60. Pitch Dark by Paul Doiron

#15 Mike Bowditch, Maine Game Warden

listened on Audible

304 pgs.

2024
Adult series murder mystery
Finished 7/4/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.28
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Maine woods, Jackman and US/Canada border.

My comments: This book was a bit different than his previous books which had Mike Bowditch out and about doing his investigating in different parts of Maine.  In this one he and his father-in-law are out in the woods tracking a bad guy and his young daughter.  A bit of adventure, some survival skills, pondering clues, and near-catastrophes and very close calls make this an interesting adventure.

Goodreads synopsis:  Legendary bush pilot Josie Jonson can’t believe her luck when a skilled builder just happens to show up after she purchases land near Prentiss Pond. All Mark Redmond asks in return for building Josie’s dream cabin is that he be left alone to homeschool his 12-year-old daughter, Cady.

For Maine game warden investigator Mike Bowditch, the intensity of Redmond's secretiveness is troubling, especially in light of suspicious criminal activity being reported around the area―including rumors of an armed man offering large sums of money in exchange for the location of Redmond and Cady. Josie, though hesitant to violate the trust of her prized builder, eventually agrees to fly Mike and his father-in-law Charley Stevens to the secluded pond in an attempt to protect Redmond and Cady. But hours after landing, the trip takes a dark turn when they witness a horrific murder and are taken captive themselves.

Freeing himself, Mike is forced to set off through the impenetrable Maine forest towards Canada, alone and unarmed in pursuit of a mysterious fugitive. As he navigates a windblown landscape choked with deadfalls and blocked by swollen streams, he marvels at his enemy’s bush craft. The killer possesses skills surpassing his own, and Bowditch can't tell if he is the cat or the mouse in this dangerous game. Can Mike Bowditch stop his adversary in time to save the life of a young girl, or will he be forced to watch another innocent soul die?

75. The Caretaker, a short story/novella by Paul Doiron

#11.5 Mike Bowditch

read on Kindle

2021
51pgs.
Adult mystery
Finished  7/7/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.09 - 241 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Maine BOONIES

First line/s: "I was seated on the porch of my old friend Charley Stevens, the two of us enjoying the quiet calm of Sixth Machias Lake and the flutter of southbound warblers in the pines overhead, when we heard a car approaching down the dirt track that led to his house deep in the Maine woods."

My comments: Definitely contemporary, not set in the past like some of the short stories about Charlie Stevens.  Interesting.  Enjoyed it.

Goodreads synopsis:   In this new original short story from bestselling author Paul Doiron, Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch tracks down a sinister prowler turning a couple's dream vacation home into a nightmare.
        New owners of a dream cottage on a remote Maine lake find themselves taunted, then menaced by an unknown figure. When the local authorities refuse to help, they turn to retired Maine game warden Charley Stevens and his young protege Mike Bowditch for protection. But Charley begins to suspect there is more to the mystery than the couple is letting on--and if he and Mike don’t act fast, the situation will explode into violence.

24. Backtrack by Paul Doiron

#9.5 Mike Bowditch

read on Kindle 

2019
21 pgs.
Adult short story - mystery
Finished 3/19/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.02 - 273 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: Maine woods, perhaps 1980

First line/s: "There were four doctors staying at the hunting camp."

My comments: Depressing, very short story about a doctor who has decided to end his cancer-ridden life by freezing to death in the woods instead of going through the ups and mostly downs of end-of-life in a sickbed and Charlie takes on finding him when he disappears.  He was only 28 when this happened, and he's reflecting on it as an older gentleman.

Goodreads synopsis:  When a visiting hunter goes missing in the middle of a snowstorm, a young Charley Stevens (later the mentor to game warden Mike Bowditch) sets off to rescue him—but begins to suspect the man may not want to be found.

95. One Last Lie by Paul Doiron

#11 Mike Bowditch, Maine Game Warden

listened on Audible
narrated by Henry Leyva
Unabridged audio (9:33) 
2020 Minotaur Books
310 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 7/19/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.18 - 1139 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Fort Kent area, Maine

First line/s: "Before I left for Florida my old friend and mentor Charley Stevens gave me a puzzling piece of advice." 

