This week, Stabenow found that someone. In a deal announced Tuesday morning, producer Mike Devlin of Evergreen Films Inc., an Anchorage and Los Angeles film company, said he signed a development deal with Stabenow to make the Kate Shugak books into a television series, with filming done in Alaska. No network has signed to buy the series. Evergreen will hire writers to produce sample scripts and begin pitching the idea to potential broadcasters.

"We were looking for something that would really characterize the heart and soul of Alaska, where Alaska itself would be one of the key characters, where people epitomized the reality of what it takes to live in Alaska," Devlin said in why he chose Stabenow's Kate Shugak series.

"My stories are Alaska stories, and they need to be told in Alaska," Stabenow said. "Evergreen Films is located in Alaska, the company does amazing work and I am thrilled at the prospect of working together."

Devlin got into the film business after he sold his software development company, Rational Software, to IBM. He moved to Alaska to unwind from a lifelong career in business.

"After 100 quarters of making the numbers, I needed to get away," Devlin said.

After starting his first film company, Dangerous Passage Productions, Devlin merged it with Evergreen Films to form Evergreen Films Inc. Evergreen will take advantage of Alaska legislation giving tax credits to film companies doing a percentage of production work in Alaska. Evergreen also is negotiating a deal for a science fiction TV series to be shot in Alaska.

Casting for major roles will depend on network desires, but Devlin said he hopes to use Alaska talent.

"We're planning to use Alaskans as much as we can," he said. "To build this film up here, we're looking to tap into the theater community, the business community. We need a lot of resources to pull it off."

Stabenow also will be a creative consultant to the series, Devlin said. Evergreen has a Los Angeles office where some production work will be done.

Stabenow grew up in Seldovia, living on a fishing tender, the Celtic, in the harbor. She graduated from high school in Seldovia and earned a journalism degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a master of fine arts in writing from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Her first book was a science fiction novel, "Second Star," but her first Kate Shugak book, "A Cold Day for Murder," set her on the road the success, winning the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. The series features a tough but compassionate Alaska Native private investigator, Kate Shugak, whose adventures take her all over Alaska. The latest novel, "Whisper to the Blood," came out this year, and the 17th book in the series, "A Night Too Dark," will be published in early 2010. She also has written several thrillers featuring the Coast Guard.

Evergreen Films recently made the National Geographic documentary, "Icy Killers: Secrets of Alaska's Salmon Sharks," and is in production for "An Accidental Quest for Enlightenment," a feature-length film about a high-tech businessman who finds himself in Alaska looking to start a new adventure. For more information on Evergreen, visit its Web site at www.evergreenfilms.com.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong.@homernews.com.