Mike Bowditch left the Maine Warden Service. That part of his life is
done, but when his mentor Sgt. Kathy Frost is forced to kill a war
veteran in an apparent case of "suicide by cop," Mike can't ignore his
guilt.
Kathy is under investigation for the shooting, but someone has already
found her guilty. A sniper guns down Kathy outside her home and she
would have died if Mike hadn't been there. He feels obligated to find
the man responsible, but without his badge Mike has little say in the
official investigation.
THE BONE ORCHARD picks up after the fallout from Massacre Pond. Mike
Bowditch is a wonderful character, not because he's a wonderful person
but because he's always compelling to read. He runs from problems,
carries too much guilt, and he neglects the people he loves. Because of
his flaws and his perseverance, I'm always rooting for him to make the
right choice, hoping that he'll be the man he could be if he stopped
sabotaging himself.
That perseverance creates a winding mystery full of tension and
conflict. Mike needs to fit all the puzzle pieces together. It's not
simply the need to figure out who committed the crime, but he also needs
to know why the crime was committed. His unwavering search for answers,
following clues from one suspect to the next, pulls the reader deeper
into Mike's world and into the mystery.
Author Paul Dioron never gives away too much information. He holds back
when he needs to and it's the perfect balance of letting the reader
solve the mystery alongside Mike and sensing impending doom. I really
like that delicate balance where I'm not sure what will come next but I
have my suspicions. Whether I'm right or wrong doesn't matter because
Paul Dioron has created doubt in my mind. He uses all the best tools of
the mystery genre to create a fantastic character, a plot that goes
deeper than finding who was behind the shooting, and to create a setting
that is integral to the plot. I've never been to Maine, but Paul
Doiron's descriptions of the Maine wilderness makes me want to go. The
love and knowledge he puts into writing such beautiful and real
settings, mosquitoes and all, connects the reader to the story and to
Mike because Mike is defined by his love of Maine and the woods.
If you haven't read any Mike Bowditch mysteries, you can read THE BONE
ORCHARD as a standalone book, but I do recommend reading The Poacher's
Son and Massacre Pond because they're fantastic. The events in both
heavily influence Mike's decisions and his current state of mind in THE
BOND ORCHARD, but Paul Dioron does a fantastic job of supplying enough
backstory to feel the emotional weight of previous events without
detracting from the current mystery.
THE BONE ORCHARD by Paul Dioron brings the reader back into Mike
Bowditch's beautifully riveting world. Untamed, dangerous, and rugged
can be used to describe both Mike and the Maine setting. Mystery loves
will definitely find many reasons to keep coming back for more of Mike
Bowditch.
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, Mike Bowditch has
left
the Maine Warden Service and is working as a fishing
guide
in the North Woods. But when his mentor Sgt. Kathy Frost
is
forced to kill a troubled war veteran in an apparent case
of
"suicide by cop," he begins having second thoughts about
his
decision.
Now Kathy finds herself the target of a government
inquiry
and outrage from the dead soldier's platoon mates. Soon
she
finds herself in the sights of a sniper, as well. When
the
sergeant is shot outside her farmhouse, Mike joins the
hunt
to find the mysterious man responsible. To do so, the
ex-warden must plunge into his friend's secret
past—even as a beautiful woman from Mike's own past
returns, throwing into jeopardy his tentative romance
with
wildlife biologist Stacey Stevens.
As Kathy Frost lies on the brink of death and a dangerous
shooter stalks the blueberry barrens of central Maine,
Bowditch is forced to confront the choices he has made
and
determine, once and for all, the kind of man he truly is,
in
The Bone Orchard by Paul Doiron.
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