"Booklist" RAVES ABOUT KNIFE CREEK

This is always such an itchy time for me, before a book comes out. The novel is done. There is nothing for me to do on my end except to help my excellent publicity and marketing teams plan the tour and promotional campaign. And, of course, to wait for the pre-publication reviews to begin coming in. Here's an excellent one from "Booklist." 

““Without the sense of smell and troubling appetite of Maine game-warden Mike Bowditch’s latest assigned scourge—invasive feral pigs newly spotted near Knife Creek—the barely buried corpse of an infant might never have been noticed. When it is, and state police begin a homicide investigation, Bowditch gets involved, like readers know he will. Under the guise of tracking the problematic pigs, he stumbles upon a hidden home near the crime scene and meets its unsettling residents: two women wearing matching cherry- red wigs. Bowditch soon believes one of them to be Casey Donaldson, a long-missing young woman presumed dead, but others are reluctant to endorse another one of his notorious hunches—especially when Casey’s alleged killer is about to be brought to justice. Meanwhile, Bowditch and his girlfriend, Stacey, tread rough relationship waters while they wait to hear if he’ll get the promotion he’s applied for. This solid eighth entry in the Mike Bowditch series, following WIDOWMAKER (2016), is full of strong characters, great dialogue, and Doiron’s signature command of the rugged and natural Maine setting.” ”

Thank you, Annie Bostrom, for the wonderful notice.

At the 2017 Edgar Awards

The Edgar Awards are presented each year by the Mystery Writers of America to honor the best creative works in our genre. (My debut, The Poacher's Son, was a finalist in the Best First Novel category in 2011.) As a judge in the Juvenile Fiction category, I had the privilege of co-presenting the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery with my fellow panelist, the wonderful Hank Phillippi Ryan. Our committee selected OCDaniel by Wesley T. King as the winner, but all of the finalists were worthy of the prize. This was my third time serving as an Edgars judge, but my first time presenting. What an honor it was! 

PW on KNIFE CREEK: "Intelligent," "High Suspense," "Complicated."

"Publishers Weekly" is out with its advance review of KNIFE CREEK, and I couldn't be happier: 

“Edgar-finalist Doiron’s intelligent eighth mystery featuring Maine game warden Mike Bowditch (after 2016’s Widowmaker) finds Mike and his girlfriend, Stacey Stevens, in the woods of western Maine, where their job is to kill feral pigs that have migrated into the state and pose a serious environmental threat. To their horror, they discover that one pig has been eating buried human remains belonging to a weeks-old female infant. Mike and Stacey are even more unsettled when they realize that the corpse was likely buried in that specific location in a deliberate attempt to have it consumed by the pigs, eliminating any evidence of its existence. When Mike, who’s hoping for a promotion to investigator, starts looking into who might be responsible for the burial and the possible infanticide, he encounters someone long believed dead and triggers a wave of violence. Doiron maintains a high level of suspense while adding new insights into the character of his complex lead. Agent: Ann Rittenberg, Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency. (June)”

— http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-250-10235-5

Stay tuned for more!

Follow Me on Facebook

As Facebook has grown, I have found it easier to publish updates — news and reviews — on my Paul Doiron Books page rather than keep this section of my website constantly updated too. I realize that not everyone has a Facebook account. (I admire your firm resistance) so I will do my best to publish important news here as well. But I would encourage those of you on Facebook to Like my page. 

What Really Happened to Geraldine Largay?

The Bollard, an alternative newspaper in Maine, has published an article about the disappearance of Geraldine Largay, the retired nurse who vanished on the Appalachian Trail two years ago this month, that puts into print a rumor that that I have only heard before in conversation.

Largay's disappearance was an important influence on my decision to write The Precipice — although I took pains to separate my novel from her story. I didn't want to exploit what is very much an ongoing missing persons case with family and friends still mourning the loss of someone they loved. If you are unfamiliar with what happened to Gerry Largay, the best place to start is Kathryn Miles's great Boston Globe piece.

The Bollard article, written by Hutch Brown, takes the story into the realm of conspiracy theory:

“Largay vanished along a section of the trail bordered, to the north, by a secretive military facility where trainees are left to fend for themselves in the woods, then hunted down and tortured in a mock prisoner-of-war camp. Operated by the U.S. Navy, and located in Redington Township, the facility is one of our country’s notorious SERE Schools. The acronym stands for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, though very few students have ever managed the last part.”

“Is it just a coincidence that the baffling vanishing of this person took place a stone’s throw from a place closely associated with programs designed to make people disappear? SERE instructors, SERE tactics and, perhaps most controversially, psychologists involved with SERE training have all been linked to the torture of detainees abducted abroad and sent to clandestine “black sites” run by the military and the C.I.A. For the first 11 years of its existence, The Redington facility was essentially a domestic “black site” for the torture of our own troops.”

I have heard this rumor before, and I agree that the mention of the SERE base being adjacent to the section of the AT where Gerry Largay disappeared was curiously absent from media coverage of the search. There is a lot about what Hutch Brown has written here that I like, and I applaud The Bollard for pointing out the existence of the SERE school and its proximity to the AT. 

Here's my issue, though: Buried in this article is some unstated speculation about what might have happened to Largay. She was killed by someone at the SERE school? (Why?) She died but the Navy was so protective of its privacy that no one cared to look for her body? (Really?) This speculation leads inevitably to some sort of massive government-authorized cover up. I would suggest that the responsible way to put forward this theory would be to admit these implications. I'm not a fan of the "raises questions" school of journalism.

UPDATE: As compelling as conspiracy theories can be, the truth is usually more mundane. One of my readers pointed me to this entry from the Franklin County Sheriff's log the week before Largay disappeared:

"07/06/2013 Deputy Zecher responded to the Appalachian Trail in Wyman Township regarding a complaint from a female hiker. The complainant stated that there was a strange man who goes by the name of Richard (nickname brown blazer) had been acting strange. He has been leaving threatening messages on the AT trail recording logs. No one person has been targeted, however, she wanted to report it to law enforcement. A check of the trail heads did not reveal any vehicles that came close to the alleged offender’s first name. Notification has been made throughout the hiking community."

POSTSCRIPT: In the Bangor Daily News, Michael Kessock, a retired Navy pilot, offers a devastating response to Busby's depiction of SERE school. 

POSTSCRIPT TO THE POSTSCRIPT: Because this post continues to show up on Internet searches, people who find their way here often don't know that Geraldine Largay's body was indeed found and the circumstances of her death established beyond doubt. Kathryn Miles wrote a comprehensive account of what we now know about this tragedy for the Boston Globe. It's worth reading.