When I cracked open this short story collection, I did not know what to expect as this was my first foray into Paul Doiron's writing. Set in the beautiful wilderness of Maine, game warden Mike Bowditch recounts his adventures including several with his mentor and former game warden, Charley Stevens. At first locals were suspicious of newcomer Mike, as they are wont to do. But he proved himself and practiced the art of introspection and reflection which drew me in. As his character and life experiences grew, so did my appreciation for him.

My favourite aspect is the wilderness setting where my heart is most at ease. I could hear the crunch of the snow and birdsong and smell the trees and damp earth. The character whose personality appealed to me most is Ora, calm and interesting. The mysteries themselves are fascinating and the poignant story about the doctor grabbed me in particular. Short stories are not always my thing but these were a pleasure to curl up with and get lost in.

Skin and Bones by Paul Doiron

5 Stars

368 Pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Release Date: May 13, 2025

Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers, Game Warden, Short Stories

These eight short stories cover periods of time between the other novels in the series. You do not need to have read any of the books to follow Mike and Charley’s adventures. Since these were short stories, the characters are not quite as developed as they are in the novels. The stories are fast paced and are written in the third person point of view. I look forward to reading more from this author. He has a descriptive writing style that gives the reader the feeling of being there.

Skin and Bones is the first of Paul Doiron's books I have read. When I first requested this book I did not realize that it was just short stories that went with a series. I can say with great confidence that Skin and Bones will NOT be my last story by Paul Doiron. I am excited to find the entire series and read from the start!
These stories are all written very well, They stand extremely well on their own. For short stories you get a lot of information and a very perfect ending. nothing is left hanging in the air! I am excited to read more about Mike Bowditch!

Big thanks to NetGalley, Paul Doiron and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read a copy of "Skin and Bones".

Skin and Bones And Other Mike Bowditch Short Stories by Paul Doiron is an entertaining collection of eight short stories. Some of the tales here are actual short stories while others are novellas. Seven of the reads have been previously published and are collected here with the all-new tale, “Sheep’s Clothing.” If you have read the previously published tales before, doing so now once again is like visiting old friends. And, of course, there is that new short story, Sheep’s Clothing, and it is really good too.

The book opens with the short story, “Bear Trap.” Charley Stevens, retired Maine Game Warden, friend, mentor, father figure, and a lot more, and Mike Bowditch are in a canoe fishing for northern pike. Mike is in his first year as a game warden. They are on a lake that back in the day saw Charley on patrol a lot. Many things have changed here in the decades since. The subject of a local legend, a hermit of sorts, comes up and Charley tells the story.

Next up is “Backtrack.” When Charley Stevens gets the call, he is a 28-year-old Maine Game Warden. Dr. Phillip Stoddard, one of four men staying at a hunting cabin has been missing for a few hours. A major snow storm is on the way. Soon Charley Stevens is with the remaining hunters at their cabin and working to get the details such as Dr. Stoddard’s mental state, what supplies he has with him, and determining who saw him last and where. All of that is important as those details will help him find the missing hunter in this highly atmospheric tale.

“Rabid” comes next where, after a long day of riding with Mike Bowditch while he was on patrol, retired Maine Game Warden Charley Stevens is finally going to explain why he put a large brown package in the bed of the patrol truck that morning. The actual events that Charley tells and later explained in further depth by Charlie’s wife, Ora, happened decades ago. It is a situation that has long haunted both Charlie and his wife and one that is very hard for them to talk about even today.

Next is the “The Imposter” where Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch was new to “Down East Maine.” In those early days, he had a bit of a reputation and his new boss is less than friendly. As the short story opens, Bowditch is on the dock at Roque Harbor watching as a body is recovered from the water. The body has a driver’s license with the dead man’s name on it. Who he was claiming to be and what he was doing these past few weeks is the driving focus of this entertaining short story.

“Skin and Bones” from May 2022 is also set early in Mike Bowditch’s career. This time, Mike has been working for the warden service about three years and is in a very foul mood. He has come to his old friend, Charley Stevens, for advice. He brings the body of a deceased American Bald Eagle that was killed for no other reason that the guy could shoot it in a wing and leave it to die. While Bowditch wants to tear the fishing camp where he believes the suspect is hiding out apart with his bare hands and toss the guy into jail, Charley has a better way of getting the suspect into custody at minimal risk based on his own story from long ago that still haunts him to this day.

