I was surprised to learn that this is the latest of many in a series by this author. I had thought maybe it was a first book due to the numerous typos and grammatical errors. And the fact that unless you’re really into boating, this may not hold your interest. I appreciate the amount of technical information provided, but I just don’t think it was necessary to include so much of it to tell the story.

Mike Bowditch is a Maine Game Warden Investigator enjoying his engagement party with relatives who live on a popular lake in Maine. It’s soon interrupted by the sound of a foreboding crash, and he knows something terrible has happened. They sail to the scene and find a dismembered arm. After locating the body, other authorities are called to investigate and another body is soon found. Identifying the victims is easy, it’s the perpetrators that they can’t figure out.

It turns out the victims are Kip Whitcomb and his latest mistress. Kip’s wife, Diane, is the heir to the island but she no longer visits due to a medical condition. His mistress, Gina, is married to a biker whose gang is well-known to the local police. The detectives on the case like him as the killer but Mike doesn’t want to jump to conclusions. But it’s not for him to decide, because he’s only in charge of the boating crimes in connection with the bodies, not the murders themselves.

There’s quite a lot of petty arguing between all of the agencies involved as far as who is in charge of what, and pretty much all of the officers are unlikeable. So is the medical examiner, which is the first time I’ve seen this character portrayed as a complete witch and for no reason. Actually, most of the female characters that aren’t related to Mike are jerks. Not sure what that’s about.

When you can’t stand most of the characters, it’s hard to get into the story. I really tried, but between the technical jargon and the grating characters it was hard. The actual mystery and resolution were great, I’m sure many readers will be surprised by the culprit. Anyone who is a fan of this series will no doubt enjoy this new installment, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me.

Dead Man’s Wake by Paul Doiron
Mike Bowditch # 14
I was so excited to be offered an ARC by the publisher because this series is one of my favorites. I love the descriptions of Maine, the outdoorsy activities and the excitement of the investigations. None of it is anything I would ever do but I find these books thrilling to read. This one particularly is a wowie zowie ripsnorter. The ending is filled with tension and terror for our hero. It really wasn’t too hard to figure out who was the bad guy but it did not take anything away from the book.
This book is not to be missed but really not the place to start the series. I did miss Shadow but I understand why he had to stay home for this one. I wonder how being married will work out for Mike but that will be something to find out in future additions to the series.

This author has written a compelling story of murder and intrigue. The numerous characters keep the story moving. The murders are the central part of this dark mystery. Who is guilty? That is difficult to determine. This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review. Thanks to the publisher and the author.

Another well constructed plot by Paul Doiron as he gives Warden Mike Bowditch another challenging mystery.
I love these books! Don't miss out on this one. Very well written.

Dead Man's Wake is book 14 in the Mike Bowditch series by Paul Doiron and it’s a fast-paced book with plenty of action that puts you on the edge of your seat. Very intense
This was a real page tuner for me! I could not read this book fast enough!
Full of tension, action, and suspense.
With likable and relatable characters this was a hard one to put down.
A enjoyable story that anyone who loves a suspenseful mystery, thriller.
I just had to know what was going to happen.
I really need to start this series with book one.
It’s too good.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Minotaur Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Another compelling page turner from Paul Doiron. The story carries you along until the very end, suspenseful, engaging and full of local Maine places and scenery. A great read.

grisly, law-enforcement, K-9, friends, friendship, suspense, crime-thriller, due-diligence, Maine, island-life, game-warden, the-rich-are-different, riveting, family-dynamics, family, relationship-issues, relationships, unputdownable, lies, secrets, friction*****

"Death and Dismemberment on Golden Pond" (from Dead Man's Wake by Paul Doiron 2013).
Warden Investigator Bowditch is supposed to be off duty for his engagement party the day it all begins. Bowditch is exceptional in this one with all of its unique characters, mind-blowing plot twists, inspired red herrings, and learning experiences (for me). Another great read!
I requested and received an EARC from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Mike Bowditch's engagement party at his Stepfather's lake house is interrupted by a boating-related death just up the way. True to character, Mike, Stacey & Charley all abandon the party to help investigate.

