This is a darker side of Charley than I think any of us imagined. You will be on the edge of your seat thinking "What the...??" ( )

Bowditch chases down his mentor in the Warden Service, Charlie. He travels through the County and the very top of Maine to solve an old case and save his friend. Having just traveled the area and working in the northern woods his place setting was familiar. The characters were mostly believable w more than a few stereotypes included. Still its one of his better ones. Looking forward to the next one. ( )

Paul Doiron is one of my favorite writers, and his books just keep getting better. This particular story is about his mentor Charlie's disappearance, and Mike Bowditch uses his detective skills to unravel a complicated mystery concerning the past death of another game warden. Excellent storytelling keeps you guessing how the whole situation adds up to finding Charlie. ( )

This is the 11th book in Doiron’s crime series featuring former Maine game warden and now recently promoted warden investigator Mike Bowditch. (In Maine, game wardens are full law-enforcement officers, with all the powers of state troopers: “They are the ‘off-road police.’” A warden investigator, on the other hand, is “for all intents and purposes a plainclothes detective.”)

This book begins with Mike in Florida doing a background check on someone who had applied for a job with the Maine Warden Service. Investigating applicants to the service was one of his duties now; ultimately, he explained, “it was my responsibility to prevent an unfit candidate from acquiring a badge and gun.”

While in Florida, Mike contacted his former long-time girlfriend Stacey Stevens, daughter of his father-surrogate Charley, a retired warden pilot. Although Mike was now involved with Dani Tate, a former game warden who had transferred to the Maine State Police, he had promised Stacey if he were ever in the area he would look her up. Mike doesn’t quite trust his feelings around Stacey, but he accompanies her on a hunt for a Burmese python sighted in the Big Cypress National Preserve. In the process, Mike gets to compare the flora and fauna of Florida to that of Maine, allowing readers to do so as well.

Meanwhile, Mike got a call from Ora, Charley’s wife, telling him that Charley had disappeared. Mike rushed back home to see what he could find out; Charley was his hero as well as his surrogate father. He concluded that Charley was investigating a 15-year-old murder that had never been solved, and that he was in danger. Before long, Mike was investigating the murder also, so he could better follow Charley's trail and find him.

In the process, what Mike found out about Charley taught him that “only small boys and fools worship other men. The point of life is to find heroism in yourself.”

Mike’s personal life was in flux as well. The encounter with Stacey showed Mike he had unresolved feelings about her. Making matters more complicated, Stacey, who came back to Maine when she found out her dad was missing, announced she was moving back. If Mike survived the quest to find Charley, he needed to figure out what and who he really wanted.

Evaluation: I love learning more about the biology of Maine from Doiron’s books, and this one has the bonus of teaching me about Florida biology as well. The crimes in his books are complicated, but hold your attention. I always look forward to more stories in the series. ( )

Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch is in Florida due to a background check on a new hire and a little more when he gets a phone call from Ora Stevens. She is very concerned as her husband, Charles Stevens, has not been in contact with her for over 41 hours. The legendary Game Warden is not answering his phone and he had left her a rather odd note while she was sleeping. Something has him stirred up and she thinks she knows when it happened though what happened is a huge question.

During a recent trip, while they were separated, she thinks something happened as when he was back with her his mood had changed drastically. She thinks that he might have bought something from one of the dealers though she did not see him do it. By the next morning he had left, and she has no idea where he went or what he is off doing. Ora is very worried and reached out to Mike as he is family and she is alone and worried about her husband. Charley is the father Mike Bowditch never had so there is no question he is dropping everything to come back and hunt for his mentor.

That hunt for Charley is what moves the plot and the action in One Last Lie: A Novel. Like the changing beauty of the Maine wilderness, the past is a constant theme in this series and it certainly is here. Whether it be the past in the form of his father, an old girlfriend, a cold case, or his history with Charley, among other things, looking back is a strong theme throughout the work. All those hooks into the past can make the present a bit shaky even before somebody tries to kill you.

Unlike many authors who has several books and then seen to have some reads that are not as satisfying, Paul Doiron continues to create intense and deeply moving installments in this series. One Last Lie: A Novel is no exception as it proves in more than one-way Charley Stevens is dead on right. He often is.

I received an ARC from the author with no expectation of a review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2020 ( )