My comments: Charley Stevens has disappeared, on his own, and Mike Bowditch is out hunting for him, following the breadcrumbs that he has left as a trail.  The story is a bit convoluted and involves a lot of people, and it seems to get a little bit disjointed at times.  Perhaps because it didn't hold my interest as much as the Bowditch stories usually do.  And I think he's going to get back with Stacy Stevens, I don't know what the attractions is with her, but his current girlfriend, Danny, doesn't want kids and he really does so that's probably the direction that Doiron want to take him.  He's 31 now, and ready to settle down, I think.  Well, it'll be another year before we discover the next episode.  I wish I'd liked this one a little bit better than I did.

Goodreads synopsis:  A sudden disappearance reveals a startling connection to a 15-year-old cold case in the new thriller from bestselling Edgar Award finalist Paul Doiron.

          “Never trust a man without secrets.” These are the last words retired game warden Charley Stevens speaks to his surrogate son, Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch, before the old man vanishes without explanation into a thousand miles of forest along the Canadian border. Mike suspects his friend’s sudden disappearance has to do with an antique badge found at a flea market — a badge that belonged to a warden who was presumed dead fifteen years ago but whose body was never recovered. On a mission to find Charley before he meets a similarly dark fate, Mike must reopen a cold case that powerful people, including his fellow wardens — one of whom might be a killer — will do anything to keep closed.

85. The Imposter by Paul Doiron

#10.5 Mike Bowditch, Maine Game Warden
listened on Audible
narrated by Henry Leyva
Unabridged audio (1:29)
2020, Minotaur Bks
60 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 5/25/2020
Goodreads rating:  3.93 - 192 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Washington County, Maine

First line/s:  "Twelve-gauge Gaynor had been rowing his skiff from the town landing out to his lobster boat, the Dragon Lady, when he'd spotted a metallic glimmer coming through the blue-green water."

My comments: A very short story, which does not take place after book number 10, but way back, nearer to the beginning of the series.  It takes place in Washington County when Mike as a young game warden.  Short but sweet with a very abrupt ending - we never find out why the imposter took on Mike Bowditch's identity.  Oh well.

Goodreads synopsis:  In this original short story in the bestselling Mike Bowditch mystery series by Paul Doiron, Mike is confronted with a case of stolen identity.
          When the body of a young man is pulled from a submerged car in Roque Harbor, rookie game warden Mike Bowditch is shocked when the man’s driver’s license identifies him as none other than…Mike Bowditch. For weeks, Mike and his colleagues have been fielding reports of a man terrorizing the locals while posing as a game warden, wielding a plastic pin-on badge and claiming to be “Warden Bowditch”. Who is the imposter, and how did he end up dead in the bottom of a harbor? Mike must uncover the truth in order to clear his own name.

71. Almost Midnight by Paul Doiron

#10 Mike Bowditch
listened on Audible
narrated by Henry Leyva
Unabridged audio (9:02)
2019 Minotaur Books
310 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Series
Finished 4-30-20
Goodreads rating:  4.10 - 1660 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting:  contemporary Maine

First line/s:  "I passed the morgue's meat wagon on my way up the hill to the prison."

My comments:  "My life would never be the same, I realized.  Why do we always come to these recognitions too late?"  Those are the very last words in this book, after he had uncrated Shadow into his acre and a half pen.  But so much had happened that it was hard to tell exactly what he was referring to, thou it seems it would be about how he had figured out how to allow the wolf to live out the rest of his life?  This was an interesting story with Billy Kronk and the Maine prison system being front and center, with Mike tracking down Shadow's shooter being the other half.  It was fascinating to read about the tiny community of Amish in the mountains of Maine.

Goodreads synopsis:  In this thrilling entry in Edgar Award finalist Paul Doiron's bestselling series, the death of Maine's last wild wolf leads Game Warden Mike Bowditch to an even bigger criminal conspiracy.
          Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch already has a troubling mystery on his hands: finding the archer who mortally wounded Maine’s only wild wolf. Then he learns his best friend, Billy Cronk, has been released from prison after heroically defending a female guard from a stabbing. Mike comes to believe the assault was orchestrated by a wider criminal conspiracy. When the conspirators pursue Billy's wife and children to a “safe" cabin in the woods, Mike rushes to their defense only to find himself outnumbered, outgunned―and maybe out of options.