Real Rating: 4.25* of five

Picking this series up after dropping it after <I>Bad Little Falls</I> (book #3), for no particular reason I can recall, I'm glad to say I got the hang of things again right quick.

Mike's in a place I wouldn't necessarily have predicted back then, what with planning to marry Stacey, but there we are. What hasn't changed much is this sarcastic, tangy dude's ability to offend everyone while doing far too good a job to get his smart mouth fired.

Stacey feels like a fairly generic character, if I'm honest, but then again who really cares about the sleuth's love interest? She doesn't simply exist to take up space like Bruno's lady-friends in Martin Walker's <I>Bruno, Chief of Police</I>series; she has skills and uses them with Mike's investigation in this story. I remembered her name as Jamie, but either this is a different woman or my memory is wrong.

The plot starts out really strong, again as remembered from Author Doiron's earlier books. The events start weird and grisly early on. A lot of names are thrown at you from the start, which is often the case in series mysteries at this stage of their run. Here I suppose I'm running on the assumption that these characters are as I remember them. If they aren't, well...serves me right for being away more than ten books.

What the reader of series mysteries looks for, as far as I can see, is the sense that ma'at is served, that the Rightness of things is restored when the crime is solved. Murder is a gross insult to the body politic no matter who's killed; yes, even if it's someone who needs killin', responsibility must be apportioned or the precedent it sets is unthinkably dangerous. That's what I felt about this particular murder, TBH. Understandable that someone taking your spouse away from you would piss you off; but then again, why was said spouse in play, exactly? And no one's gonna support the old-fashioned sense that a man's wife is his, as in his property, in the twenty-first century.

Maine's as much of a character as any human was. The atmospherics will either immerse you in the setting (me) or make you a crazy person. Particularly prominent in this outing is information on boating that will quite possibly make some wish for an acute drought to dry up the whole state. Maine's unusually powerful wardens...power of arrest?! really?...make this series a procedural of the sort I enjoy. It's detailed without feeling, to me at least, dense and chewy. It doesn't hurt that I feel Mike's spiny, acerbic nature makes him a kindred spirit. Stacey is detailed enough to give me the slightly uncomfortable feeling she sees herself as "riding herd" on her man. I don't know this; she's developed over eleven books since I met her in book three. If indeed this is the same woman....

You already know I picked up the next one, so my vote is in. Good series.

Great read. I have never read this author before but truly enjoyed this and will be looking for his previous books, hoping they are this good
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher!

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, Paul Doiron and NetGalley for an e-arc of this novel.

It was a fast-paced, easy to read, and interesting page turner of a thriller. It's #4 in the series. I read it as a stand-alone. I thinks it would probably be good to read the whole series. I still enjoyed it though.

This was so well written. I was engrossed from the first page and it ticked all the boxes of my expectations . I would definitely recommend to others.

This was a suspenseful and riveting law enforcement procedural with a compelling setting that's easy to lose yourself in!

This was my first Doiron book. Given that, I obviously haven't read anything in the series before this point, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit and didn't feel lost.

Doiron does a great job with breadcrumbs to remind the reader of character details or help a new-to-the-series/standalone reader to understand things, without bogging down the book in unnecessary details.

Mike's a bit of a prickly character who might not be for everyone, but I enjoyed my time with him and see myself dipping in and out of this series when I want something meaty and gripping.

Many thanks to Netgalley for this book. I received this book in exchange for my honest review. Thoughts are entirely my own.

In this novel we are following Mike on another adventure. While at his stepparents lake house for his engagement party a boat is seen racing on the lake and then a noise and heard. Mike and his future father in law and his fiancé go to investigate and discover an arm. They find a man and his mistress who were staying at his wife’s family lake house. Mouse Island has been in the wife’s family for years and the wife has MS which means she doesn’t travel and Mike has to go talk to her at her home in another state where his boat is sabotaged. The wife’s brother who works for a secret government agency and wanted to kill him with the wife pretending not to know. Sadly we are unable to find out his exact motives because he is killed before he could say more. Mike and his fiancé are married at their home at the end of the book.

