A new book seeks to unearth the facts surrounding an erstwhile murky and long unsolved murder that took place near Wrangell more than 173 years ago.

Published by Goose Lane Editions, Debra Komar's “The Bastard of Fort Stikine” is a biohistorical investigation of the 1842 shooting of John McLoughlin Jr., chief trader for the Hudson Bay Company at Fort Stikine.

“The killing of chief trader John McLoughlin Jr. remains one of Canada's most enduring mysteries,” Komar writes in the book's preface. “The case never saw the inside of a courtroom, and the legal system records no verdict.�...