Next in the collection is the short story, “The Caretaker.” Warden Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch is sitting on the porch with Charley Stevens when Violet and Josiah Baker show up to ask for help. They recently bought an old cabin at nearby Quillpig Pond and started massive renovations. Things were going as expected until approximately two weeks ago when strange things started happening. Violet is sure their caretaker, Kevin Moran, is responsible. Charley and Mike are not so sure. While he is known to the Game Wardens as a loner and with a strange sense of humor, he isn't known for what Violet is reporting. The couple, especially Violet, are frustrated and want it stopped.

As “Snakebit” begins, a woman has called Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch to report that she saw a rattlesnake. She claims to have seen it during her hike on Black Cat Mountain. Without proof and with a bad attitude, Mike Bowditch doesn’t believe her. He soon has an opportunity to reconsider that thought when hours later he is awakened with news that a teenager has been bit while attending a keg party in the nearby woods. Something is going on and Bowditch is going to get to the bottom of it.

“Sheep’s Clothing” is the all-new tale and brings the book to a close. Due to recent events that took Mike Bowditch to Canada, he has been busted back down to patrol. He is lucky to still have a job. He knows it and always liked patrol so he is happy. Though the Withams are not folks he likes to deal with as they are so problematic in many ways, they also haven’t been seen for some time now as the read begins. As the only representative of law enforcement in the area for many miles, it is up to him to go out to their place and do a welfare check.

As one always expects from this author, Skin and Bones And Other Mike Bowditch Short Stories, is highly entertaining. If you have read most of the works in the book before, like I had, the new tale is worth the price of admission. If you are new to this excellent series, this short story collection will give you a glimpse of what you have in store by way of his novels. CJ Box may own Wyoming, but Paul Doiron owns Maine.


My digital ARC reading copy came from Minotaur Books, through NetGalley, and with no expectation of a review.


Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Paul Doiron can write such interesting and descriptive mysteries! I rarely like short stories, but I loved this book of stories. Mr Doiron has managed to write sooooo many novels with each one being absorbing to read. I really enjoyed this book, and I think just about all audiences would also find it on the top of their list.

Skin and Bones is a collection of short stories that fills in some gaps between and prior to the Mike Bowditch series. A quick read...I especially liked the stories centered on former warden Charley Stevens.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: May 13, 2025
“Skin and Bones” by Paul Doiron is a collection of eight short stories featuring Mike Bowditch, Maine game warden and the protagonist in Doiron’s “Mike Bowditch” series. Of varying lengths, the first three stories feature Mike’s mentor, father-in-law and retired warden, Charley Stevens and the final five centre on Mike. Fans of the Bowditch series will know all of the characters well, and Doiron ensures that each story is well-crafted and easy to jump right into.
“Rabid” and “Snakepit” are two of my favourite stories, but I can honestly say I enjoyed all of them. I am not a huge fan of short stories, preferring the collective flow of one seamless plot, but this collection was thoroughly engaging and dramatic. All of the stories have the same setting, the Maine woods and surrounding communities, and feature Mike and his colleagues in one investigation or another, so the general theme is the same throughout, which helps with consistency.
My first Mike Bowditch novel was “Dead Man’s Wake”, which is fourteenth in the series, so I can honestly say that it is not necessary to read all of the books in order. Bowditch is a clever spin on the typical police investigator protagonist, being a game warden, which makes Doiron’s novels stand out among the rest in this genre.
Mike himself is not only a super sharp investigator, but he is sympathetic and genuine, even though he is often taken for granted and overlooked by others in his field. He is brave and kind and stands up for the good guys, which is reassuring and comforting in a main character.
Doiron’s “Skin and Bones” stories take place after book four, and in between books eight through twelve, but they don’t provide too many important character details, so readers won’t feel lost or confused. “Skin” provides readers with suspenseful, engaging mysteries that are cleverly solved by Mike or Charley within their collection of pages.
Doiron’s collection of short stories fills in the gaps in between novels with action-packed drama and suspense, making me more eager for the newest Mike Bowditch full-length.