I absolutely loved this one. It returns to the slow-burn style of the earlier books (As opposed to the heart pounding set up of Dead by Dawn) but still delivers a top-notch story with the awesome cast of characters we've grown to love. I have always hated Stacey for Mike (though I LOVE Charley & Ora), and prefer him with Dani, but in this book she grew on me a little bit.

This series is so consistently good I really don't understand how it's not a Netflix series. Chris Pratt would make an amazing Mike Bowditch!

Another great book in the Mike Bowditch series. Such great characters. Excellent story. Really enjoyed it. I’ve loved watching Stacy and Mike’s relationship progress.

Dead Man's Wake takes you on an adventure with twists and turns around every bend. The writing is so vibrant and descriptive that you can see and hear the birds and other wildlife that wraps into his stories. And it’s set in Maine! I recently found Paul Doiron’s books and fell in love with them – I enjoyed them so much I read every book in the series in a matter of weeks. This latest installment is just as good! The main character is very believable and has grown throughout the series but is still conflicted and far from perfect. I like the way his mind thinks and how he puzzles out the mystery or mysteries. His sense of honor and duty shines through even when put into situations where it would be easy to take the easy way out. Not to say he doesn’t push things and blurs the line a bit. And did I mention the book is set in Maine? The only bad thing I can say is I don’t want the long wait until the next book. I received an ARC and truly appreciate NetGalley, the author and the publisher for allowing me to preview this book, all comments and opinions are mine.

14 books in, and this series continues to be one of my favorites. Mike Bowditch is surrounded by a group of supporting characters that add so much interest to the story. Charlie gets to shine a little more in this volume and that's a plus! I just continue to enjoy Paul Doiron's writing. He just captivates and entertains and causes me to lose large amounts of sleep. I'm already itching for the next book!

I liked the sound of Dead Man's Wake - a hit and run boating accident results in the gruesome death of a man. During his investigation Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch soon uncovers a second body - and this one is no accident. Things pick up from there as Mike tries to piece together exactly what happened.

First, I didn't realize this was part of a long running series (this is Book 14) as this isn't mentioned anywhere in the blurb or on the cover. Although it is a stand alone, I might have been a little more engaged if I'd read some of the previous books first. It's a good procedural/whodunnit book but I can't say it enthralled me. To be honest, despite the novelty of having a Game Warden as the main character instead of the cliched cop or federal agent, Mike just isn't that interesting. He investigates crime scenes, interviews witnesses, and does everything the actual cops do to the point that his title really is irrelevant. His personality is just kind of blah to me - no different then the hundreds of other protagonists I've read in this genre

Dead Man's Wake isn't a bad book at all, but I just couldn't get wrapped up in it. Again, maybe things would have been different if I'd been following this series from the beginning and had more of a connection to the characters. I enjoyed the read, but not enough to be interested in reading any more about Mike Bowditch

I haven’t met a book in this series that I didn’t like. Although this one gets off to a slow start, it more than makes up for it with the likable characters, a beautiful setting, and of course a interesting story that draws you in. Now the ending…..well you will have to read the book for that explosive episode.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This book is set to be published in June, 2023.

As a Mainer, I get so excited to see another Paul Doiron book releasing. The series just gets better and better with each book. Loved seeing the next chapter in Mike and Stacey's story. Looking forward to recommending Dead Man's Wake. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Paul Doiron’s “Dead Man’s Wake—the 14th in his “Mike Bowditch” series—is a well-written and entertaining mystery set mostly on the central Maine lake called “Great Pond.”

Family has gathered at the lake for a dinner celebrating Mike Bowditch’s engagement to Stacy. Suddenly, they hear a powerful boat speed by, seem to hit something, stop, and then flee the scene. Subsequent investigation discovers two naked corpses in the water. As an investigator for Maine’s Warden Service (a police agency charged with enforcing the state’s fisheries and wildlife law), Mike must determine whether the boat caused either death. He quickly discovers there’s more at work than just a speedboat leaving the scene of an accident. Instead, he, Stacy, and their parents find themselves embroiled in a mystery full of twists, turns, and unanticipated dangers from unexpected quarters.

