Maine Archives - Criminal Element -- Login / Register Search for: -- Search for: Read Excerpts Reviews Author Spotlight Essays Interviews Book Listicles On-Screen Television Film Trailers Cooking the Books Newsletter Login / Register Maine Explore Mike Bowditch’s Maine with Paul Doiron By Paul Doiron June 16, 2026 Storm Tide is the sixteenth Mike Bowditch novel, and in some ways it feels like a culmination—because for the first time in the series, the story unfolds over the course of an entire year. The deaths Mike investigates, and that lead him to believe vigilantes are executing criminals who escaped justice, take him across Maine… Book Review: Pitch Dark by Paul Doiron By Janet Webb June 20, 2024 Almost always the smartest man in the room, Maine Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch’s career exemplifies courage, self-possession, and off-the-scales stubbornness.  Newly married to Stacey Stevens, Mike is on the cusp of middle-age, and it’s making him self-reflective. Have father-in-law Charley Steven’s homilies and aphorisms finally landed on fertile ground?  Nothing makes a person feel older… Featured Excerpt: Pitch Dark by Paul Doiron By Crime HQ Preorder Pitch Dark by Paul Doiron 3 When I got Charley on the phone and told him what Brandon had told me and what Stacey and I had subsequently learned—or not learned—about Mark Redmond and Hammond Pratt, and after I had explained my plan to ask Josie to fly us to Prentiss Pond, his response… Book Review: Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols By Doreen Sheridan May 20, 2024 Alex Brangwen is not your typical police detective. Once upon a time, the Englishman was a celebrated author with a novel shortlisted for the Booker Prize, a cultural cachet that was a large part of his appeal to his then-wife Morgana. At his American bride’s urging, the couple moved from London to Maine while she… Book Review: Patchwork Quilt Murder by Leslie Meier By Doreen Sheridan May 17, 2024 Reporter Lucy Stone is looking forward to covering the grand opening of a state-of-the-art community center in Tinker’s Cove, Maine, and not just because the building’s central air provides a welcome relief from the blistering heatwave outside. Lucy believes that the services the new taxpayer-funded facility offer will do a lot to benefit their town,… On Becoming a Cop by Peter Nichols, author of Granite Harbor By Peter Nichols May 17, 2024 Alex Brangwen, the protagonist/detective of my new novel, Granite Harbor, is a single parent to a teenage daughter—and a failed novelist. He lives in a small town in Maine, where a serial killer has struck, targeting teenage children. Some years ago—never mind how many—I was living in Tucson, Arizona, where my young son’s mother had… Book Review: The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen By Doreen Sheridan November 29, 2023 Maggie Bird is a woman quietly living out her sixties in comfortable retirement, raising chickens on a farm in the small town of Purity, Maine. Her biggest day-to-day concerns are what to do about foxes stealing her hens, and how to help her grouchy older neighbor and his endearing teenage granddaughter Callie, who’s taken quite… New Review: “Snakebit” A Mike Bowditch Short Mystery by Paul Doiron By Janet Webb May 26, 2023 “Snakebit” is a satisfying amuse bouche from Paul Doiron, a vignette from warden Mike Bowditch’s past that doesn’t follow the events of Hatchet Island, published in June 2022. Dead Man’s Wake, the 14th in the series, drops June 27th. “Snakebit” shows us Bowditch as a junior game warden. His personality, his relationship with his co-workers,… Dead Man’s Wake by Paul Doiron: Featured Excerpt By Crime HQ April 17, 2023 1 It’s a wonder that all marriages don’t end in murder-suicides,” said my stepfather’s new wife, Jubilee. Neil, my stepdad, nearly spit out his decaf. It was the evening of Stacey’s and my engagement party. In the five years since my mom had died, Neil Turner and I had drifted apart. We had never been… Snakebit by Paul Doiron: Featured Excerpt By Crime HQ March 20, 2023 Chapter 1 The woman on the phone refused to give her name, but she swore she’d just seen a rattlesnake on her hike up Black Cat Mountain. “I almost stepped on the frigging thing!” The man on the other end of the call was a Maine game warden named Mike Bowditch. “Did you get a… 1 2 3 4 Next Page » About Advertise With Us Terms of Use Privacy Notice Your Privacy Choices Contact Us Site Powered by Supadu The owner of this website has made a commitment to accessibility and inclusion, please report any problems that you encounter using the contact form on this website. This site uses the WP ADA Compliance Check plugin to enhance accessibility.