Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman

From chapters.ca:
In this new prequel episode from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials universe, Lee Scoresby - Texan astronaut and future friend to Lyra Belacqua - is just 24 years old, and he's recently won his hot- air balloon in a poker game. He finds himself floating North to the windswept Arctic island of Novy Odense, where he and his hare daemon Hester are quickly tangled in a deadly plot involving oil magnate Larsen Manganese, corrupt mayoral candidate Ivan Poliakov, and Lee's longtime nemesis from the Dakota Country: Pierre McConville, a hired killer with at least twenty murders to his name.