A Death in Door County, the first in the Monster Hunter series by Annalise Ryan, was published in 2022. Death in the Dark Woods came a year later and Beast of the North Woods was published in January 2025.
Our Sleuth: Morgan Carter, early 30s, owns the Odds and Ends bookstore in Door County, Wisconsin. She’s also a monster hunter, or a cryptozoologist, with degrees in biology and zoology and minors in religion and mysticism. Oh, and she’s a professional skeptic.
Our Setting: We’re in present-day Wisconsin, on the tip of the peninsula that juts into Lake Michigan.
The Premise: Morgan has taken over her parents’ bookstore and their side business in cryptozoology after both were murdered. The killer has yet to be apprehended and Morgan, herself a suspect at one point, is understandably wary and distrustful of strangers. But she’s also a tenacious hunter. So when a local police chief asks for her help in identifying a possible Loch Ness Monster in book one, she can’t resist the chase.
My Take: We’re in expert hands with author Annalise Ryan, who also writes the best-selling Mattie Winston mystery series, and it shows. The settings are vividly rendered, the supporting characters are quirky and fun, and there’s a handsome if remote love interest to match Morgan’s own tough outer shell. Morgan is the clear star, though, an independent and stubborn woman still reeling from her parents’ murder who prefers to lean on her big rescue dog, Newt, for support over any human. Then there’s the fun of learning all about cryptozoology and the pursuit of a Loch Ness Monster in book one, Bigfoot in book two and Wisconsin’s own cryptid, the hodag, in book three.
Opening Lines:
I had just wiped some dust from Henry’s hat (dusting him was a regular Saturday chore) and was cursing my decision to move his corpse closer to the entrance when the bell over the door tinkled. A man — blonde, fair-skinned and blue-eyed, though a deep, dark blue rather than a pale almost gray-blue like my own eyes — entered my bookstore, bringing a new crop of Wisconsin late summer dust in with him. He stopped a few feet in, staring at Harry’s mummified body with horrified fascination.
“Is that real?” he asked.
“It is. Welcome to Odds and Ends,” I said. “What oddity, mystery or bit of magic can I find for you today?”
Heads Up: While there are some serious issues deftly handled here, such as stalking, the series leans more cozy than traditional mystery.
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