige Shelton provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is set for December 7, 2021. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Dark Night by Paige Shelton is the third book in her Alaska Wild series and was just as intriguing as the first two books.

Ms. Shelton has written another intricate mystery with plenty of twists, red herrings and great new background material on Beth's family history. I really enjoyed meeting her mother, Mill, in this one. That woman is an excellent example of a "wild card" character. I never knew what Mill would say or do next throughout the book. The support characters are beginning to become more fleshed out now and I'm more and more curious about their stories and how they came to Benedict.

I was totally wrapped up in the story and felt so much pride when Beth finally had a breakthrough in her memories of her abduction that I actually cheered for her. I don't think that you could read this book as a stand alone because there is too many revelations in the first two books that aren't woven into this story to make it clear to a reader about Beth and her dramatic history.

Winter is falling in the remote town of Benedict, Alaska, and with the cold comes a mysterious guest. The dreaded "census man," seemingly innocuous, is an unwelcome presence to those members of this secretive community who would prefer to keep their business to themselves. Meanwhile, thriller writer Beth Rivers has received her own unexpected company: her mother. The last Beth heard, Mill Rivers had gone underground in the lower forty-eight, in search of Beth’s kidnapper, and Beth can't help but be a little alarmed at her appearance: If Mill was able to track down her daughter, who knows who else might be able to? Then, a battered woman stumbles into the town bar one night, and her husband is found dead the next morning. Suspicions immediately turn to the census man, but when he, too, goes missing, everyone in Benedict is suspected, and Beth and Mill must work to uncover the truth.

This is the third of Paige Shelton's Alaska Wild series, and each one is better than the last. She continues to reveal more of the characters in each book along with some surprises along the way. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting my request to read this book.

This book was a page turner from beginning to end. A murder mystery in a town that does not like to share its secrets. A census man is sneaking around and he has a lot of questions so likely he is the #1 suspect. But when he goes missing, the town starts to get a little nervous. Highly recommend. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

From the Publisher: The third book in the gripping, atmospheric Alaska Wild series by beloved cozy author Paige Shelton.....

For the reader who has not read any other books in the Alaska Wild series, don’t worry. You don’t need to have read either of those books to follow and enjoy Dark Night. Shelton provides enough contextual backstory and explanation to make the book understandable to those beginning the Alaska Wild series with book 3 without falling into the trap of repeating so much from earlier books that it turns off those who have read those books.
This is actually a modified (loosened) locked room story. Bemedict, Alaska is never completely cut off from the outside world although there are periods of time during which travel is almost impossible and it is clear that this isolation is both an attraction and a problem for different residents of the town.
This doesn’t read as the typical ‘cozy,’ perhaps because of its setting. Alaska in general and Benedict in particular become characters in the story and when you reach the last page, murder having been solved, you will still find yourself hoping that Shelton has already started to write the fourth book in series. Beth Rivers (our protagonist) still have personal mysteries to be solved and Benedict and its inhabitants are far to complex and realized not to be worthy of yet another story

Dark Night, by Paige Shelton is another fun addition to the saga of Beth Rivers and all her interesting and quirky characters in Benedict, AK. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Thank you #Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Dark Night by Paige Shelton in exchange for an honest review. In Benedict, Alaska, winter is coming. Beth Rivers, a writer of thrillers, has a visitor. Beth works at a halfway house called Benedict House. She meets up with Elijah Wyatt, who is always training for the Iditarod and raising huskys.
I enjoyed this story, I really like Paige Shelton books. She is a great writer and goes into such detail.

I didn't know that I could actually feel my skin crawl , I thought this was just an expression but this is how this book mad me feel. Every sentence is a masterpiece - deep, dark and ironic.

I was instantly captivated with the writing style . Paige Shelton is a force to be reckoned with . This is a deep, dark thriller that will have you saying “WTF” long after the novel concludes .

Dark Night, is a must read !

I enjoyed book 1 of this series, and while I missed book 2, book 3 was another good one. I don't know if I could start with book 3 and still enjoy the story as much as a lot of background is in book 1. But if you miss book 2, you'll miss some nuances, but still enjoy book 3 :)

Beth is still an awesome character in this well-written book. Things are very descriptive (maybe overly so at times) but the story is compelling as we learn more about Beth and the whole cast of characters.

I really love this series. Every time I open a book I feel like I’m stepping into the wilds of Alaska. I can’t wait to visit someday.

Beth is such a great unique character. This book left me with more questions than answers and I kind of wanted to smack her mother. (lol)

I’m so excited to continue this series. I’m dying to find out the why of what happened to Beth. This was another interesting visit to this town!

If You Want a Job Done Right...

Even in a hot Texas summer, I am immediately transported to the cold winters in Alaska with Dark Night. The third book of Paige Shelton’s Alaskan Wild series is soooo good. I was completely enthralled, especially with how Cold Wind had ended. I couldn’t wait to see how this one kicked off. Let’s just say that there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle. But the murder of another Benedict resident helps propel it all forward. In true whodunit fashion, we are left with all our players destitute due to temperamental weather. Which means a killer will not be getting a quick escape (hopefully)!

What I love most about this series is the different layers of stories being told. Not only is there the murder, there’s also Beth’s story, and the residents stories, there’s so much you want to find out and learn that it makes this book impossible to put down. By the way, I love Orin. He’s has such a unique history that I would love to hear more of. If new to the series, start from the beginning with Thin Ice otherwise you’ll be lost!

I feel like we retrieve multiple answers to questions that have lingered and yet, there are so many new ones that will make the wait for the next book pure agony. I’m a broken record when it comes to a Paige Shelton book, but I literally cannot wait for the next one...even though inevitable.

This series is simply a lot of fun! The setting and the characters are wonderful. In this entry, we get a much closer look at protagonist Beth's mother. She finds Beth in Alaska and comes to see her-- while on the lam from a shooting that occurred at the end of the 2nd book.

As always, Beth seems to be the character who gels for me the least. But the supporting cast is excellent. I love the setting, and I'm always pulled into the mysteries at the heart of the stories. I do suggest starting with the first in the series if you can, but I also think this could work as a standalone.

I'm ready for number 4!

This is the third in the Alaska Wild Series. It is just as exciting and suspenseful as the first and second books Thin Ice and Cold Wind.. It takes place in the town of Bennedict, an isolated town in Alaska. Beth Rivers is the main character throughout the books. The characters from the first story remain the same with an addition of others that add to the story. There are two stories in one with the ongoing story of Beth and the second is the killing of Ned Withers. The reader is taken on a journey of full adventure until the surprising end. I look forward to the next in this series to see what evolves for Beth and what new adventures happen in Bennedict.

Thank you NetGalley, Minotaur Books and St. Martin's Publishing Group for this ARC.

This is a great novel and series. It’s extremely well written that I found myself wanting to read more and more and finished in two days. Characters are both likable and relatable. The mystery itself is believable with lots of suspense and twists and turns along the way. I highly recommend this novel to all mystery book lovers. I look forward to reading more from this author.