Roanoke Ridge: A Creature X Mystery

Canadian Dupuis’s diverting debut and series launch introduces Laura Reagan, a cryptozoological investigator, and her best friend, Saad, who “knows the difference between hard science and pseudoscience.” The pair are on their way to Roanoke Ridge, Ore., where the annual Roanoke Valley Bigfoot Festival is underway and where they plan to help locate missing professor Berton Sorel, Laura’s mentor at university and family friend, who recently disappeared while working on a video production titled The Million Dollar Bigfoot Hunt. While looking for the professor, Laura, Saad, and the other searchers come across the body of Rick Driver, “a notorious hoaxer, known for claiming to have a dead Bigfoot in his freezer.” Is Bigfoot real? What has happened to the professor? Why are sightings of Sasquatch increasing? Quotes from noted champions of Sasquatchery add an amusing sense of authenticity to the narrative, though readers should be prepared for a longish lecture on Bigfoot and global warming. Despite the one-note minor characters, Laura has enough substance to suggest she can sustain a series. Agent: Kelvin Kong, K2 Agency (Canada). (Mar.)