In Skin and Bones, an original short story in the Paul Doiron's bestselling Mike Bowditch series, the killing of a bald eagle unearths ties to a tragic case from mentor Charley Steven’s past.

When Maine game warden Mike Bowditch discovers a bullet-ridden bald eagle in the Maine woods, he is surprised by the memories it brings back for his mentor, retired warden pilot Charley Stevens. Decades earlier, Charley briefly teamed up with Mike’s father, the notorious poacher Jack Bowditch, on an unsettling case that has haunted Charley for years. The two enemies, both war veterans, found common cause over the senseless shooting of a magnificent eagle.

But what started as a tentative alliance over a wildlife crime soon became something bigger and more terrifying: an investigation into a missing young man whose physically abusive brother might well have finally killed him. When an unspeakable discovery led to an impossible choice, Charley and Jack were forced to decide how far they would go to find justice when faced with inhumanity taken to its extreme.

The eerie, windswept Hatchet Island off the coast of Maine becomes the site of a double murder and a disappearance in this thriller from bestselling author Paul Doiron.

A call for help from a former colleague leads Maine game warden investigator Mike Bowditch and his girlfriend Stacey Stevens on a sea kayaking trip to a research station far off the coast. Stacey spent summers interning on the island, a sanctuary for endangered seabirds, and they are shocked by the atmosphere of tension they encounter when they come ashore. The biologists are being threatened and stalked by a mysterious boatman who they suspect is trespassing on the refuge late at night. And now the sanctuary’s enigmatic founder, whose mind has been slowly unraveling, has gone missing.

Camped on an islet for the night, Mike and Stacey waken to the sound of a gunshot. When they return to the refuge at dawn, their darkest fears are confirmed: two of the three researchers have been brutally murdered and the third has disappeared, along with the island skiff. Mike’s quest to find the missing man leads to a nearby island owned by a world-renowned photographer and his equally brilliant wife. The inhabitants of this private kingdom quickly close ranks, and Mike increasingly comes to believe that someone in the village knows more about the killings than they dare admit.

With no one to trust and miles from shore, Mike Bowditch must stop a ruthless murderer determined to make sure a terrifying secret never sees the light of day.

Review

“Doiron [delivers] brilliant characterizations, relentless action and suspense, and an intricately plotted narrative. The perfect vacation read.” –Booklist (starred)

“Exceptional…Doiron is writing at the top of his game.” –Publishers Weekly (starred)

“Worth the wait.” –Kirkus Reviews

“Doiron paints a complex portrait of coastal Maine…Fans of C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett mysteries, which also star an indomitable game warden, will particularly enjoy this gripping tale.” --Bookpage

Praise for Dead by Dawn:

“A nail-biter in a nightlong fight for survival in the Maine wilderness....[Doiron proves] his mastery of pacing and suspense. Frostbite aside, this book sizzles.” –People Magazine

“Hungry for action, adventure and physical danger? Take a Jeep ride with 31-year-old Maine game warden Mike Bowditch...Dead By Dawn mixes Jack London-style peril with the DIY inventiveness of TV’s “MacGyver” and the thrill of Richard Connell’s classic pursuit story ‘The Most Dangerous Game.’” –Wall Street Journal

“The 12th novel in Paul Doiron's unwaveringly superb series about a courageous, battle-tested Maine game warden...a wilderness survival story as compelling Jack London’s classic short story, ‘To Build a Fire’....the prose is as sharp as an arrow and so lyrical that it sometimes borders on poetry.” –Associated Press

“Maine writer Paul Doiron has demonstrated he is a master at crafting compelling mysteries...unequivocally his best yet.”―Maine Sunday Telegram

“Brilliant characterizations and a compelling narrative…this series just keeps getting better.” –Booklist (starred)

“Nail-biting...the best yet in a superior series.” –Publishers Weekly (starred)

“Part survival story, part mystery-suspense, Doiron's narrative is fast-paced and engaging.” –Library Journal

"A tour de force." --Kirkus Reviews

"Fans of Mike Bowditch mystery novels will not be disappointed." --Boston.com

"[A] gripping thriller...relentless in pace and plotting." --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Praise for One Last Lie:

"This novel is something of a departure for Doiron... the suspenseful, fast-paced plot has more twists and turns than usual." ―Associated Press

"Before you read this book, clear your schedule. It’s the kind of story best read in one gulp...[Doiron] keeps getting better." ―New York Journal of Books

“Edgar finalist Doiron artfully blends a whodunit plot with superior characterizations in his top-notch 11th mystery…vividly portrays the Maine woods setting while maintaining taut suspense.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred)

“One Last Lie is a triumph for aficionados and newcomers alike. The secrets, old and new, are compelling, and Doiron's landscape imagery is perfectly balanced (as is the literary history)...Trust, friendship, love, faith and how the family we choose holds powerful sway is at the heart of this impressive series entry.” ―Shelf Awareness

“Doiron’s masterful plotting pulls it all together, and the reader gets to meet an odd assortment of extraordinarily well-defined characters―good guys and bad―while learning more about both the natural and the political history of the Pine Tree State.” ―Booklist

About the Author

A native of Maine, bestselling author PAUL DOIRON attended Yale University, where he graduated with a degree in English. The Poacher’s Son, the first book in the Mike Bowditch series, won the Barry award, the Strand award for best first novel, and has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Macavity awards in the same category. He is a Registered Maine Guide specializing in fly fishing and lives on a trout stream in coastal Maine with his wife, Kristen Lindquist.

