Review: Dead Man's Wake by Paul Doiron

 

Dead Man's Wake (Mike Boditch #14) by Paul Doiron

Publication Date: June 27th 2023 by Minotaur Books & Macmillan Audio

Pages: 320

Audio Book Length: 9hrs 26min

Narrator: Henry Leyva

Source: Publisher & Library Audio Copy

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible | Kobo | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Mike and his fiancée Stacey Stevens are at his stepfather’s lake house for their engagement party when they hear a boat crash. As a Game Warden for the Maine Warden Service and with no one else available Mike set out to find out what happened with his future father-in-law, Charley, a retired Game Warden, in tow. They find gruesome remains and evidence of two deaths.

Mike investigates with the State Police Detectives. It’s very much a crime procedural with Mike interviewing witnesses and traveling around the small islands to gather evidence. I enjoy Mike’s interactions with his mentor/friend/future father-in-law Charley. He’s such a rascal, but a big help in solving the case. Even Stacey helps a lot with being able to fly and just being a sounding board helping Mike puzzle through the clues. I was happy that Mike seems to be maturing and thinking things through more before acting. A conscious decision on his part to do better and think of the other people in his life. I did miss Shadow, his part wolf dog in this installment.

The coast of Maine and the little islands are a big part of the story, Mr. Doiron brings the area to life with his lovely writing. Yes, it’s a fast-paced plot, but I like how he takes a moment to feature nature’s beauty all around.

This is book fourteen in the Mike Bowditch series, but I’ve skipped around and read out of order. I think you could read this as a stand-alone, but you’d miss some of the character backstory. The ending brought a smile to my face!

I alternately read and listened to a library audio copy. I’ll still keep working my way through the previous mysteries. The audios are great with Henry Leyva narrating the series. He has a great easy-going voice, that I now picture as Mike, and he does the Maine/Boston accents well. I listened at my usual 1.5x normal speed.

4 Stars

Book Description:

Game Warden Mike Bowditch's engagement party is interrupted by the discovery of a gruesome double murder in Dead Man's Wake, a new thriller from Edgar Award-winning author Paul Doiron.

On the evening of their engagement party, Maine Game Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch and Stacey Stevens witness what seems to be a hit-and-run speedboat crash on a darkened lake. When they arrive at the scene, their spotlight reveals a gruesome sight: a severed arm beneath the surface. As day breaks, the warden dive team recovers not one but two naked corpses: the dismembered man and the married woman with whom he was having an affair. Mike begins to suspect the swimmers' deaths were not a senseless accident but a coldly calculated murder. Alone among his fellow officers, Mike begins to sense the involvement of a trained professional, smarter and more dangerous than any enemy he has faced. As Mike and Stacey get closer to identifying the killer, their own lives are suddenly put on the line, leading to a confrontation designed to silence them forever.