Bad Little Falls

I like Paul Doiron's Mike Bowditch mysteries because I love stories about sparsely inhabited areas and because I get to watch an impulsive, heart-on-his-sleeve, young man solve mysteries and grow up along the way. He is very...very... slowly learning that he doesn't know better than everyone else, and it's an attitude that needs to change before it kills him.

Bad Little Falls, like the other books in the series, gives readers an excellent feel for the wilds of Maine and the independent-minded, insular people who live there. As Doiron states at the end of the book, "No law enforcement organization in Maine has suffered more deaths in the line of duty than the Warden Service." That statement alone gives readers a better perspective on what show more Doiron's main character has to face.

Reading about an impulsive, know-it-all, looking-for-love, young man could wear a person out, so it's good that the cast also contains folks like veteran bush pilot Charley Stevens, "gimlet-eyed lesbian" county sheriff Roberta Rhine, and Lucas, the strange little boy who fills his notebooks with all the words he will not say and all the thoughts he refuses to share. In many ways, Lucas is my favorite character in Bad Little Falls. He can provide a little light humor when he ponders the subject of "Abnormal [Abominable] Snowmen," and he can also give you the shivers or even break your heart.

Populated with interesting characters, this solid mystery has plenty of misdirection to keep you guessing. It also provides a harrowing portrait of an area in this country that most of us know very little about. I enjoy gaining knowledge with my fiction. That's why I'll keep coming back to Mike Bowditch deep in the Maine woods. show less

It’s back to Maine and the travels and travails of young game warden Mike Bowditch. His competency at his assigned game warden tasks and his superb detective skills and determination have so far managed to almost balance out his inability to follow orders and keep his nose out of places he’s been told he doesn’t belong. So far. His reputation as an odd duck and a troublemaker always proceeds him, and he’s gone a little too far this time and finds himself exiled to a new post in the uppermost northern region of Maine. Well, the location may have changed but Mike Bowditch is still Mike Bowditch. What starts out as a rescue in a blizzard of course grows to involve murder, drugs, shady characters and more than the already usual show more large amount of danger Mike finds himself – puts himself? – in.

As always, the storytelling is superb, with great writing, a good mystery often based on actual events, beautiful, harsh, chilling landscapes and characters that are unforgettable. Bad Little Falls is another riveting addition to the Mike Bowditch series. Not to be missed. show less

Returning for a third story, game warden Mike Bowditch has been sent to what seems to be the Siberia of Maine. In Maine-speak, it's called Down East, but I don't think it's actually east. Poachers, drug dealers, speeding snowmobilers and organized hunts make Machias and Township 19 full of everyday, big city problems. A frozen corpse has the game warden once again trying to assist the police in a homicide case. Doiron does such a great job of depicting these small townspeople without making complete caricatures of them. Bowditch gets plenty of grief for sticking his nose into things that aren't his business, which is really business as usual for him. I wish we'd seen a bit more of Charley and Ora, but the end definitely left things open show more for another Bowditch book. show less

I finished this novel sitting at home, warm and cozy with a cup of coffee -- a great way to listen to a book about a blizzard. Bad Little Falls by Paul Doiron is the story of Maine game warden Mike Bowditch. He's been sent into exile, Down East, a remote outpost on the Canadian border. He's lonely, frustrated, and not making friends. Game wardens aren't popular with the hunters in the area, making it a very tough assignment.

Having dinner with the local veterinarian (what passes for his social life, these days), Bowditch is called to the cabin of a local couple. In a raging blizzard, a half-frozen man has appeared at their door, raving about another person, lost in the swirling snow. After a long, cold search they find the body -- but show more it's not the storm that did him in.

All in all, this is a good mystery. There are some holes and there are more than a few loose ends at the end. I like that about the story; nothing seems more fake than a tidy confession that wraps everything up in a bow. I found plenty of local color and enough talk of snow and ice to send me to the kitchen for a hot toddy. The mystery unfolds in fits and starts, as you'd expect. There's danger, a little bad romance, and bad things happen to some dogs -- and people.

My favorite character is Lucas, an odd little 12-year-old boy with coke-bottle glasses and the sort of bent outlook on life you'd expect, growing up in a family twisted by addiction and tragedy. His notebooks provide insight into the story and Bowditch's affection for the boy puts them both in terrible danger.

