Judith Mathison's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Maine Game Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch’s truck is sabotaged and plunges into the icy, swift moving Androscoggin River.

His beloved wolf-hybrid mix, Shadow, is inside a specially constructed kennel which Bowditch must breach to release him. For the next 24 hours, the game warden is chased by people he’s previously arrested now seeking vengeance. Shadow appears several times to warn him of his enemies’ moves.

The writing is tight, the story suspenseful and reminiscent of Lee Child’s 61 Hours, where Jack Reacher is also trapped by a blizzard and battles to save a special woman and others in South Dakota from a powerful assassin. Both men are resolute in seeking justice, bravely fighting the bad guys and the elements to do so.

Great characters, great storytelling. Doiron paints a Maine winter perfectly (my birthplace) and as the clock ticks down, the story never lags!

Alex Kava has written a prequel to her Maggie O’Dell series 18 years after the first entry in the series, and 11 books later!

I was struck by the clever concept of going back to explain more about O’Dell, her serial killer arch-nemesis, Albert Stuckey, and the horrific cat-and-mouse games to which this monster subjected her. The author very deftly dives into these two fascinating characters, both with their human foibles.

Maggie O’Dell, FBI Special Agent and serial killer profiler, first appeared in A Perfect Evil. Stuckey is not the main killer in this book and only mentioned along with some of the damage he caused O’Dell, physically and mentally, by his torture and killing of two victims in front of her.

Her second book, Split Second, paints more of the Stuckey saga and his eventual escape from prison, but not until the prequel do we really understand how O’Dell was able to continue in her job, and manage to find a measure of peace and happiness. Kava’s character portraits are some of the best in the suspense genre, well worth checking out.

Deborah Crombie, a Texan, has authored this successful British series featuring two Scotland Yard detectives, Det. Sup. Duncan Kincaid and his wife Det. Insp. Gemma James. A Killing of Innocents is the 14th entry and it does not disappoint.

First, because Crombie knows the Brits well and writes like a native. Second, Crombie combines clever plots with a realistic portrayal of the couple and their balancing act of demanding police work while also maintaining a blended family with three children. 

The story concerns a stabbing victim Duncan notices in a pub. He is called to investigate the homicide, and so is Gemma, now employed at a different branch, but sent as part of a task force on the increase in knife crimes in London. Their parallel investigations twist and turn as another killing occurs, upping the ante to solve the murders.

Crombie highlights the different approaches Duncan and Gemma take to solve the crimes, along with assistants with their own fascinating subplots. Great read, very clever!