Death in the Dark Woods by Annelise Ryan

 "When it comes to the creature known as Bigfoot there are three camps of thought: the skeptics, the believers, and the folks who simply see it all as a way to make a buck."

 

MORGAN CARTER -- bookstore owner and cryptid hunter. "I don't search for cryptids to make money; I do it because I love it and to continue the work my parents did in the field...I'm a cynic at heart, and I approach my cryptid searches from a position of science and reality, not speculation and rumor."

CHARLIE ABERDEEN -- a conservation warden in Bayfield, Wisconsin. She's a believer. Because when she was thirteen, she saw something in the woods that looked remarkably like Bigfoot. She just can't prove it. 

JON FLANDERS -- Chief of police for Washington Island, located off the tip of Wisconsin's Door County Peninsula, and Morgan's...friend? Boyfriend? They're still figuring that one out. 

NEWT -- Morgan's large, half blind, lovably sweet rescue dog. 

"There's something strange going on in the Chequamegon National Forest. We've had some Bigfoot sightings in the area, a couple of which have been rather...disturbing. One of them may have torn a man apart."

 MY THOUGHTS:  This is another entertaining and well-written mystery from Annelise Ryan. Morgan and Jon are both very likable characters, each with their own tragedy in their pasts. I liked seeing their relationship grow a little more in this one. Morgan is smart and resourceful. And I love her dog, Newt. The Bigfoot angle made the mystery a lot of fun. (But then I'm always a sucker for Bigfoot sightings in any book.) And did they finally find evidence of this mysterious cryptid? You'll have to read it for yourself to find out. This is the second book Ryan has written about these characters, and I enjoyed it as much as the first one. 

Happy Reading!

Ryan's previous book:  A Death in Door County

Other "Bigfoot" novels:

Roanoke Ridge by J.J. Dupuis

Devolution by Max Brooks

Buried in a Good Book by Tamara Berry

First line:  "There are at least three dead bodies in there."

Plot:  Tess Harrow is a bestselling mystery writer. She's also recently divorced and behind on her next book. In need of a change of scenery, she brings her 14-year-old daughter, Gertie, to her late grandfather's rustic cabin in Winthrop, a small town in the forested mountains of Eastern Washington. And while there's no WI-FI or running water at the cabin, there is a Bigfoot sighting. And a murder! Curious about what's going on--and needing inspiration for her next novel--Tess can't help but get involved in the investigation, much to the chagrin and irritation of the local sheriff, Victor Boyd. 

My thoughts:  There is so much to love about this book! Tess is funny; she's always coming up with plots and ideas for her next book which totally made me laugh. And I loved her relationship with her sarcastic teen-age daughter. Sheriff Boyd is great, too. His exasperation with Tess, and his wry comments about all the ways she gets police work wrong in her novels, were also humorous. I hope they get together in a future book. As for the mystery itself, I thought it was pretty entertaining. Tess spouts some wild theories about the murder along the way, but some of her crazy ideas actually turn out to be right. This is a delightful read. I loved the characters and really enjoyed the humor. It's a good first book in a new series by Tamara Berry.

Happy Reading!

Roanoke Ridge by J.J. Dupuis

 

"Are you ready to hunt Bigfoot?" I ask.

Laura Reagan's father believed in Bigfoot; he even captured the legendary creature on film once. But Laura is a skeptic. She runs the popular website Science Is Awesome and prefers science and fact to rumor and myth. Then Professor Sorel, an old family friend, goes missing right before the annual Roanoke Valley Bigfoot Festival and Laura returns to Oregon to help search for him. After all, she grew up hiking the mountains around Roanoke with her father. Only it seems Bigfoot sightings are up this year, and when a dead body is found in  the mountains that looks more like murder than an accidental fall, Laura begins to suspect there's something going on up on Roanoke Ridge. Is it Bigfoot? Or something else?

I don't know why, but I've always been drawn to Bigfoot novels. They tend to be fun, speculative fiction. And this book is no exception. I liked how Laura knows all the mythos surrounding Bigfoot, and how despite her confirmed skepticism, she keeps an open mind as things unfold around her. Ted the Ranger was also a fun character. And the Bigfoot believers, or 'squatchers', that she meets are certainly a colorful bunch. As are the hoaxers. If there really was a Bigfoot Festival like the one in this book, I'd go just for the fun of it. (And for the tee shirts!)

Overall, Roanoke Ridge turned out to be a fun mystery, well-paced and very entertaining. 

Happy Reading!

Other recent Bigfoot reads:

Devolution by Max Brooks

BIGFOOT DESTROYS TOWN.

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks. 

Eleven people live in Greenloop, a high-tech eco-community surrounded by untouched wilderness, but still offering all the conveniences of the modern world, including weekly drone deliveries. It's idyllic and safe. Until the volcanic eruption of Mt. Rainier cuts them off from the rest of the world, leaving them with no internet, no phones, no deliveries, and no way out.

"It's great to live free of the other sheep until you hear the wolves howl."

At first, they're biggest worry is food. And getting along with each other. But the biggest threat to their survival is something they don't even know exists, something savage and predatory...and headed their way. Something that just might make them turn savage themselves.

"...maybe there was some latent gene that woke up in those creatures when they stumbled across Greenloop and found themselves facing a herd of cornered, isolated Homo sapiens. Maybe some instinct told them it was time to swap evolution for devolution, reach back to who they were to reclaim what was theirs."

My thoughts:
This book is so good! I love it's epistolary style. The majority of the narrative is told in the form of Kate Hollands' journal. (She's one of the inhabitants of Greenloop.) Her journal entries are interspersed with interviews with her brother, Frank, who's still looking for her, and with Senior Ranger Josephine Schell, who found Kate's journal in the wreckage of Greenloop after the massacre.

Kate makes for a great narrator, describing her arrival at Greenloop with her husband, Dan, the beauty of their surroundings, their wacky neighbors, and all the strange and horrifying things that happen next. It's entertaining and compelling. And at the end, very suspenseful. Plus, there's bigfoot! I was hooked from the first page. And that ending! Max Brooks did it again. Devolution is one of my favorite reads this year, and will most likely make my Top Ten list of  books read in 2020.

Happy Reading!