Knife Creek is a well-constructed detective story set in rural western Maine. It is narrated by Mike Bowditch, who is a Park Warden with responsibility for the local area. He and his girlfriend are in the woods getting chased by wild pigs when they stumble upon the corpse of a baby. Bowditch starts investigating by asking questions in the local area, and he makes another discovery, two women living in a remote rented house in seclusion, both wearing red wigs. The one who talks to him is hostile, and he is suspicious. But when he goes back to the house again to follow up, it explodes and he is lucky to escape with his life. The story gets more complex, with an old case resurrected and the detective who originally investigated it, now retired, angry at Boditch for calling his work into question. Bowditch has a reputation for making trouble with his pushy style, and he isn’t that popular with some people in law enforcement. His girlfriend Stacey is going through a transitional phase in her own life and she wants to move away from Maine to a different area. But Boditch has his roots in Maine, and he isn’t ready to move on, so their future is in question. His investigation into the dead baby may complicate his career and even lead him to risk his life. The unabridged audiobook is performed by Henry Layver, who gives Bowditch some charisma, and keeps the other characters well separated in their voices.

© 2018 Christian Perring

Christian Perring teaches in NYC.