Large Print Hardback |
The Maine deer
hunting season has barely begun as Stay Hidden: A Novel by Paul Doiron
begins, and already there are two deaths. The deaths are not are not hunting accidents. The warden service refers to
them as what they are--- homicides.
The reason a person is dead is because the person, the shooter, maybe both made
a mistake that could have and should have been avoided.
Out on Maquoit
Island, Ariel Evans lies dead in the yard behind the house she was renting. For
Mike Bowditch, who was recently promoted to warden investigator four months
ago, this is his first hunting homicide case. At least the case should be
relatively easy one as the hunter involved has already confessed to firing the
shot that killed the woman as she stood hanging laundry in the backyard.
According to the constable on the island, the controversial author was hanging
white underwear on the clothesline and should have known she could be mistaken
for a white tailed deer running away. The flash of white caused by her hanging
of her underwear may have so mimicked the movement of a deer tail, the hunter
made a fatal mistake.
Sent out to the
island with Ronette Landry of the warden service and Steve Klesko of the Maine
State Police, the trio has plenty of work to do even if the case is as simple
as described. Upon arrival on the island they learn the hunter has
recounted. There are other problems as well making it very clear this is
not the simple open and shut case they had been led to believe before they
headed out to the island.
For one thing, the
controversial author, who recently wrote a book about living undercover with
the Nazis in Idaho, is living on the island as part of her research into the island’s
notorious hermit. Yet, the cottage she rented contains no evidenced that she is
a writer or working on any project. It does contain evidence of her recent
partying, something the locals have made clear she is well known among the
residents for, as well as other items that do not fit the impression one would
expect of her. Then there is the fact the next day the real Ariel Evans arrives
on the island determined to find out what her sister was doing and who killed
her.
Stay Hidden: A
Novel by Paul Doiron is a turning point novel for the character of Mike
Bowditch. In this mystery, Bowditch has a new job with increased scrutiny and
pressure, his long term relationship with Stacy has abruptly ended, and there
are other issues. He is a man with a lot of pressure, conflicted feelings about
many different things, and very little help or an island where the locals deal
with their own issues in their own way and don’t like outsiders. Especially law
enforcement types.
The latest book in the
series that began with The Poacher’s Son is another good
one. Stay
Hidden: A Novel is a read that, as they all do, quickly pulls the
reader into the natural beauty of the Maine landscape. Things are always
complicated in these books because of Bowditch’s past as well as the
complicated characters in both minor and major roles. Nobody in this series is
a generic placeholder character. Then there are the actual mysteries themselves
to solve. A series that can only be fully appreciated if read in order, Stay
Hidden: A Novel is another very good installment.
Stay Hidden: A Novel
Paul
Doiron
Center
Point Large Print
August 2018
ISBN#
978-1-68324-874-3
Large Print
Hardback (also available in audio, digital, and print formats)
478
Pages
$38.95
Material
supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Public Library.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2018
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