Paul Doiron Interview

Written by Christopher High

Paul Doiron is the author of the Mike Bowditch series of crime novels. The first book in the Mike Bowditch series, The Poacher's Son, won the Barry Award for Best First Novel and the Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel. Born in Maine, United States he has also been nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author

“The parts I like best and like least about writing are the same: Composition.” So says Edgar nominated, Mike Bowditch author Paul Doiron, whose fifth novel featuring the cop-turned-Game Warden, The Bone Orchard (Constable), is out now. “I struggle with putting words down on paper and I deal with it by imaginarily chaining myself to my chair. And yet nothing gives me greater pleasure than getting into a zone where the words are just flowing. I always enjoy editing, especially when I read a passage and say to myself, ‘Where the hell did that come from?’”

In the aftermath of a family tragedy, Mike Bowditch has left the Maine Warden Service and is working as a fishing guide in the North Woods. But when his mentor Sgt. Kathy Frost is forced to kill a troubled war veteran in an apparent case of 'suicide by cop,' he begins having second thoughts about his decision. The aftercare of of returning War Vetrans is one reccurs throughout the novel and is something the auhtor has stron opinions about. “There has been a real scandal in the US with the way our government has treated the wounded veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They remain a hidden population in much of America, these people with traumatic brain injuries and prosthetic limbs. I have many friends from childhood who served in the wars, and they have been important sources for me. I also got to know a military policeman who worked in the same prison as Jimmy Gammon. He was immensely helpful. Occasionally, I will have a reader tell me now that The Bone Orchard touched them because they have a child who was injured in the fighting, and returned a different, unrecognizable person, just as happens in the book. It breaks my heart, and yet it was my hope for how the novel would be read.”

Maine is “famous” for being the home of another world renowned author. Have your paths ever crossed and which author would he most like to quiz, should he ever find himself trapped in a lift with them? “Strangely enough, despite Maine being a small state, I have never met Stephen King although I have heard that he is fairly accessible. I know him to be a voracious reader so it wouldn’t’t surprise me if he has read one or more of my books. I have a policy, though, of never asking anyone what they think of a novel of mine. If their opinion is good, they will let you know. Otherwise, it’s better not to ask. As to being in a lift with another writer, probably Flannery O’Connor because I struggle with my Catholic upbringing — faith is a problem for me, as it is with Mike Bowditch — and I’d want her reassurance. I also know that she would make me laugh at ourpredicament.”