A Mystery Set in the Middle of the Dark, Blue Deep

Kayla Desroches/KMXT
Kodiak is turning out to be a popular setting for novels this summer. The latest is from Kenai author Marilyn Wheeless. She explains that “The Dark Deep Blue” focuses on a man and his recently deceased wife and daughter – except they’re not both as dead as he thinks.

“What would happen if one of the people that he thought he called wasn’t dead?” says Wheeless. “How would that person escape and escape notice and get out of the situation she was in, and then what would her plan be? Would she drop it? Let it go? Or would she have an idea that she could follow through to make sure that he paid?”

The narrative follows several different local characters to get a feel for who they are and what they came to Kodiak for.

“You know, Alaska’s a strange place, we have a lot of people who came here for a lot of different reasons, so some of that I wanted to put into this novel because Kodiak is a small town and you have a variety of people who are there for a variety of reasons,” says Wheeless. “Some of them are hiding, some of them are seeking to better themselves through accumulation. Alaska’s just that way.”

While Wheeless grew up in Southeast and has spent her entire life in small Alaska communities, she had not visited Kodiak when she started the “The Dark Blue Deep,” and so she did some research by calling people in town for tips and fact-checking, including reaching out to the Coast Guard.

“To get information on how they did rescues, whether they would send a chopper out to a fishing boat if there was a dead body, ‘cause normally they don’t. That’s normally the trooper’s function,” says Wheeless. “So, I couldn’t say ‘Well, the coast guard sent a chopper out’ until I knew that they would only do that if the state trooper chopper wasn’t available.”

Given that the novel is set on the Emerald Isle, how did “The Dark Blue Deep” get its name?

“It’s just something fishermen I know have referred to the dark part of the ocean,” says Wheeless. “When you look out from a point where you can see no land, the further out you get, the darker blue it gets. So that was just was a phrase I’d heard over the years from fishermen, the dark blue deep.”

During the lengthy book’s process, Wheeless says she had plenty of assistance from fellow writers in the Kenai area.

“I had friends with Central Peninsula Writer’s Group who are always willing to edit for me and proofread and even then you miss something. And I edit myself over and over and over again until I’m so sick of it I can’t wait to publish it.”

“The Dark Blue Deep” is self-published, as are Wheeless’ five previous books, which include a young adult novel and fantasy novel. You can find her latest book, set in Kodiak, for sale on Amazon.