ARC Review: Dead Man's Wake by Paul Doiron

Dead Man's Wake
Author: Paul Doiron
Series: Mike Bowditch Mysteries (Book 14)
Publication: Minotaur Books (June 27, 2023)

Description: Game Warden Mike Bowditch's engagement party is interrupted by the discovery of a gruesome double murder in this new thriller from Edgar Award-winning author Paul Doiron.

On the evening of their engagement party, Maine Game Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch and Stacey Stevens witness what seems to be a hit-and-run speedboat crash on a darkened lake. When they arrive at the scene, their spotlight reveals a gruesome sight: a severed arm floating just beneath the surface. As day breaks, the warden dive team recovers not one but two naked corpses: a dismembered man and the married woman with whom he was having an affair. Mike begins to suspect the swimmers' deaths were not a senseless accident but a coldly calculated murder.

Meanwhile, the hunt is on for the mysterious boater. Suspects abound on the lake, nicknamed "Golden Pond,” including the violent biker husband of the murdered woman who may have taken vengeance on his wife and her paramour; a strange woman who claims to have witnessed the crash, but then changes her story; a very aggressive realtor and his wife who were determined to catch trespassers; and the lake’s earnest young constable whose eagerness to help may hide darker motives.

Alone among his fellow officers, Mike starts to sense the involvement of a trained marksman, smarter and more dangerous than any enemy he has ever faced before. As Mike and Stacey get closer to identifying the killer, their own lives are suddenly on the line as they confront a lethal killer who plans to silence them forever. The finale is a tour de force of drama and suspense.

My Thoughts: This is the fourteenth Mike Bowditch mystery, but the first that I have read. Mike and his fiancé Stacey are celebrating their engagement with her parents and his stepfather and wife when they hear a crash out on the lake. Since his future father-in-law is a retired warden and he currently works as a Warden Investigator for the State of Maine, they borrow his stepfather's pleasure barge to go out onto the lake and see what happened.

They were dismayed to find a severed arm. Calling in reinforcements including a cadaver dog who can scent bodies under water, they discover not one but two bodies. The man is the husband of the owner of the small island near where the accident happened, and the woman is the wife of the leader of a local motorcycle gang. Autopsies show that both were murdered and Mike is on the case along with the local police. 

Mike's task is to find the boat that hit the man and then left the scene of the crime. Between on over-eager lake constable and a witness who keeps changing her story, Mike has a lot to investigate. 

This story was entertaining. I enjoyed getting to meet Mike. I liked the setting of the story which is the lake the movie On Golden Pond was based on. I liked the information about law enforcement in Maine. 

Favorite Quote:

"There's always another emergency coming around the bend. People will continue to commit crimes or get lost in the woods. More boats will crash or overturn in rapids. And we'll need to shift our resources to deal with the new crisis. Sometimes I think working in law enforcement is like sailing a leaky boat. You can bail and bail, but there will always be more water coming in."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.