STAY HIDDEN (on sale July 3) is set on Maquoit Island, which is roughly 20 miles off the Maine coast. As I note in the story, Maquoit is one of the state's most remote communities and the foggiest place on the Eastern Seaboard. I'm grateful to mapmaker extraordinaire Jane Crosen and designer Barbara Tedesco for furnishing me with this beautiful map to use in the book.
Booklist calls STAY HIDDEN "Doiron's Strongest Novel Yet"
I am thrilled to report that "Booklist," one of the important prepublication journals in the book industry, has given STAY HIDDEN a starred review, signifying it is a work deserving of special attention.
“Doiron brings all his considerable talent and his extensive knowledge as an outdoor guide in Maine to bear in this ninth Mike Bowditch novel.... The plot is complex, and the action intense, made all the more so by forbidding terrain. The characters are well developed and clearly defined despite the dense fog that surrounds them, literally and figuratively. The extraordinary sense of place makes this Doiron’s strongest novel yet. This is not Jessica Fletcher’s Maine.”
Read the entire review for yourself.
My Top 10 (Criminal) Influences
Taking a cue from my friend C.J. Box, here are the 10 crime novels that influenced me the most (in no particular order and probably not at all what you would have expected).
• THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES by Arthur Conan Doyle
• DEVICES AND DESIRES by P.D. James
• THE BIG SLEEP by Raymond Chandler
• FACELESS KILLERS by Henning Mankell
• HEAVEN'S PRISONERS by James Lee Burke
• MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS by Agatha Christie
• A THIEF OF TIME by Tony Hillerman
• DEVIL WITH A BLUE DRESS by Walter Mosley
• THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE by Robert Louis Stevenson
• WINTER'S BONE by Daniel Woodrell
No doubt, I am forgetting something because I tend to do that.
"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!