Skin and Bones is my introduction to the work of Paul Doiron, and I have found another favorite. Thankfully there are a lot to catch up on. Mike Bowditch is a ranger stationed in Maine, and it's a pleasure to read thrillers set in an area that doesn't get much attention. Many of these stories feature his friend Charley, a retired ranger who regales with stories from his past to explain events currently happening. Since these have been previously published, his fans may have read them elsewhere, but for those of us new to his work, it's a fine beginning.

These wonderful stories that fill in the "betweens" and "back stories" of Mike and Charlie. Unusual situations. Human foibles. A must read for Bowditch fans!

This is described as a collection of "short fiction". Some blurbs refer it to as short stories. For the most part, these stories are most reasonably characterized as being novelettes, i.e. stories of more than 10,000 words (30 to 40 pages). Not that it matters much. They are all engaging and can all easily be read in a leisurely afternoon, even by those of us who were branded back in junior high school as being able to read at only half the speed required for success in college.

Several of these stories don't much involve Main Warden Mike Bowditch, but rather feature his mentor and surrogate father, Charlie Stevens. So, one might say several of these stories provide a bit of backstory to the overall saga of Mike Bowditch's adventures.

Anyway, we have a bunch of fun stories involving the weird people in back-woods Maine. I don't mean to speak of Mainers pejoratively. I love Maine and have vacationed in Maine for the past quarter century. It's not clear that Mainers would think of me so kindly, they do, after all refer to my ilk as "Massholes" (although, I grew up a Baltimoron).

In one story, Mike Bowditch is a new ranger, and none of the locals know him. So, some wise ass decides to impersonate Bowditch so as to hit on the local teenage girls. In another, we have people breeding venomous snakes in captivity. Someone decides it would be fun to take one of the snakes out so as to use it as an instrument of murder. Then, they decide why not just release all the snakes and terrorize the locals? Then we have some guy into taxidermy who has shot a couple of bald eagles (totally illegal) so that he can stuff them. Another has as guy going rabid.

Whatever, they are all fun stories and well worth the time of those of us who love woodsy types in Maine.

#SkinAndBones #NetGalley

Paul Doiron is an amazing storyteller and this is a book of excellent short stories! He pulls the reader in quickly and doesn’t let go until the last sentence of each story. I have read several books by Doiron and he just gets better and better. Highly recommended.

Skin and Bones is a collection of short stories set in the world and life of Maine game warden, Mike Bowditch. The stories have been previously published but are in a new collection for the first time with one brand new story which takes place after the events of the latest Mike Bowditch, who is a fun character, novel. The stories vary in length but all are quick reads.

I read the author's latest full length book, Pitch Dark, before reading Skin and Bones. After reading this collection of stories I'm more excited than ever to go back and read the series from the beginning.

This is a great, well written set of stories. They are very effective at giving you an idea of what the full length novels are like. They also stand well on their own. A couple of them are creepy and a little spooky at times. Each story is

satisfying and you don't feel like you're missing out on anything.

I'm not always the biggest fan of short stories, especially collections because I often feel pressured to read them fast or straight through like a regular novel. Or sometimes I don't feel like I got much out of it. Not so with Skin and Bones. I didn't read it straight through because I was reading other books at the same time but I easily could have. I was excited to read every time I picked it up. It's clear that Paul Doiron is very talented and I can't wait to read more about Mike Bowditch.

Paul Doiron’s Skin and Bones, is an engaging collection of eight mystery stories. The tales are set in the world of Maine game warden, Mike Bowditch—Doiron has written fifteen Bowditch novels so far—but a few are told from the perspective of Bowditch’s mentor and retired warden, Charley Stevens. Many of the stories are closer to novelette than short story length, which allows Doiron the room to paint his characters with a rich hue and his rural Maine setting with vivid color. Even better, he does all this without an unnecessary word or losing the mystery for the trees.
“Bear Trap”—which is one of Charley Stevens’s tales—is a play on the impossible crime. As a young warden Charley is confronted by an almost mythical hermit—nicknamed Sweet Tooth because of his proclivity for stealing candy—with a knack for burgling camps and then disappearing like a ghost. When Sweet Tooth raids the stores of a summer camp for underprivileged boys, Charley decides it’s time to introduce Sweet Tooth to Lady Justice. But first he must discover how the thief comes and goes so easily.

