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City Under One Roof
Cover of City Under One Roof
City Under One Roof
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A stranded detective tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone lives in a single high-rise building, in this gripping debut by an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter.

When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own motives for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel.
 
After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town—all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by fearsome gang members from a nearby native village.
 
Haunted by her past, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide. Will she be able to unravel their secrets before she unravels?
A stranded detective tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone lives in a single high-rise building, in this gripping debut by an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter.

When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own motives for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel.
 
After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town—all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by fearsome gang members from a nearby native village.
 
Haunted by her past, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide. Will she be able to unravel their secrets before she unravels?
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Excerpts-
  • From the cover Chapter One

    Amy

    "And when did you find the body"-Officer Neworth paused for a moment before adding-"parts? When did you find the body parts?"

    It was a hand and a foot, to be exact. Or at least Amy thought there was a foot. She hadn't bothered to look inside the boot, but since Officer Neworth said "parts" instead of "part," she assumed there must have been a foot-a bloated, sawed-off, purple-blotched piece of flesh that would have made her dry heave at the sight.

    "Yesterday, around eleven a.m.," she said. She was pretty sure she had mentioned this detail at least six times that very day. She'd thought getting pulled out of algebra class would be fun, but now she was having second thoughts.

    The boot, she remembered, looked fairly new. It was covered with mud and grime, but the treads weren't that worn and the laces hadn't frayed yet. She hadn't told any of this to Officer Neworth, though. Up until then, she'd tried to say as little as possible, sticking to answers like "Yes," "No," and "I don't know."

    Amy Lin stared at Officer Neworth and his receded-to-an-island hairline and decided that he was not someone who could be trusted. For one thing, he was wearing a gold watch. Any man who wears a gold watch is a little shady. Second, anyone who asks you the same question over and over expecting a different answer does not trust you, and therefore you should not trust them. And last of all, Neworth was from Anchorage, and Point Mettier people tended to keep their mouths shut around any of the "otters." "Otters" is what the kids called people outside Point Mettier because it kind of sounded like the word "others."

    "So, tell me again, who were you with?" he asked.

    Amy sighed internally and gave him a glare. Did she look like a caged parrot that would keep repeating the same thing over and over again?

    Officer Neworth shifted in his seat and adjusted his leather duty belt, which sagged with the weight of lethal equipment-a baton, cuffs, a magazine pouch, a flashlight, a Taser, pepper spray, and of course, a Glock pistol. But despite all his protective equipment, Neworth looked uncomfortable under the glare of a seventeen-year-old teenager who was barely five foot two. He finally turned his eyes away and looked down at his notepad. "Celine Hoffler and Marco Salonga?"

    "Yes," Amy finally answered as if his question was somehow offensive.

    "And what were you doing at the cove?"

    "Just getting out." Amy wasn't about to tell him the real reason they went to the cove, which was to smoke pot. Marijuana was legal in Alaska, but they were still minors.


    It was a Sunday, and there was a break in the rain, so they had all bundled up in their neoprenes, parkas, and ski caps and decided to paddle their kayaks out to Hidden Cove. On sunny days in summer, Sanders Glacier across the inlet would look brilliant against the sky, with blue and white ice caps like a giant slushy spilled onto a mountain valley. Tourists would come in flocks during the high season to Point Mettier. Even though, Amy knew, the real pronunciation of “Mettier” was probably the French way, rhyming with “get away,” everyone butchered the name and said it in a way that sounded like “dirtier.” The otters always wanted to see the glaciers in the sound and paid top dollar for cruise ships and yachts to take them up close. Amy wasn’t sure why. She’d been up to a few of the glaciers, including Sanders, and had come to the conclusion that they were prettier from afar. On that Sunday in October, though, there had been dense clouds hanging low over the cove and Sanders just looked like a looming gray...
About the Author-
  • Iris Yamashita is an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter for the movie Letters from Iwo Jima. She has been working in Hollywood for fifteen years developing material for both film and streaming, has taught screenwriting at UCLA, and is an advocate of women and diversity in the entertainment industry. She has also been a judge and mentor for various film and writing programs, and lives in California.
     
Reviews-
  • Publisher's Weekly

    Starred review from October 10, 2022
    Unusual topography plays a major role in screenwriter Yamashita’s atmospherically charged debut, a locked-city mystery. Once a secret military base, the tiny city of Point Mettier, Alaska, is reached by land through a narrow, one-way tunnel. Full-time residents live in one self-sufficient high-rise. During eight months of winter, the temperature reaches −35 °F and “eyelashes could actually freeze.” When 17-year-old Amy Lin and friends discover a severed hand and foot in Hidden Cove, where they retreat to smoke pot, Det. Cara Kennedy comes from Anchorage to investigate. That Cara has hidden personal motives for wanting to be on the case raises the tension. Then a blizzard and avalanche block the tunnel, and harrowing secrets and lingering lies surface along with more body parts. The disappearance of a mother and her two sons prompts a search that leads to a spellbinding, unforgettable climax and an unpredictable resolution. Well-defined secondary characters include a roving gang of ruffians on snowmobiles with their own violent agenda. This distinctively original perspective on a “community of stragglers, oddballs, and recluses” heralds the arrival of a major new talent. Agent: Lucy Carson, Friedrich Agency.

  • Library Journal

    Starred review from March 1, 2023

    In Yamashita's outstanding debut, Anchorage police detective Cara Kennedy investigates a possible murder in the desolate town of Point Mettier, Alaska, reachable only by boat or tunnel. Populated with unusual characters, the entire town exists in one building where Cara must stay while she investigates and waits out the storm that has stranded her. Past meets present as Cara recognizes similarities between the crime in Point Mettier and one that haunts her own past. Told through the alternating viewpoints of Cara, and town residents Amy and Lonnie, the town's secrets are gradually revealed through unpredictable twists and turns that will keep the listener guessing until the very end. Readers Shannon Tyo, Anna Caputo, and Aspen Vincent bring the characters' quirks and personalities to life with their superb narration. Their performances convey strong emotion and stirring empathy, drawing listeners into the heart of the story. VERDICT Recommended to fans of Ruth Ware, Lucy Foley, and Tana French, this audiobook should be purchased for public libraries with an avid mystery fan base.--Katy Duperry

    Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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City Under One Roof
Iris Yamashita
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