The audio portion is excellent. The accents are wicked good and it's easy enough to tell the characters apart. No distracting music and sound effects, just a good story, a competent reader (Henry Leyva) with voices and accents that fit the characters.

The problem with the book, for me, is Bowditch. What an idiot! He is constantly making the wrong choice, jumping to the wrong conclusion, and driving headfirst into brick walls. To begin with, I don't have a lot of respect for guys who can't keep it in their pants, and Bowditch knows he's making a bad decision! Every step of the way, he tells himself it's a bad idea and he does it anyway. The fact that things turn out okay in the end makes no difference. If he's this thick in every book, I wouldn't keep reading. Of course, that means I'll need to check out a few more, just to be sure. The series includes The Poacher's Son and Trespasser show less

Mike is still a bumbling asshat, but he does at least make a half-hearted attempt at being responsible for a few minutes this time. The story was a bit closer to that of the first book, which lent it the emotional depth that was lacking in the second. And the locals were cast straight from the Letterkenny "upcountry degen" mold, complete with icefishing sheds and snowmobiles (aka "sleds") which was entertaining.

Paul Doiron's Mike Bowditch series is a well-researched and rousing set of tales about the Maine warden service. This is the third in the series, and we've now been treated to a view of the Maine woods and wild-life (human and animal) in summer, in autumn hunting season, and now in the dead of winter. We've been to different parts of the state, and met many different characters. And Mike Bowditch still doesn't seem to be able to get control of his temper, his impulsiveness, his rebellion and his propensity for doing exactly what he shouldn't be doing.

The story starts as Mike tries to find a missing man in a snowstorm. He's been sent to the northern wilds of Maine because he's really ticked off his superiors. Supposedly this assignment show more will give him a chance for redemption.The snow scenes in this one are awesome. The tale is well laid out, and the reader has several different red herrings to knock down before figuring out exactly what the mystery is, who the real bad guys are and then who dunnit.

Doiron gives us raw footage, real life, and an anti-hero who is beginning to wear a little thin, at least for this reader. I really almost abandoned this one in the middle when Mike kept making really stupid choices. But I wanted to see how he would handle having his entire life sprayed by a skunk, so I muddled through, and ended up able to label it an enjoyable read. IMHO, it's not pulitzer material, but it certainly has more action, more twists, and more scenery than many of today's mysteries. The sense of place is undoubtedly one of the best features and readers will come away with a good sense of how hard life is in rural Maine in the winter. show less

I chose “Bad Little Falls” by Paul Doiron in an effort to get cool. Sometime it gets up to 108 here in Texas. not so in Maine.

Maine Game Warden, Mike Bowdich, lives and works in the Washington County Maine, a county where unemployment, drugs and crime run rampant. There is a blizzard too. On the plus side Washington County is the wild blueberry capital of the world. When he interviewed someone who had been living out in the country, he asked them, “How long they had been living there?” “Too long” was the answer.

I had never read a Mike Bowdich mystery before. At first I was a little disappointed by the rough language and by Mike Bowdich himself. Mike had been sent to this remote area because of his previous lack of judgment show more in his job. He retained that lack and could not curb his impulsiveness in this story. I just got used to it. But what redeemed him was his crazy sense of humor and encyclopedic knowledge of the oddest and often useful things and his boundless empathy for others. He really grew on me. Another great feature of this story is that although it got extremely complex, it still was easy to follow.

The story opens with a frozen zebra. That’s right a zebra in Maine. Mike was after a game farm that sold the chance of shooting zebras and other exotic wildlife. When he paid his visit to the game farm, all sorts of mayhem broke out including murder and uncovering of a smuggling ring, and a romance.
Machias, Maine which translates into Bad Little Falls has one restaurant, a McDonalds so a lot of the talking occurs there. Also, it is used as the local senior center. Washington was just as much a character in this mystery as the others.

Now that I know more about Mike, I like him very much, he had a sorrowful childhood, and his judgment mistakes are his, not mine. Now you know what makes this mystery so special, Washington County, Maine and Game Warden Mike Bowdich, I hope that you will want to listen.

I highly recommend this audio book. The reader was Henry Leya and he was perfect for this story.

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