The Homicide Student

It would be tempting to say this true story was stranger than fiction except that I'm almost certain I've read it before in a novel:

In a grisly case that British newspapers have compared to the Yorkshire Ripper murders of the 1970s, the police on Thursday charged a 40-year-old man pursuing a Ph.D. in 19th-century homicides with the murders of three women identified by the police as prostitutes.

One victim was caught on closed-circuit television last week being killed with a crossbow shot to the head before her dismembered body was dumped in a nearby river.

Think for a moment about the diver assigned to recover that poor woman's body parts from the River Aire. The newspapers are likely to obsess over the warped psychology of Stephen Griffiths, the man accused of these gruesome crimes. But the inner lives of psychopaths have never held much interest to me. It's that brave diver and what he must have been thinking before he climbed into the water that fires my imagination.

In the Book Case

I'm the featured blogger this week over at the Book Case, a page of news and thoughts on publishing at BookPage.com. The editors asked me to talk about some aspect of how I came to write The Poacher's Son. It being Memorial Day (or almost) I couldn't help but tell the story of my being nearly killed by a lightning strike twenty-two years ago this weekend in the mountains of western Maine. That night continues to shape my life in surprising ways, as you'll discover if you click over there and read "A Haunting Memorial Day Weekend." 

Plum Creek Fined

Moosehead Lake by Lee CourseyAt my readings and book signings, readers have asked me whether The Poacher's Son was inspired, in part, by the plans of Plum Creek Timber to develop thousands of acres of forestland around Moosehead Lake. My answer is that I conceived of the book long before Plum Creek announced its specific project, but that personally speaking, I can't support a proposal that means building private homes on unspoiled Lily Bay (or other remote lakes and ponds). That's especially true when the developer continues to have a spotty environmental record. 

Short but Sweet

The Charlotte Observer has a brief review of The Poacher's Son that I appreciate:

Paul Doiron's debut novel explores the strange territory between fathers and sons with this tale of a game warden who refuses to believe that his ne'er-do-well father is guilty of a double murder. Doiron also paints an all-too-familiar picture of corporations profiting from destroying a way of life—this time, in the wilds of Maine. It's an engaging story, with a flawed hero whose childhood issues overwhelm his good judgment over and over again.

I've gotten a kick out of how many reviews have described Jack Bowditch (the poacher of my title) as a ne'er-do-well or a no-account. It must be a regional thing. In Maine we don't use those expressions. We just call people sons of bitches. You might also hear sons of whores on occasion.

More Books = Smarter Kids

I don't know anything about the methodology of this study about the role of books in the home, but the finding reached by Mariah Evans, an associate sociology professor at the University of Nevada at Reno, certainly grabs your attention:

This massive [twenty-year] study showed that the difference between being raised in a bookless home compared to being raised in a home with a 500-book library has as great an effect on the level of education a child will attain as having parents who are barely literate (3 years of education) compared to having parents who have a university education (15 or 16 years of education). Both factors, having a 500-book library or having university-educated parents, propel a child 3.2 years further in education, on average.

Even having just a few books in the home seems to improve educational attainment, says Evans. But the larger the library, the greater the impact. Expect to see this study mentioned a lot in the book publishing business.