Game warden Mike Bowditch's 12th adventure sends him hurtling through the Maine woods into the past, just like his first 11. Imperious Rhodesian-born widow Mariëtte Chamberlain is convinced that the death four years ago of her father-in-law, professor Eben Chamberlain, was murder, not the accident Sgt. Marc Rivard's investigation pronounced it after Chamberlain's decomposing corpse was pulled from the Androscoggin River. Now that Rivard has lost his job as a warden, she requests--no, demands--that Bowditch launch his own inquiry. This can't possibly end well, not only because Bowditch must deal with both the client from hell and a resentful ex-boss he was never close to, but because the opening scene has already made Bowditch the victim of a snowy act of sabotage that sends his Jeep plummeting into the river with him and Shadow, his companion wolf, inside. Shuttling back and forth between this calamity and the steps that led up to it, Doiron shows Bowditch dutifully questioning Arlo Burch, the last person to see Chamberlain alive, and Bruce Jewett, the hunting companion Mariëtte Chamberlain is convinced was the professor's secret lover and killer, while alternating chapters follow him as he escapes the sinking Jeep, makes his way from the freezing river, and struggles to warm himself before he succumbs to either hypothermia or whomever ran him off the road. Just in case the past doesn't look menacing enough, Doiron, like a dog who can't let go of a favored bone, brings back the criminal Dow family as yet another threat. A tour de force whose detective chapters pale beside its escape-from-certain-death chapters. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Once again, Doiron provides brilliant characterizations and a compelling narrative as Maine game warden Mike Bowditch struggles to stay alive and solve a mystery in his twelfth outing (after One Last Lie, 2020). Doiron sets his books in different months so he can capture the majesty of the Maine landscape all year round. This time it is December solstice, the shortest day of the year. For Bowditch, though, it feels like the longest day of his life when his jeep is hurtled into a freezing river after hitting some metal spikes in the road. He manages to free his wolf dog, Shadow, and fights his own way to the surface, but his gun and all means of communication are lost, and he is worried that whoever set the trap for him will come back to finish him off. Bowditch's survival skills are top-notch, and he wins an all-night battle to survive, only to have "them" come hunting for him in the morning. He realizes that he must have asked someone the wrong question, and chapters about his ordeal alternate cleverly with backstory relating to each of the house calls he made while investigating the suspicious drowning of a wealthy professor. This series just keeps getting better, although Bowditch is going to need some serious body-part replacements if he keeps going at this rate.

At the start of Edgar finalist Doiron's nail-biting 12th mystery featuring Maine game warden Mike Bowditch (after 2020's One Last Lie), Bowditch runs his Jeep off the road into the icy Androscoggin River after his tires are shredded by metal spikes intentionally left in the road. The game warden escapes from his submerged vehicle, but he risks hypothermia. Flash back to earlier that morning. Mariëtte Chamberlain asks Bowditch, who has a reputation for solving cold cases, to reinvestigate her father-in-law's death. Four years earlier, professor Eben Chamberlain, formerly of the British foreign service, was duck hunting on the Androscoggin when he apparently fell out of his boat and drowned. Since Chamberlain, according to Mariëtte, never would have taken off his life vest, she suspects foul play. Bowditch agrees to do a little digging and is soon headed for trouble. Doiron builds tension by alternating between his lead's battle to survive and the inquiry into Chamberlain's death, which he effectively doles out in small segments. This entry stands as the best yet in a superior series. Agent: Ann Rittenberg, Ann Rittenberg Literary. (June)

Maine game warden Mike Bowditch returns in this 12th adventure (after One Last Lie), where he seemingly innocuously reopens an old accidental drowning case that soon takes a dangerous turn. After running over a barbed metal trap, Mike loses control of his Jeep and plunges into an icy river. Summoning his survival training, he frees himself from the car and the river, but this is only the beginning. In wet clothes and freezing temperatures, his body can only take so much. An ice fishing hut provides shelter, and he's able to start a fire using his cell phone battery. Then the gunshots begin. Now it's not only a fight against the elements, it's a fight against humankind. Alternating timelines reveal an interesting contrast in the periods before and after Mike's ensnarement. Part survival story, part mystery-suspense, Doiron's narrative is fast-paced and engaging, but the ultimate resolution is somewhat disappointing, as it is only loosely related to Mike's case. VERDICT Readers of the series may appreciate the villain reveal, but those new to the books might feel slighted. A definite purchase where other series titles circulate; a pass for libraries that don't already own previous installments.--Vicki Briner, Broomfield, CO