MURDER BREAKS TRAIL

Set in Alaska in the late fall immediately preceding Pearl Harbor, Murder Breaks Trail involves a Congressman, a Senator and his daughter, an Alaska politician, a pretty schoolteacher, an airplane pilot and a grocer on vacation—marooned near a small lake where their plane came down. Against the approach of winter and the mounting tensions among themselves there occur murder and unexplained comings and goings in the new and ever-deepening snow.

. . .

“No scientific sleuthing this, but a blending of clues, coincidences and concentration by mystery-avid groceryman, Smyth, passenger on a plane, flying Alaska, carrying a Senator, Congressman and a Mayor. Forced to stay in a deserted settlement when gas is drained from their machine, murder and approaching winter produce near-panic among the castaways. Another killing and the problem of the mysterious skier, the abandonment of the colony, imminence of Japanese penetration and Nazi fifth column, add to the questions Smyth must solve before the Army takes over. A better than most brain workout.” 

~ Kirkus Reviews ca. 1943