Game Warden Mike Bowditch must chase down a cunning and dangerous fugitive in the North Maine Woods in this nail-biter of a thriller from Edgar Award-nominated author Paul Doiron, Pitch Dark.
Legendary bush pilot Josie Jonson can’t believe her luck when a skilled builder just happens to show up after she purchases land near Prentiss Pond. All Mark Redmond asks in return for building Josie’s dream cabin is that he be left alone to homeschool his 12-year-old daughter, Cady.
For Maine game warden investigator Mike Bowditch, the intensity of Redmond's secretiveness is troubling, especially in light of suspicious criminal activity being reported around the area―including rumors of an armed man offering large sums of money in exchange for the location of Redmond and Cady. Josie, though hesitant to violate the trust of her prized builder, eventually agrees to fly Mike and his father-in-law Charley Stevens to the secluded pond in an attempt to protect Redmond and Cady. But hours after landing, the trip takes a dark turn when they witness a horrific murder and are taken captive themselves.
Freeing himself, Mike is forced to set off through the impenetrable Maine forest towards Canada, alone and unarmed in pursuit of a mysterious fugitive. As he navigates a windblown landscape choked with deadfalls and blocked by swollen streams, he marvels at his enemy’s bush craft. The killer possesses skills surpassing his own, and Bowditch can't tell if he is the cat or the mouse in this dangerous game. Can Mike Bowditch stop his adversary in time to save the life of a young girl, or will he be forced to watch another innocent soul die?
The series
In the dense, whispering woods of Maine, justice isn’t handed down in courtrooms—it’s hunted, tracked, and sometimes lost to the wild. That’s the world readers step into with the Mike Bowditch series, a brooding, atmospheric journey through crimes that are as tangled and unforgiving as the forests they’re born in.
Read full series description
At the heart of these wilderness thrillers is a flawed but fiercely principled game warden whose badge grants him little authority—and even less protection—against the quiet violence of rural life. As he patrols the vast, remote territories where civilization thins and loyalties are buried deeper than any trail marker, he’s pulled into investigations that often pit him against his own past, the people he’s sworn to serve, and the brutal indifference of nature itself.
What sets this series apart isn’t just the crimes—it’s the terrain. The stories unfold in a starkly beautiful landscape where survival is never guaranteed, and the line between hunter and hunted can vanish in a snowstorm. The writing is lean, evocative, and often laced with a quiet dread that builds with every page, mirroring the unforgiving wild that shapes every decision.
Critically praised for its authenticity and emotional depth, the series draws in fans of literary crime fiction who appreciate tightly-woven plots grounded in real-world stakes. These are not just whodunits—they’re stories about consequence, about what it costs to do the right thing when no one else will.
For those who crave mystery novels steeped in nature, rich with moral complexity, and guided by a voice that understands both the darkness of the woods and the men who walk them, this is a journey worth taking—though it may not always lead where you expect.
#1 · 2010The Poacher's Son 
#2 · 2011Trespasser 
#3 · 2012Bad Little Falls 
#4 · 2013Massacre Pond 
#4.5 · 2014The Bear Trap 
#5 · 2014The Bone Orchard 
#6 · 2015The Precipice 
#7 · 2016Widowmaker 
#8 · 2017Knife Creek 
#8.5 · 2018Rabid 
#9 · 2018Stay Hidden 
#9.5 · 2019Backtrack 
#10 · 2019Almost Midnight 
#10.5 · 2020The Imposter 
#11 · 2020One Last Lie 
#11.5 · 2021The Caretaker 
#12 · 2021Dead by Dawn 
#12.5 · 2025Skin and Bones 
#13 · 2022Hatchet Island 
#13.5 · 2023Snakebit 
#14 · 2023Dead Man's Wake 
#15 · 2024Pitch Dark 
#15.5 · 2026Blaze Orange 
#16 · 2026Storm Tide 
#17 · 2027Cold Front Be the first reviewer
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