Audiobook Review: A Death in Door County by Annelise Ryan

A Death in Door County
Author: Annelise Ryan

Narrator: Susan Bennett
Series: Monster Hunter Mysteries (Book 1)
Publication: Berkley (July 18, 2023); Penguin Audio (September 30, 2022)

Length: 10 hours and 20 minutes

Description: A Wisconsin bookstore owner and cryptozoologist is asked to investigate a series of deaths that just might be proof of a fabled lake monster in this first installment of a new mystery series by USA Today bestselling author Annelise Ryan.

Morgan Carter, owner of the Odds and Ends bookstore in Door County, Wisconsin, has a hobby. When she’s not tending the store, she’s hunting cryptids—creatures whose existence is rumored, but never proven to be real. It’s a hobby that cost her parents their lives, but one she’ll never give up on.

So when a number of bodies turn up on the shores of Lake Michigan with injuries that look like bites from a giant unknown animal, police chief Jon Flanders turns to Morgan for help. A skeptic at heart, Morgan can’t turn down the opportunity to find proof of an entity whose existence she can’t definitively rule out. She and her beloved rescue dog, Newt, journey to the strait known as Death’s Door to hunt for a homicidal monster in the lake—but if they’re not careful, she just might be its next victim.

My Thoughts: Police Chief Jon Flanders comes to Morgan Carter to hire her because he has a problem. There have been some strange deaths both human and animal that look to be caused by some sort of large, unknown creature. 

Morgan is a cryptozoologist who also runs an eccentric bookstore in Door County, Wisconsin. She is a professional skeptic who searches for cryptids despite not being at all sure she believes in them. Morgan takes the job. She and Jon and Morgan's rescue dog Newt begin to investigate what is going on near the strait known as Death's Door. 

The story was action packed, and information packed too. I learned a lot about cryptids and the numerous shipwrecks that litter the lake bottom near Door County. Morgan is an interesting character who is wary of human relationships especially romantic relationships. She recently lost her parents who were murdered. She was briefly accused of the crime since she couldn't convince the cops that her boyfriend was the likely suspect. He was romancing Morgan for her substantial riches and, it turns out, flying under an assumed name and identity. 

This was a fun story that is the first in a series. 

I bought the Kindle copy July 23 and the audiobook August 18. You can buy your copy here.