Monster in the Moonlight (Monster Hunter Mystery, #4) by Annelise Ryan Format: eARC
Formats available: hardcover, ebook, audiobook
Genres: mystery
Series: Monster Hunter Mystery #4
Pages: 336
Published by Berkley on January 27, 2026
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads
Do werewolves exist? That’s the question skeptical cryptozoologist Morgan Carter has to answer in the latest entry in this USA Today bestselling mystery series.
The discovery of a dead body along Bray Road in Wisconsin sparks rumors of The Beast of Bray Road, a werewolf-like creature that is said to inhabit the area.
The dead woman has been mutilated by some kind of large animal. The community is convinced that the legendary beast is not only real but responsible for this brutal killing. In an effort to prove them wrong, the police bring in cryptozoologist Morgan Carter, who soon finds that the mystery runs considerably deeper than whether or not one mythical predator is on the prowl.
My Review:
Most mysteries begin with a dead body. The Monster Hunter Mysteries series, however, may be the only one that begins with a dead body that looks like it might have been mauled by Bigfoot. Or a Chupacabra. Or, in this particular case, the werewolf who has gone down in local Wisconsin legend as “the Beast of Bray Road”.
What makes Morgan an interesting investigator, and makes her cases compelling to follow, is that she’s definitely not one of the usual suspects when it comes to amateur detectives. She’s a professional cryptozoologist. Morgan is the one the police call when there’s a suspicion that Bigfoot or one of his local relatives is on the loose.
Not that Morgan is any sort of true believer, but neither is she a die hard debunker. Her mind is open to the possibility. But, really big huge ginormous but, the circumstances that would make the existence of a land-based cryptid possible in the present day border on the impossible. (Nessie is MUCH higher on the potentially plausible scale because the depths of the sea hold plenty of secrets that we still can’t reach.)
Morgan gets called into this case when the body of a local woman is found on Bray Road, the night after a reported sighting of the local cryptid, the Beast of Bray Road. (The author did NOT make this part up, which surprised the heck out of me. There really is such a legend and the book and movie about ‘The Beast’ do exist.)
The beast may not exist, but Lydia Palmer’s dead body certainly does. Someone or something killed her. The county sheriff hires Morgan, very much under the table and without permission of the town or the county, to figure out who, or what, “dunnit”. Morgan can’t resist the case, but then she never can.
But she also doesn’t expect the Beast of Bray Road to have killed the victim. It could have been an animal attack – and that’s certainly what the coroner wants to believe – even if that verdict doesn’t account for any of the questions that Morgan needs to find the answers to. Because an animal couldn’t have dragged the body away from the kill site without leaving bite marks.
And an animal certainly wouldn’t benefit from Lydia Palmer’s death. But there are more than a few humans who believe they will.
Escape Rating B: I’ve read this series from the very beginning, and have had mixed reactions over the (currently) four books in the series. I enjoyed book two, Death in the Dark Woods, the most, but after book three, Beast in the Woods, I was of equally mixed feelings about whether or not I’d be back. Howsomever, when I read Trailbreaker a couple of weeks ago I was reminded of Morgan Carter and her cases in the backwoods of Door County so I couldn’t resist coming back to check out this latest adventure. If only to see how Morgan’s best dog Newt was getting on with his human.
Newt is fine, and I am glad I came back. This Monster in the Moonlight was a considerably better read than that Beast in the Woods, even though Morgan’s romantic relationship with local Police Chief Jon “Flatfoot” Flanders was still giving her more angst than I personally wanted to read about for most of the story.
At least they are on the road to resolving their issues at the end, which left me feeling more charitable towards the whole endeavor.
One of the things that makes this series fun in general is that Morgan does not believe in the cryptids she’s hired to hunt. Her mind isn’t closed, but rather that her scientific training makes more of the usual suspects unlikely at best if not completely implausible.
At the same time, she still can get caught up in the human reactions, not that she believes in werewolves, but she can believe that under certain circumstances a human might believe they were such a beast. Or, that in the middle of the night, prowling around somewhere that someone is not supposed to be, it’s all too easy for any human’s flight or fight response to conjure up a monster or two in the dark even if they’re stone cold sober.
Especially if there’s a literal mangy bear crashing through the woods in the middle of the night.
Morgan never goes into her investigations believing that she’s going to find a cryptid, and neither do we. She does, however, expect to find plenty of people who want to believe, and even more who hope to take advantage of the potential in one way or another. Which is exactly what she uncovers in this case.
The sometimes circuitous route that she takes to reach that uncovering is what makes this series fun and just a bit different from those ‘usual suspects’. And not just because starting with Bigfoot is NEVER one of the usual suspects. Morgan’s job is to both rule things out AND to rule things in, while always keeping her eye on the victims and away from the sensationalism. It’s an interesting tightrope to walk, and I’m glad that reading Trailbreaker prompted me to take another look at the series.
(Although I keep imagining Bernie Dubicki from Trailbreaker and Morgan Carter crossing paths and I’d love to see THAT scene which is honestly way more plausible than Bigfoot – or the Beast of Bray Road.)
This fourth entry in the series does end on a hopeful note for Morgan’s personal journey. I hope that her romantic trials and tribulations are on the road to resolution because I find her cases more interesting than her personal angst, although your reading mileage may vary.
Still, I’m now looking forward to seeing who or what Morgan, with Flanders’ assistance, will be chasing down in her next adventure. With best boi Newt at their sides, exactly where he should be.
