Cold to the Touch

Hakoda’s intriguing mystery takes listeners to wintry Alaska, imparting a local’s sense of detail and attachment to place. Her debut sets the tried-and-true police procedural against a vast wilderness where poachers, organized crime, and murderers can operate freely—or almost. Detective DeHavilland Beans considers the ‘bikini barista’ trend that’s spread across Anchorage harmless, as long as young women consent to wear the objectifying costumes. When the corpse of one such coffee seller reveals their vulnerability in the long December nights, however, he devotes his full attention to catching the killer, though it means working with an officer who resents him for being a Buddhist “diversity hire” and tests the pacifism of his faith. A second barista’s death intensifies the pressure to close the case and amps up the tension for listeners. Each victim’s final, agonizing moments are performed by narrator Abigail Reno in solemn counterpoint to narrator Eric Fox’s reflective, bordering-on-brooding detective and motley collection of distinct character voices.