My name is Morgan Carter and I’m delighted to introduce myself to book fans because I own a mystery bookstore in beautiful Door County, Wisconsin. My store isn’t typical, however, because I sell other things, strange things, curiosities and the peculiar. The name of my store, Odds and Ends, reflects what I sell. Odds refers to the unusual items I have, things like shrunken heads, antique Ouija boards, and artifacts carved out of bones of all types. Ends refers to the deaths that take place in the murder mysteries I sell.

In addition to owning a books and oddities store, I’m following in my parents’ footsteps by also working as a cryptozoologist. That’s someone who searches for and studies cryptids—creatures rumored to exist despite never being proven to do so, like Nessie, Bigfoot, or Chupacabra. I grew up traveling the world with my parents as they chased after cryptids. Sadly, it was while investigating a sighting of the Jersey Devil two years ago that my parents were both murdered by a monster of the human type, one I carelessly brought into their lives. Though I was the prime suspect in their deaths initially (and I’m not convinced that the New Jersey detective who investigated the case thinks otherwise to this day) the real culprit is a man I had just become engaged to. That very real monster is still at large, and I can’t believe I was naïve enough to fall for his charming, lothario style. Knowing that he’s still out there haunts me, but fortunately, I have the best treatment in the world for those moments when my anxiety peaks: my dog, Newt, short for Newton. I gave him that name because he dropped into my life unexpectedly a year ago, much like Newton’s apple. He saved me and brought sunlight into what was otherwise a very dark life.

As you might imagine, dating, or even trusting anyone, has been a challenge for me since the death of my parents, though the new police chief on Washington Island has potential. His name is Jon Flanders, or Flatfoot Flanders as my assistant, Rita Bosworth, calls him. I met him because there have been some mysterious deaths in Lake Michigan that appear to have been caused by an underwater monster like Nessie. The victims—first animals, then two men—have had large bite marks on their bodies. And the waters where these bodies were found are in an area known as Death’s Door, a strait that earned its moniker because it’s the final resting place for hundreds of shipwrecks and souls. Most people believe that dangerous shoals and unpredictable weather have been the culprits behind nearly two centuries of deaths, but Jon wants me to find out if the most recent casualties might have been caused by a prehistoric plesiosaur that somehow managed to survive in the Great Lakes. A typical day for me means balancing my duties at the store with my hunt for a cryptid.

Newt and I are investigating these local deaths with the help of my other bookstore employee, Devon Thibodeaux, whose computer talents are phenomenal. Judging from the mysterious warnings and life-threatening incidents that have occurred so far, there are those who don’t want me to continue with my inquiry. That won’t stop me, however, and so far, my investigation has led me and Newt on an adventure that includes historical intrigue, sunken treasures, and human avarice. Will it lead me to find a Loch Ness-type monster in Lake Michigan? You’ll have to read A Death in Door County to find out.

In the meantime, can I interest you in this tarantula preserved in Lucite? Or perhaps a deck of antique Tarot cards? If your reading interests and sense of humor run toward the dark and sarcastic side, might I recommend a Mattie Winston Mystery? Whatever your interests may be, come to lovely Door County and drop by Odds and Ends to browse. And be sure to say hello to Henry, the mummy mascot I keep by the front door.

A Death in Door County, A Monster Hunter Mystery #1
Genre: Traditional
Release: September 2022
Purchase Link

A Wisconsin bookstore owner and cryptozoologist is asked to investigate a series of deaths that just might be proof of a fabled lake monster in this first installment of a new mystery series by USA Today bestselling author Annelise Ryan.

Morgan Carter, owner of the Odds and Ends bookstore in Door County, Wisconsin, has a hobby. When she’s not tending the store, she’s hunting cryptids—creatures whose existence is rumored, but never proven to be real. It’s a hobby that cost her parents their lives, but one she’ll never give up on.

So when a number of bodies turn up on the shores of Lake Michigan with injuries that look like bites from a giant unknown animal, police chief Jon Flanders turns to Morgan for help. A skeptic at heart, Morgan can’t turn down the opportunity to find proof of an entity whose existence she can’t definitively rule out. She and her beloved rescue dog, Newt, journey to the Death’s Door strait to hunt for a homicidal monster in the lake—but if they’re not careful, they just might be its next victims.

About the author
Annelise Ryan is the USA Today bestselling author of A Death in Door County, the first book in the new Monster Hunter Mysteries, and the popular Mattie Winston Mysteries. Annelise Ryan is a pseudonym for Beth Amos, who also wrote the Mack’s Bar Mystery series under the pseudonym Allyson K. Abbott.

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