Snow Falling on Cedars Chapter 4 Summary

  • The court is on a recess, so it's time to get some backstory about how Ishmael first heard about Carl's death.
  • We learn more about Ishmael's family and how they got into the newspaper business.
  • Then, we switch gears and get details about what happened when Ishmael had hunted down Art Moran on the day Carl Heine's body was found.
  • Ishmael had found Art Moran and his deputy, Abel Martinson, at the docks. With Art and Abel, Ishmael chatted with other local fisherman, who offered their memories of the previous evening—that is, the night Heine went out on the fishing expedition on which he died. During this conversation, it came up that Kabuo had been fishing near to Carl that night.
  • Ishmael had then prodded Art for more intel on why he was asking all these questions—was there something fishy about Carl's death? Art wasn't willing to commit to saying anything yet, but seemed to think this "accident" had more to it.