In “Snakebit," an original short story from bestselling author Paul Doiron, Maine game warden Mike Bowditch must hunt down a killer who uses the unlikeliest of murder weapons: rattlesnakes.

When a teenager arrives at a Maine hospital with a rattlesnake bite, warden Mike Bowditch is baffled. Rattlesnakes have been extinct in the region for over a hundred years—so where did this one come from? Bowditch’s investigation leads him to a pair of eccentric married scientists who have a vested interest in rattlesnakes and their venom. Even more suspicious, their estranged daughter has accused them of carrying out grotesque experiments on her. As more rattlesnakes appear in the woods—and the case becomes increasingly mystifying—Bowditch finds himself running out of time to catch his exotic foe.

In Paul Doiron's Windowmaker, When a mysterious woman in distress appears outside his home, Mike Bowditch has no clue she is about to blow his world apart. Amber Langstrom is beautiful, damaged, and hiding a secret with a link to his past.. She claims her son Adam is a wrongfully convicted sex offender who has vanished from a brutal work camp in the high timber around the Widowmaker Ski Resort. She also claims that Adam Langstrom is the illegitimate son of Jack Bowditch, Mike’s dead and diabolical father. He is the half-brother Mike never knew he had.

After trying so hard to put his troubled past behind him, Mike is reluctant to revisit the wild country of his childhood and again confront his father’s history of violence. But Amber’s desperation and his own need to know the truth make it hard for him to refuse her pleas for help.

In search of answers, Bowditch travels through a mountainous wilderness to a place hidden from the rest of the world, where the military guards a top-secret interrogation base, sexual predators live together in a backwoods colony, and self-styled vigilantes are willing to murder anyone they consider their enemies.

Mike Bowditch must exorcise the demons of the past before the real-life demons of the present kill him first.

**

Review

“Bad Little Falls is a jewel of a book. Doiron has gotten it all magnificently right: a hell of a good mystery, beautifully drawn landscape and characters so evocatively written they follow you off the page. Buy this. The guy can write.” ―Nevada Barr, New York Times bestselling author of Rope

“Doiron's third Bowditch entry is riveting and honest, with full-depth characters and a landscape that isn't cutting any slack. Readers of Nevada Barr and C. J. Box will enjoy this similar tale, with the added surprise of a refreshing hero whose youth and inexperience Doiron skillfully twists into an asset.” ―Booklist

“A high-stakes, high-tension yarn in which you keep wishing everything would turn out fine for the deeply flawed, deeply sympathetic hero.” ―Kirkus

“Excellent . . . a murder case with some truly wicked twists. Dorion matches strong characters with effective prose and subtle characterizations. Fans of Steve Hamilton's Alex McKnight series, likewise set in a remote region close to Canada, will find a lot to like.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About the Author

Bestselling author PAUL DOIRON is the editor in chief of Down East: The Magazine of Maine. A native of Maine, he attended Yale University and holds an MFA from Emerson College. His first book, The Poacher's Son, is the winner of the Barry award, the Strand award for best first novel, and a finalist for the Edgar and Anthony awards. Paul is a Registered Maine Guide and lives on a trout stream in coastal Maine with his wife, Kristen Lindquist. 

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.

In "The Caretaker," an 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.

A supposed hunting accident becomes a dangerously complicated murder investigation in this intricately-plotted new thriller featuring Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch.A woman has been shot to death by a deer hunter on an island off the coast of Maine. To newly promoted Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch, the case seems open and shut. But as soon as he arrives on remote Maquoit Island he discovers mysteries piling up one on top of the other.The hunter now claims he didn't fire the fatal shot and the ballistic evidence proves he's telling the truth. Bowditch begins to suspect the secretive community might be covering up the identity of whoever killed Ariel Evans. The controversial author was supposedly writing a book about the island's notorious hermit. So why are there no notes in her rented cottage?

The biggest blow comes the next day when the weekly ferry arrives and off steps the dead woman herself. Ariel Evans is alive, well, and determined to solve her own "murder" even if it upsets Mike Bowditch's investigation and makes them both targets of an elusive killer who will do anything to conceal his crimes. .