In “Rabid,” Charley Stevens is called to the isolated home of John Hussey. Hussey, like Charley, is a Vietnam veteran but unlike Charley, Hussey’s post-war behavior has been erratic. When Charley arrives at the house, Hussey’s Vietnamese wife, Giang, says her husband was bitten by a bat. But Charley is more worried that Hussey is abusing his wife and daughter. Charley’s own wife gets involved in this one, and both she and Giang believe Hussey may have rabies. There is a nice surprise ending with a delicious slice of morality in the recipe.

Something of a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, “The Caretaker”—which is narrated by Bowditch—stars Charley as a Holmes-like detective and Bowditch in Dr. Watson’s role. Together Charley and Bowditch investigate a harassment complaint by a Boston couple while staying in their backwoods summer home. Charley does a fine job of detection—he seems to notice everything, no matter how small—and Bowditch is duly impressed with Charley’s almost supernatural powers. But it is the solution, while revealing a serious crime, that makes “The Caretaker” downright fun.

“Sheep’s Clothing,” which is the backwoods version of an English village murder mystery, finds the recently demoted Bowditch investigating what seems to be a murder-suicide of a couple living in poverty on a large patch of land. But Bowditch isn’t sure the husband killed his wife or himself. There are multiple suspects—the dead husband, an estranged son, his truly awful fiancée, the fiancée’s unempathetic brother are only four of them. There is more than one well-timed twist, which makes for bunches of fun.

Skin and Bones is my first experience reading Paul Doiron’s fiction. The high-quality of the writing, the tight plotting, and the subtle humor (especially when Charley Stevens is on the page) impressed me enough that I’m planning to find another title in the Bowditch series to read. And likely another one after that, which is assuming the novels are as good as the tales presented here.

This review will be published at darkcityunderground.blogspot.com and gravetapping.blogspot.com on May 12, 2025

Skin and Bones is a collection of short stories featuring Mike Bowditch, the Maine Game Warden and some feature his mentor, Charlie. If you have read the series, these are an added bonus. The stories will also stand alone if you have never read Doiron’s Mike Bowditch books before. The stories can be gritty in places, showing the dark side of Maine’s beautiful backwoods, but they are always told with compassion and a true love of the area.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

I'm a huge fan of the Mike Bowditch series, and I loved this collection of short stories! I always enjoy reading about the latest mystery Bowditch encounters as a Maine Game Warden. This collection of short stories fill in some on the untold history of the series. Skin and Bones is a great companion book to the Mike Bowditch series.

Paul Doiron is an amazing storyteller and this is a book of excellent short stories! He pulls the reader in quickly and doesn’t let go until the last sentence of each story. I have read several books by Doiron and he just gets better and better. Highly recommended.

Even if you are not a fan of the Mike Bowditch series, I think you will enjoy this collection of short stories. Paul Doiron is a master storyteller, and he draws the reader into his books. I feel as though I know the characters and can feel the emotions as they speak. The descriptions of the wildlife and woodlands of Maine are so crisp that you can see them in your mind. I always come away from one of Paul's books feeling like I have just experienced a vacation in Maine.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

I love a good short story, and Paul Doiron is a master storyteller. Skin and Bones is a collection of short stories that feature game warden, Mike Bowditch, who is also the main character in a book series. The first three stories reveal some of the backstory of bush pilot, Charley Stevens, and the rest are about Mike. I've read two other books in this series and enjoyed them both, but one does not need to have read any of the prior books in order to enjoy this short story collection. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC.

Skin and Bones is a collection of short stories by Paul Doiron, I enjoy the Mike Bowditch series so I was happy to receive the advanced copy of this book. I am not usually a fan of short stories but I enjoyed this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my ARC of this book.

Short stories snd novella for the Mike Bowditch series. Very entertaining. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book