Pitch Dark (Mike Bowditch Mysteries, #15)

by Paul Doiron

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Pitch Dark is the 15th Mike Bowditch mystery by Paul Doiron. Released 25th June 2024 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out second quarter 2025 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a wonderfully written series with an intelligent and honorable protagonist who works as an investigator for the Maine Warden Service (game warden). Although it has more thriller elements than the usual shopfront cozies, it's so well written, so redolent of the area and the outdoors, that it's an immersive and enjoyable read. Readers who are already fans of procedural thrillers will be right at home. 

The plotting moves along at a good pace and the characters are relatable and well rendered. It's easy to believe their motivations and internal drives. The examination and detection on the part of the protagonist and his colleagues (and girlfriend Stacey) is meticulously written and very cleverly constructed. The final climax, denouement, and resolution were (as always) tense and satisfying. Although the mystery is self contained, the entire series is highly recommended and would be a great candidate for a long binge read. 

It is self contained, and works well enough as a standalone, but if read out of order, there will be spoilers for character interrelationships and developments from earlier in the series. 

Four and a half stars. This series will appeal very much to fans of Stabenow's Kate Shugak and Box's Joe Pickett mysteries. 
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.