Crimes of the Sasquatch: Book I of The Sasquatch Series

by L.V. Ditchkus

Novice private investigator Dylan Cox heads to the Rocky Mountains to help find a missing six-year-old boy. His narcissist cousin, criminals, and eccentrics thwart his investigation with their agendas. Dylan will team up with wilderness-savvy woman, a man on the autism spectrum, and a hard-core Sasquatch believer to find out what really happened to the boy. He may have more at risk than he assumed.

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 4, 2020

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting story, well written, nice local touches if you are familiar with Colorado. Looking forward to book two.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Congratulations to Linda! Her first book, and it's a dandy. This is a book for Believers and non-Believers alike. The characters are well developed and likeable....well, some not so likeable!....and you'll quickly be hooked on the story, wondering what in the heck is coming next. And that's how I'm feeling awaiting Book II. Great job!

[John Bradford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in a series of detective stories featuring Dylan Cox. He is called by his cousin Nate to help find his missing son who disappeared in a small Colorado town. Most fear the child is dead, and Cox chases a series of clues that lead him to the assorted inhabitants of the town and even Bigfoot himself provided he exists. The book has a couple of nifty twists. When other community members are murdered and some animals are brutally killed, all suspicion turns to the Sasquatch. Cox grapples with a potential connection between these murders and the missing boy. This is an engaging mystery and a good first effort by the novelist L.V. Ditchkus. I look forward to reading the others in this series.

[Marjorie E]

The first chapter of this mystery/thriller will draw you in to this compelling story about the disappearance of a child in a small town in Colorado. The characters will keep you engaged as will the colorful small town setting. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Amy Bickers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was drawn in immediately! Loved the descriptions of the landscape and locals in this quaint Colorado town, I felt like I was there. Great hook at the end…looking forward to continuing the series.

[Cam Torrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

A missing child in the Colorado Rockies. A novice detective trying to make sense of a tangle of clues. And Bigfoot. Sounds like a pretty simple story for an author’s first novel. Right?

Wrong.

Ditchkus hits you from page one in this page-turning “whodunnit” with a setting that leaps off the page, characters that beg to be loved, despised, or laughed at, and a story that keeps you guessing all the way to its winding, twisting conclusion.

I read this book because I was interested in the setting, close to my hometown. I’ll read the rest of the series because I love the way Ditchkus writes. I’m hooked.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

On my personal scale five stars is a book that I could not put down with no flaws or such subtle flaws I can easily overlook them. Four stars is a book or story that's just as good and compelling, but is also one where I have just a few 'nitpick' flaws that stopped it from being that perfect book. The story moved at a good clip, the characters were distinct and easily recognizable, Merle and Erle are exactly what I want in my small town public service sector, and Jen was described as every man's dream girl. The setting was well fleshed out. And I could sense the connection between all of those characters, and their connection to the setting. I would still certainly recommend this one. Those few nitpick flaws? I personally felt the romance moved a little quick, or I just felt like the "spark" moments weren't as intense as I felt they needed to be to justify some of the leaps that the relationship took. I don't think this is a spoiler, but there was significantly less bigfoot in the story than I would have liked or that I honestly thought there was going to be. And while the town is nicely established, you can tell this is a love letter to the author's home town/state and so it got a little - for lack of a better word - preachy when talking about things Coloradans know and do that outsiders just don't understand. One last nitpick, and this only happened once, I personally am not a fan of when authors soundtrack their books by telling specific real world songs their characters are listening to or playing the background, just describe the genre of music and we can fill in the rest. But overall, compelling mystery, I would still highly recommend.