What do readers think of Beast of the North Woods by Annelise Ryan? Write your own review.

I loved Beast of the North Woods by Anne lose Ryan.
The writing was very good. She was very descriptive in explaining the hodag..

The prologue was a great start to this story.A monster called a hodag. A creepy creature.

By the end of the second chapter ,there would be 2 mysteries. The first one was for Morgan to help her friends it's and Site's steps brother in-laws Roger and Roger's son,Andy.
Andy was arrested for the murder of an enemy. Andy denied it. Roger and Rita asked Morgan to help look into Andy's story.. Unfortunately for Andy, things don't look good for him, because he had history with the victim.

The second mystery will be who is sending Morgan messages letting her know she is being watched. There is a story there. Morgan had a suspicion as to whom it may be.

This story is a fast and interesting read.

The Author's use of obscure words is tantalizing! The mystery of the Beast in the North Woods kept me intrigued from the beginning to the end. I fell in love with the main characters and I am looking forward to reading the other books in this series. I can't wait to read and see where the Author takes me on the next adventure!

4 stars Thank you to BookBrowse and Berkley for letting me read this ARC. Publication is January 28, 2025.

A man is found dead and gutted in a field. Andy, having found the man, and it being his well known rival, is accused of the murder. He swears that he saw a Hodag and that that was the killer. But Hodags are mythical and never seen.

A Hodag is a knock off of a Big Foot in a spiny form with large claws. And this Wisconsin town billed itself as having friendly Hodags - sculptures all over town, a festival in summer and most businesses using it as a logo. So when Andy accuses the Hodag of the murder the town revolts. Just so happens that Andy's aunt works for a cryptozoologist. And Morgan flies into town to prove it was not Andy but was a Hodag.

Interesting? Yes. But that is just the start. This investigation brings more and more problems into view. One thing leads to another and Morgan has more problems to solve than she could ever have wished for.

This is actually the third book of a series, but it reads like a stand alone. I had no problem getting into the story. The description makes it sound humorous, but it is not. There is tension, mystery, suspense and a loving dog.

Probably not the kind of book that I would choose to read, however I found it relatively good and a nice change of pace. I liked it well enough to back up and add books one and two to my reading list.

I enjoyed The Beast of the North Woods. It had some fairly significant twists that were a pleasant surprise, but I found certain subplots entered the book relatively late, and I would've appreciated more (real) hints along the way, but that's my preference. Anyone who lives in / appreciates the Midwest will appreciate the references dropped throughout the book.

Annelise Ryan's "Beast of the North Woods" is a quick and easy read. The protagonist is a cryptozoologist - she hunts for legendary creatures (such as yeti, big foot, loc ness monster) that may or may not exist. She is hired by the brother-in-law of an employee. This hunt takes place in the Rhinelander, Wisconsin area and it is the infamous Hodag she needs to locate to show that her employee's nephew did not commit murder. Ryan describes the people and places very well as well as the process used by Morgan Carter, the cryptozoologist and narrator. There are several twists to the plot and I did not expect the ending. The conclusion was as well written and complete as the rest of the book. If you are in the mood for a light read, this book is a good candidate.

This book is a quirky cozy mystery replete with murder, the search for the mythical Hodag in the woods of Wisconsin, and investigation by a crypto zoologist, a study completely new to me. The intellectually eccentric characters bring a lovely level of charm to the story with elevated vocabulary. The narrative is a bit slow at times and the plot has a few holes. Overall, I enjoyed the opportunity to read an advance copy courtesy of BookBrowse and Netgalley.

I was excited to receive this book for early review - thank you BookBrowse and Berkley Publishers! I've had this cozy mystery series on my list to read since I heard about the first book, Death in Door County, at that year's Bouchercon mystery festival.

This is the third book in the cryptozoologist series, and despite my interest and intentions, I have not read the first two. I may have enjoyed the book more had I read the first two, and it's possible this book had spoilers from the first two (not sure, but always a chance), I felt this book read perfectly fine as a stand-alone.

I enjoyed the book, and thought the mystery was well-done. There were a few additional subplots that either supported the main story or kept the momentum going. The mystery is resolved in a satisfactory way. While I initially thought some aspects may have been a bit too far fetched, the author actually has a note addressing the reality of these aspects at the end of the book.

The setting, as with so many cozy mysteries, is a small town, but it wasn't an overly twee version of a small town and it isn't the character's home turf.

The main character's subject matter expertise - cryptozoology - and the fact that she is being hired for her experience make the book stand out a bit from the knitting/baking/bookstore owning amateur sleuths (though don't get me wrong, I do love those kind of cozies, too!). She is an interesting mix of cool-headed practicality and anxiety; I appreciated the nod to mental health, though it wasn't much more than that. She approaches her search for cryptids and her investigation of other aspects of the murder in a logical way, so even though the subject matter is unusual, the character isn't a fraudster or gullible, or otherwise untrustworthy.

Community is what makes cozy mysteries, in my opinion, and this book has a good, if small, supporting cast. I liked the inclusion of a strong older woman and a social media-savvy young man. Her dog is a big part of the draw, so cozy fans who like their series with a pet friend will enjoy Newt.

Two nits for me: I was a little surprised at how gruesome the opening scene was. Normally cozy mystery murders take place off stage, so to speak, but there was a fair amount of gore description. It may have been especially noticeable because I was having dinner while I read. And a lot of chapters ended with heavy handed foreboding. Once, maybe twice is good foreshadowing, but it seemed excessive.

Overall I enjoyed this book and I will definitely return to the first two books in the series. I'll be curious if the main character travels away from home in both of these books as well, or whether there's more focus on developing the character's backstory and her relationships with the secondary characters.

I think traditional cozy readers who are willing to go along for the ride on a search for make believe creatures will enjoy this book.

Beast of the North Woods by Annelise Ryan is a quick, entertaining read that has certainly elevated my interest in the state of Wisconsin and especially the small town of Rhinelander. This real town celebrates a strange spirit creature called a Hodag which was supposedly born from the ashes of abused, cremated oxen, has red eyes, fangs and a dragon's body. Is it really out there in the woods and can it kill people? The residents of the town embrace and protect the reputation of the creature even when a dead body has been found showing signs of a brutal attack. A witness claims to have seen a Hodag at the site of the murder. Can a professional cryptozoologist prove the killing was really committed by the Hodag? This book puts a small Wisconsin town on the map and is bound to increase the number of tourists who visit next summer. I might just go myself.