Kennebec Journal Says Third Time Is the Charm

William Bushnell is out with his review of Bad Little Falls in the Kennebec Journal, and he calls it the best yet in the series:

Bad Little Falls is Camden author Paul Doiron’s third book in his wildly popular, award-winning mystery series featuring Game Warden Mike Bowditch. Following The Poacher's Son and Trespasser, this mystery is even better than the first two, which says a lot about Doiron’s exceptional ability to hold readers’ interest with compelling plots and enduring characters. Best, however, is Doiron’s keen talent for creating a palpable atmosphere, capturing the Maine winter in all its bitter-cold and snow-covered landscape, as well as the poverty, violence and despair of a Maine county too easily ignored.

Bill might just be the preeminent book reviewer in the state these days, having reviewed hundreds of titles for Maine papers over the past couple of decades. We know each other a little from a previous job I held, but he has never worked for me at the magazine, and he certainly doesn't owe me a favorable review. His honest opinion means a great deal to me.

Talking "Bad Little Falls" on "207"

I can't embed the television interview I did with Kathleen Shannon for the WCSH 6 TV show "207," but here's a link to our conversation. Doing TV is such an odd experience. Everything moves so much more quickly than you imagine. Five minutes pass in the blink of an eye. "It's like a waking dream," is the way one friend—a fellow print person—described it to me. That seems about right.

Bedtime Stories

I was invited this week to write a guest column for Suzanne Beecher's excellent DearReader.com. I suppose I could have written about deer hunting or showshoeing or the many macho pursuits I deal with in my novels. But instead I shared a little of my domestic side, specifically my nightly ritual of reading aloud to my wife, Kristen, each night before bed. Like many longtime habits I don't exactly remember how this one began, but I can scarcely imagine my life now without it.

My Night at Hotel ZaZa

I begin my new post at MaineCrimeWriters.com with these words:

I am writing this post in a balcony suite at the Hotel ZaZa in Houston, Texas. My room overlooks verdant Hermann Park and the city skyline. In a few hours I will be reading and signing copies of my new novel, Bad Little Falls, at one of the nation's premier mystery bookstores, Murder by the Book.

What follows is a reflection on the (fleeting) luck that got me to this place in my career, but also some predictions about the future of author book tours during this tumultous era we are living through. Check it out.

On Tour

I have no idea what book tours used to be like, but I do know that I am one of the lucky authors these days who gets sent out into the world to promote his book.

What this has meant for me is nearly non-stop motion. On Sunday I drove back home to Camden, ME, from a string of events in Massachusetts. Yesterday, I recorded a TV interview in Portland, ME. Tonight I do a reading and signing at a bookstore in Farmington, ME. Tomorrow night I drive back to Portland to catch a flight to Houston, TX (very early the following morning), for my first ever appearance at the legendary Murder by the Book.

In case you're wondering: yes, I do love it.