It's a solid mystery filled with likable characters, action, adventure, and a high level of technical detail. Author Paul Doiron excels at researching and explaining the various elements necessary to his story. Whether it be preserving an underwater crime scene, or diving to recover a body, or firing a pistol that’s just been submerged, or landing a plane that’s just been sabotaged, Mr. Doiron gives us the details necessary to put us right in the middle of the action. The same goes for his ability to describe settings and what comprises them. His expertise in Maine flora and fauna is highly evident. He puts it to excellent use to give his readers a sense of what it's like to live or vacation on one of Maine's pristine lakes.

In short, I came away from “Dad Man’s Wake” believing I’d learned some things. For me, that's always a plus.

This is the second “Bowditch” mystery I’ve had the pleasure to read. I'm pretty sure it won't be the last.

This is the 14th book in Doiron’s crime series featuring former Maine game warden and now warden investigator, 32-year-old Mike Bowditch. (In Maine, game wardens are full law-enforcement officers, with all the powers of state troopers: “They are the ‘off-road police.’” A warden investigator, on the other hand, is “for all intents and purposes a plainclothes detective.”) Mike now works in the Wildlife Crimes Investigation Division of the Maine Warden Service, where his cases “involved everything from busting poaching rings to solving hunting homicides to reconstructing boating accidents.”

An apparent boating accident interrupts his engagement party at the Great Pond home of his stepdad, Neil Turner, and his wife Jubilee. (Great Pond, covering about twelve miles in area, is in Kennebec County in Maine.). Mike’s fiancée Stacey Stevens and her parents, Charley and Ora, are also in attendance. Getting some fresh air, Mike witnesses what appears to be a hit-and-run speedboat crash and he, Stacey, and Charley ask Neil to take them on his boat to the scene of the crime. There, they make the first of a series of gruesome discoveries: a newly severed arm.

Other local law enforcement officials get involved after daybreak, including the lake constable Galen Webb, Lieutenant Rick LaJoy, Detective Roger Finch, and Finch’s partner Detective Sergeant Ellen Pomerleau. Mike also asks his former boss, Kathy Frost, to bring her cadaver dog Maple to the scene.

A warden dive team, partly assisted by Maple, recovers not one but two naked corpses: the dismembered man and the married-to-someone-else woman with whom he was having an affair. Mike began to suspect the swimmers' deaths were not the result of a carelessaccident but rather of coldly calculated murders.

The hunt for the hit-and-run boater goes rather quickly, but the mystery of what actually happens just intensifies. Complicating the case even further, some of the law enforcement officials have troublesome histories with either the victims or the suspects.

Evaluation: I always learn a lot in Doiron’s books, in this case, all about the necessities and vagaries of an underwater crime scene. Furthermore, his descriptions of the flora and fauna of Maine are so evocative, I feel like I am right there at any scene, experiencing the beauty of the landscape and birds. Doiron is, among his other assets, an excellent promoter of the desirability of seeing Maine. These are crime stories, however, and so there is also plenty of tension, especially toward the end of the books, when Mike generally encounters life-threatening situations. I always look forward to more stories in the series.

Paul Doiron's 14th Mike Bowditch novel is hard to believe. Yet. Doiron's character and writing are still top notch page turners. Whether its the Maine locations or the advancement of the the characters I fly right through his writing.

This novel deals with Mike about to be married but is interrupted by a boat accident on a lake he is visiting with his family and friends. Multiple layers await Mike as he tries to put all the incident into focus.

Highly Recommended

This author is one of my all time favorites! The series never disappoints and love reading about another location in Maine. I am sure you will love the story as much I did.

This story started with a bang! An evening boat crash leaving a severed arm floating nearby propels Paul Doiron’s story into a spellbinding full-blown investigation after a dive team discovers two corpses. A suspenseful ‘who done it’ with complex characters and well-placed drama and clues.

Game warden, Mike Bowditch returns as he’s about to be married. He and Stacey are celebrating their engagement when they witness a speedboat strike something before it jets off. On the lake, all the couple find is a severed arm, but the next day, an investigation brings even more gruesome finds to the surface. The bodies of a dismembered man and the woman he was having an affair with lead Mike to believe what he witnessed was no accident. The most obvious suspect is the husband of the dead woman, but there are others in the community who may have had a motive, and Mike finds himself facing his most deadly opponent yet. Doiron’s long running series show no signs of running out of steam as he continues to build excitement and develop Bowditch into a more complex and multi layered character