Secret Places: A Southeast Alaska Mystery

by Don Stuart

Three days before the season opening, Native Alaskan commercial salmon fisherman, Johnny Ingman leaves his hometown of Sweetwater bound for the fishing grounds and disappears.




Johnny's disappearance comes at a time of deep frustration in Johnny's tiny home village. Changing pressures, values, and demands from the outside world are increasingly disrupting insular, secretive, and self-reliant Alaskan communities like Sweetwater, undermining their traditional cultures, and threatening the vulnerable salmon troll fishery that is their economic base.




The relentless investigation by Johnny's close friend, Alaska Wildlife Trooper Chuck Kolinsky, highlights these forces and ignites an acrimonious public confrontation between him and an crowd of angry fishers at a fish buying scow in a cove on the fishing grounds. And it sparks new insights which allow Kolinsky to identify the killer.

Genres: Mystery

386 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 9, 2026

Reviews

[READER VIEWS · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the start of the fishing season in Alaska, local fisherman Johnny Ingman disappeared. Disappearances aren’t common in the small town of Sweetwater, where fishing is life. Ingman’s friend, Alaska Wildlife Trooper Chuck Kolinsky, tries to solve the mystery. But as the narrative shifts between different points of view, it’s revealed that almost every fisherman in town is harboring secrets. Kolinsky doesn’t think that Ingman drowned; he suspects foul play. What follows is a twisting thriller that kept me guessing until the very end.

I knew very little about Alaskan culture and salmon fishing before reading Don Stuart’s Secret Places: A Southeast Alaska Mystery. While I now wouldn’t consider myself an expert, I do have a better understanding thanks to Stuart. Throughout the novel, Stuart carefully balances the information we as readers need to know about the Alaskan fishing industry while keeping us engaged in the novel’s overarching mystery. Stuart reveals how something as simple as a boat’s gears malfunctioning can devastate an entire town’s economy. Thankfully, Stuart never bogs the narrative down with unnecessary fishing information; every detail about fishing is key to the overall plot. By doing so, Stuart keeps the pacing tight and suspenseful.

Balancing multiple points of view in a novel is never easy, especially when shifting between third-person and first-person perspectives. But Stuart does so seamlessly, as each chapter shifts to another character’s backstory and personal beef with Ingman. As the novel goes on, each plot blends together in a fascinating web, eventually culminating in an intense showdown.

In his exploration of Alaskan culture, Stuart touches on the clash between Native Alaskans and non-Natives. By incorporating historic details about the strife Native Alaskans have undergone, Stuart explains why they are wary of government bureaucracy. While some writers could have ventured into stereotypes or mystical territory, Stuart ensures each character, regardless of race, is a fully fleshed-out, three-dimensional person. Secret Places by Don Stuart is an intriguing read for adults that will also satisfy teen and young adult readers.

[Rachel Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Secret Places by Don Stuart is a murder mystery set against the backdrop of local politics and the struggles of the Alaskan fishing trade in the 1980s. The author skillfully intertwines the mysterious and unusual disappearance of Johnny Ingram, one of the seasoned fishermen, while vividly describing the other fishermen and occupations involved in the Alaskan fishing industry. The characters are based on the author’s own career, personal interactions, and experiences while troll fishing his own boat in Alaska. The differing viewpoints reflect his encounters in the early 1980s with fish buyers, other fishermen, the union, departmental officials, the fishing community, and his own understanding of the Tlingit culture.
The characters’ perspectives were fascinating and educational for me, as I have limited knowledge of this unique trade and part of the world. It is apparent that the livelihood of this community depends heavily on the weather, good maintenance of fishing boats, and navigating bureaucracy during the short salmon fishing season. The cultural differences within this small community remain evident, with outsiders taking years to integrate.
The chapters are told from the perspectives of various characters, each with increasingly apparent motives to murder the victim, Johnny Ingram. It is up to his childhood friend, Chuck Kolinsky, a local sergeant in the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, to question the circumstances surrounding Johnny’s disappearance and apparent accidental death—ultimately discovering the truth.
The book’s strength lies in its unusual setting and its insightful portrayal of a small, tight-knit Alaskan community. I found the murder mystery itself less captivating, as it offered no clues to me as the reader until the ending, and each character seemed to have an equally valid motive. In an interview, the author said he hopes Alaskans read his novel to better appreciate the wonder and uniqueness of the life they lead—something that is certainly captured within the unfolding storyline. For that reason, this novel is definitely worth reading.

Many thanks to Reedsy Discovery for giving me an ARC and asking me to provide my honest opinion.

[Liz A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe a 2.5. I think Kolinsky’s POV was the most interesting, in fact, the whole story could have been told from his perspective, since the others contributed very little. I liked it because it was something different for me. I value all the new information about salmon phishing.

[christine vidourek · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting book

It was very interesting learning about the art and hard work of fishing the waters of Alaska. It’s a hard life and makes you appreciate the hard work that goes into putting food on our tables.

[Pete Ffrench · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well described process of catching salmon and good background for a murder story which was really more like sabotage with the wrong outcome. The truth will out.