America’s participation in World War I ran from 1917 to 1918, and although “the war may have been ‘over there,’ its effects were found throughout the state of Maine.”

Since this is the 100th anniversary of the end of the war, “Maine In World War I” is a fitting tribute to the 35,000 Maine men and women who served during the Great War — at home, at sea and in Europe.

ABOUT THE BOOKS

MAINE IN WORLD WAR I

By Jason C. Libby and Earle Shettleworth, Jr.

Arcadia Publishing, 2017

127 pages, $21.99

ISBN 978-1-4671-2663-2

KNIFE CREEK

By Paul Doiron

Minotaur, 2017

340 pages, $25.99

ISBN 978-1-250-10235-5

 

Jason Libby and Earle Shettleworth, Jr., are both eminent historians and members of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. They have produced an engaging photographic history of Maine’s contribution to the war, with 191 black and white photos and fascinating narrative.

They describe Maine’s patriotic fervor and civilian support, its war industries, coastal defenses (forts and artillery), ground and air combat in France, and biographical sketches of notable Maine men and women patriots.

Thousands of Maine men enlisted in the regular army, navy, and marines. Others joined the national guard, naval militia and even the Maine Home Guard. Many women joined the services as nurses, while others devoted their efforts to the Red Cross.

The authors point out how Mainers (including the Boy Scouts) raised several million dollars for government bonds and war savings stamps, as well as collections of material for the troops. Industrial output included shipbuilding of destroyers, patrol craft and submarines, along with munitions, blankets, boots, tents and marine engines. Maine agriculture produced meat, corn, wheat and potatoes. Photos and stories also tell of combat in France, and the heroism and sacrifice with hundreds of men killed, wounded, sick and injured. Patriot tales include Lieutenant Sumner Sewall, a Maine aviator and combat ace (and future governor), singer Rudy Vallee and Red Cross nurse Jane Jeffery, who earned the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in France.

. . . . . . . .

Feral hogs are becoming a problem in Maine — destroying crops, damaging woodlands and wetlands, and carrying disease — which is why Maine game warden Mike Bowditch is hunting these invasive, destructive pests. And then Mike finds the dead body of a tiny newborn baby.

“Knife Creek” is multiple award-winning Maine mystery writer Paul Doiron’s eighth novel featuring Mike Bowditch, a veteran game warden with a well-deserved reputation for insubordination, back-talk, stubbornness and tenacity. And this series just gets better and better.

This is a dark, gloomy mystery with Mike facing extreme, graphic depravity and cold-blooded murder — crimes that upset even the most hardened law enforcement officers. Readers beware: Several vivid scenes are not for the squeamish, but are well-written and add grim reality to the story.

The baby’s body has been deliberately placed in the woods where the hogs would find it, but Mike shows up before the hogs completely ruin the crime scene. He is shaken by his discovery, but is more disturbed when DNA reveals the baby’s mother was declared dead four years earlier.

The state police and county sheriff tell Mike to stay out of their investigations, but he can’t help himself despite their warnings. He snoops on his own, unknowingly coming face to face with a killer, a person desperate to protect identity and brutal criminal activity.

When he uncovers other clues, nobody believes his theories, so he makes a rash decision that puts several lives in danger, including his own. Only three people have seen the killer and Mike is one of them. Add sleazy backwoods slumlords, a vulnerable shopkeeper, a shyster lawyer, a charming teenage meat butcher, a dangerous bully, an obsessed retired detective, a very careful predator and a sharp state trooper, and Mike has a mystery he may not live to solve.

Bill Bushnell lives and writes in Harpswell.