Interesting storyline with plenty of twists and turns. I'm usually a cozy mystery reader, but this was a fun change in mystery genres. I didn't realize there were so many previous books in the series, but I had no trouble following along.
I'm looking forward to reading more books in this series.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

I enjoyed this next book in the Maine game warden Mike Bowditch series. During an engagement celebration at Mike's stepfather's lake home, he and Stacey hear a boat crash into something and upon investigating (with the help of Charley) find a severed arm in the lake, followed by a body. Later on, another body is discovered and the investigation is on to find the boat and then figure out how these two people died and whodunit. This has a healthy dose of my favorite character, Charley, and it also comes with a health scare for Ora. This is a page-turner right down to the last page, and I also loved the ending!

I am happy to have discovered this mystery series by Paul Doiron. This is the 14th book in the series, and the first book in the series that I'd read. I had no trouble at all following the plot, and the author introduces each character so skillfully that the reader is not lost. The setting of the story is in rural Maine.

The author does an excellent job of introducing the topography of the region without it becoming a lecture, and his descriptions of various places made me want to visit this state. Maine has it all, from mountains to beaches, and so much water - many streams, rivers and it borders on the Atlantic Ocean. This book was set in a part of Maine where the roads were frequently washed out and most of the transportation by the main characters was on foot or by canoe or boat. Their large fauna include bears including Grizzly bears and moose (also dangerous). One unique difference in this part of Maine is that a lot of transportation is by boat.

Mike Bowditch is a game warden investigator, which is similar to a police detective. Mike and his fiance Stacy see a man run over by a boat, which leaves the scene.The next day, two corpses are retrieved from the lake - a man and a woman who were suspected of having an affair. The plot is complicated with multiple suspects and several people behaving oddly. I was not able to guess the culprit.

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher St. Martin's Press vis NetGalley, and voluntarily read and reviewed it.

Oh this was good! Fun cover and very suspenseful. Full of murder and danger, this will keep you hooked and on your toes!

I didn't realize this book was the 14th book in the Mike Bowditch series when I was requesting it. I just genuinely thought it sounded like a great read. I found that even though this was an established series, it was easy to jump in and I didn't feel like I missed anything. This book was great and I will absolutely be starting the series from book 1 eventually. 4 stars.

📖 Just finished "Dead Man's Wake" by Paul Doiron and it's another thrilling mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat! 💥 When a man is seemingly run over by a boat near Mike and Stacy's engagement dinner, it sets off a chain of events that lead to multiple investigations and plenty of chaos. 🕵️‍♂️ With its engaging plot and dynamic characters, this latest installment in the series is a must-read for mystery lovers! 🌟 Can't wait for more adventures with Paul and companions! #DeadMansWake #PaulDoiron #Mystery #BookReview 🚤

Dead Man's Wake has an intriguing premise that revolves around a hit-and-run speedboat accident that transforms into a murder investigation. However, the story fails to live up to its potential and leaves the reader underwhelmed. Despite my hopes that the storyline would change directions and captivate me, it never quite delivered. While it had its occasional moments, it ultimately left me wanting more.

Voluntarily reviewed after receiving a free copy courtesy of NetGalley, the Publisher, and the author, Paul Doiron.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Mysteries and thrills are abundant in this novel, which was riveting start to finish.

I was not informed that this was the 13th book in a series when i was offered this title by the publisher.

Mike Bowditch and his fiancé Stacey having an engagement party but as the evening is progressing, the two witness a hit and run on the lake. Once the two of them arrive at the scene they notice an arm floating detached from a body and Game Warden Bowditch is now on the hunt for a murderer. When the dive team arrive to find the remains, they find two bodies instead of one. The swimmers were out at dusk swimming but Mike thinks that they were intentionally hit.
There are several suspects and it is up to Mike to figure it out. Could it be the dead woman’s husband. She was out with another man……..right? This is another great book by Doiron and it has everything needed to make for a great murder mystery.


4 stars

I would like to start this off by saying that this is the 14th book in the series and I went into reading this without knowing that. Due to this, I obviously had not read the previous books. While I was able to get by okay without reading the previous books, I definitely missed some.

A solid three, not great but not bad. I might have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous books.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first Mike Bowditch book I've read. It's not bad but I found it slow and the plotline a bit obvious. That being said, it is a book that most readers will enjoy. I always like books with lake resort settings. Boats and water please me.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

DNF for me. I hadn’t read the others in the series and it was getting very confusing with so many characters being introduced at once. The full detail of boats and lakes got me extremely bored as well and I could keep going unfortunately.