The Chee-Chalker
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
A Chee-Chalker is a newcomer to Alaska; an Indian word meaning one who is inexperienced or has no knowledge.
Bill Norton might be new to Ketchikan but he’s no tenderfoot. In fact, he’s one of the sharpest FBI agents this side of the Yukon—savvy, tough, and resourceful, like Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan in Clear and Present Danger.
Norton's come to this rough-and-tumble town to look into a case of a missing person—his own boss—who vanished investigating a heroin smuggling operation. What Norton finds is a string of corpses, a gallery of rogues, and a fleet of fishing boats that specialize in red herrings. He also finds himself warming up to the heart-stopping halibut heiress Elaine Halloway.
But is Elaine mixed up in the heroin trade … or a victim of it? To find the truth Norton will have to make living men sweat—and dead men talk. Because every body fished out of the icy waters has a story to tell, and it will take all of Norton's CSI-like skills to squeeze it out of them.
Hubbard wrote The Chee-Chalker in 1940 while on his Alaskan Experimental Radio Expedition. One of its main purposes was to test an experimental radio navigation system enabling the user to locate the source of radio transmissions. While in Ketchikan, Ron used this equipment to assist the US Army Signal Corp, Coast Guard, and local FBI. In the process, he helped uncover a Nazi saboteur who had invented a device to interfere with radio transmissions between Alaska and the continental United States. So it's not surprising that a radio station plays a significant role in this story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The murder of James England, the owner of the radio station in Ketchikan, Alaska, presents a challenge for FBI agent Bill Norton, who's been assigned to break up a heroin ring in that small town in this Hubbard novella from the golden age of pulp fiction. Norton and his green partner, Chick Starr, who arrived in the area after the disappearance of Norton's former boss, must struggle to achieve a measure of justice without the cooperation of the locals. A stock figure the attractive woman whose loyalties and intentions are ambiguous lends a dash of romance, but contemporary readers are less likely to be swept up by this ordinary action yarn than the original 1930s audience.
Customer Reviews
When's the last time you read a story about G-men?
The Chee-Chalker--meaning a newcomer in the native Indian language in Ketchikan, Alaska--is incredibly gritty and you really get the sensation of the fist fights as you read the book. FBI agent (the G-man) Bill Norton epitomizes the unsympathetic investigator who so doesn't believe the plight of the beautiful heiress who is trying to salvage her shipping company. Very fast action and enjoyable read.