Killer Mysteries

I'm extremely psyched that my forthcoming novel, Trespasser, is mentioned with books by Ian Rankin and Walter Mosley in the new Kirkus Reviews:

Paul Doiron leapt from the editorship of Down East magazine to the big leagues of crime writing with his soulful debut novel The Poacher’s Son, which introduced game warden Mike Bowditch and earned a place on Kirkus’ Best Mysteries of 2010 list. Now in Trespasser, Mike must reopen old wounds in order to catch a killer with friends in high places. “The story picks up seven months later,” says Doiron. “Mike’s girlfriend has moved back in with him, and he’s trying to get on with his life, but he’s been left deeply scarred in ways he doesn’t want to admit. This is a book about guilt in many forms.” (Minotaur, June)

I'm not sure about the big league part. If anything, I feel like a Pawtucket player up for a cup of coffee, as they say, with the Red Sox.

Wind in the Wilderness

Perhaps the most controversial issue in Maine today is the fast-tracking of wind-energy farms throughout the state. One of the planned projects is slated to be developed in a place near and dear to me: remote Highland Plantation, home of my friends Greg and Pat Drummond who run the friendliest sporting camp in Maine, Claybrook Mountain Lodge. In the new Down East we decided to take a big-picture view of the issues around wind energy, from the opportunities and challenges of building offshore wind farms, to the nuts and bolts of turbines, to arguments against wide-scale development of Maine mountaintops. I also offer a personal anecdote.

Barry Award Nomination

I received word this afternoon that the editors of Deadly Pleasures Magazine have nominated The Poacher's Son for a Barry Award in the category of Best First Novel. I'm grateful to the judges for rescuing me from a long and grinding Hump Day!

The winner will be announced in September at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. I'm tempted to close with a "meet me in St. Louis" joke.

But I won't.

A PopMatters Best Book

PopMatters has chosen The Poacher's Son for its list of "Best Books of 2010." Not best mysteries, but best books. The list also includes Philip Roth, Stephen King, Emma Donoghue, and my old college drinking buddy Chang-rae Lee.

End of year lists are fluid; the best book you read in January may not make a list made in December, even if it is, in many ways, a better book than one you read in November. Stellar prose, tight plotting, even memorable characters are not enough to keep a book in mind for three months, let alone 12. This may seem harsh, but for a book to truly belong on a Best Of list, it has to meet one extra, often forgotten criterion: it must be engaging. “Best books” must capture the reader on not just an intellectual level, but on an emotional one, too.

If booklists have their own particular trend—and I think they do—this list presents an interesting, even surprising, take on 2010. Five of the 30+ titles present here are comics collections; many are dark and twisty, full of horrors that are sometimes a little too close to home (Super Sad True Love Story). More are “retro” or “vintage”, written in, or inspired by the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. Yet most unexpected is the number of crossover titles on the list—not just two young adult novels (The Thief, For the Win), but adult novels with teenage protagonists, like Jean Kwok’s Girl in Translation, Jayne Ann Philips’ Lark & Termite, and Emma Donoghue’s Room, narrated by five-year-old Jack. 

While these reflections on the past—and somewhat dreary prophecies of the future—may seem depressing, they’re not all as pathos-inducing as the reissue of Brian Moore’s The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne. Tucked into this list are several small glimmers of something sweeter, something to temper the Literary Drearies we all love and appreciate. And that’s just the way it should be.

All I can say about this is that I'm honored—and speechless.