The Chicken Murders: A True Story of Violence, Justice, and Survival in Alaska's Fortymile Country

by Ralph Beistline

250 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 15, 2026

Reviews

[Dave]

3.5 to 4 stars for "The Chicken Murders: A True Story of Violence, Justice, and Survival in Alaska's Fortymile Country" by Ralph Beistline. This is an interesting account by the defense attorney of a double murder trial in 1978. The double murder was the result a dispute over a mining claim by gold miners. This book will have a fairly small number of interested readers. But if you are an Alaskan (particularly an old timer (me)) or have a specific interest in gold mining or bush Alaska; this book should go on your reading list.

[Shaun]

True story about a crime in Alaska. If you're from Alaska then it definitely is very nostalgic. Very easy for me to picture the scene since it's set in the wilderness I'm so familiar with and in a city that I lived most my life in LOL

[Rebecca]

A legal expert gives an excellent account of a fascinating case that could only have happened in Alaska.