First up is Welcome to Meskousing, by friend and colleague Sean Patrick Little. Set in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin in the fictional county of Meskousing, the story follows Shelby Ree, who becomes the sheriff of Meskousing County after a few years as a deputy sheriff in nearby county. Meskousing, as it turns out, is full of weirdness, and Ree has to find her way through a new job, a new home, and a place full of mystery and the unknown. As usual, Sean’s characterizations are very good, and he gives the reader a strong sense of place with his fictional town set in the Driftless. Don’t let the subtle cover design fool you; I found Welcome to Meskousing very enjoyable, and a fast read that is well worth your time.

I discovered Hodag Days by accident, and have been delighted with it ever since. A playful romp through the legends and lore of Wisconsin’s north woods, Hodag Days follows an attorney who represents… unusual clients. His main job is keeping the cryptid community out of the public eye as much as possible, and that’s a challenge when one of them hijacks and entire truck full of beer in broad daylight. Fun and light-hearted, the story also has its share of dark and suspenseful moments too. This is the second book in a series.

We depart from the (less than) completely safe environs of Wisconsin for a trip across the pond. I encountered Vivian Shaw’s Strange Practice as part of our reading list for a steampunk book group I help administer. Turns out this isn’t at all steampunk, but I was so smitten with it we added it to the list anyway, and it was a big hit. Doctor Greta Helsing specializes in treating medical ills of the undead, and business is surprisingly booming in the modern-day greater London Metropolitan area. Shaw’s wry sense of humor shines through, and her characters are strong, believable personalities in their own right. Not exactly cryptids, but close enough for horseshoes and holy water bombs. Strange Practice is the first book in this series.

Publisher eSpec Books has an entire series of cryptid themed novellas (Novelettes? Novelinas?) under the series title Systema Paradoxa that cover a wide range of legendary critters. So far I’ve read two, both by authors with whom I was already familiar—Aaron Rosenberg and David Lee Summers—and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. I highly recommend checking out the list for A) authors you recognize, and B) cryptids about whom you want to read more. I intend to pick up several more volumes from this series in the very near future.