Gold Fever — Don Porter

Back before the oil boom hit the Arctic, Alaska s economy had only the old unpredictable mainstays: fish, timber, fur, but especially and most elusively that glorious substance, GOLD. Golden dreams drove many adventurers into the northern wilderness, and not all of them were honorable folks. That s a lesson the hero of this lively thriller of the gold fields has to learn quickly, or die trying.

Stew at first can t believe the tales of pounds of gold stashed just near the Arctic Circle that the scruffy K.J. tells, but if his stories are only halfway true...the mere possibility proves irresistible. Before he can think better of it, Stew has enlisted bush pilot Alex Price to help collect and protect K.J. and his maybe mythical, maybe dazzling lode. These three, plus an array of colorful supporting characters, including some lovely young women, scrap to stay ahead of the challenges of the far north and the plots of greedy men who d rather let someone else do the hard work of finding and digging up the gleaming yellow metal, and who won t balk at murder to possess it.