Stay Hidden

Stay Hidden is the 9th book in the Mike Bowditch series by Paul Doiron. I have read all the books in this series and it is definitely one of my favorites. Paul Doiron is an excellent writer and story teller. Every book in this series is a fantastic read. Stay Hidden is a compelling addition to the series.

Mike Bowditch, now an investigator with the Maine Game Wardens, is sent to a remote island off the Maine coast where someone has been shot and killed by a hunter. But was it a hunting accident? Or murder?

Maquoit Island is far offshore. Lobstermen populate the island but it is also home to summer homes. One of the summer homes was rented by a famous author and she is found dead. The twists in this book keep coming and Bowditch has plenty of suspects including an old hermit, her lobsterman lover, the lobsterman's wife...the list goes on. And there is a rivalry on the island between two families that divide the islanders.

This book was quite the ride. Everything takes place within a few short hours. Mike is tested over and over again and comes through every time. I could not put this book down. So good!!!

Highly recommend Stay Hidden by Paul Doiron.

Among a rising tide of unreliable narrators and unlikable characters, Maine author Paul Doiron offers something timeless: an engaging series centred on an honourable detective in a distinct setting.

STAY HIDDEN is the ninth Mike Bowditch mystery, and sees the game warden newly promoted to Warden Investigator and sent to remote Maquoit Island following the fatal shooting of a controversial journalist during hunting season. The open-and-shut case turns into anything but, especially when the dead woman later arrives on the ferry, intent on interviewing a notorious hermit who fled Hollywood years before following his wife’s death. Hemmed in by feuding islanders, a media furore, and impatient bosses, Bowditch struggles to prove himself as he fights the fog, figuratively and literally.

Throughout an intriguing and clever mystery, Doiron fashions an exquisite portrait of isolated communities on the Atlantic seaboard, full of hardy lobstering families facing many challenges while living a modern frontier lifestyle. Strong and nuanced characterisation blends with a striking sense of place.

This is astute and multifaceted crime writing.