Introducing Paul Doucette, a historical mystery author from Nova Scotia Canada

 

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Hello,

            Allow me to introduce myself to this community.

             My name is Paul Doucette. I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in February of 1948. It was a time when the city was still pretty much as it was during the war years of the 1940s, in other words, a rough and tumble port city.

            I left home in 1964 to enlist in the Army at age 16. After serving for just over a year, I was honorably discharged and returned home. It was then that I embarked on a career as a Merchant Seaman that spanned 12 years. This gave me my first experiences with the world and its many diverse cultures. When I retired from the sea, I joined a German company with offices throughout North America as a Freight Forwarder but soon advanced to become one of a specialized group of experts handling industrial logistics worldwide (simple put I was responsible for the logistics of moving such projects as nuclear reactors/oil refineries from one country to another).

            Over the course of these careers I have worked and lived in many countries including, China, Russia, the Caribbean, most of North America, Mexico and parts of Central America. During this time, I also managed to acquire three years of university at Saint Mary’s and Dalhousie Universities in Halifax as a mature student. I majored in Philosophy and Anthropology.

            In the early 1990s I returned home and that was when I met my future wife. Unfortunately, she passed in 1997 and shortly after that I took permanent retirement. It was at that time that I decided to explore and develop my artistic side which I had suppressed in deference to work.

Briefly stated, I pursued a new career as a photographer, specializing in large format black and white landscape and architectural images. During this time I acquired a certification from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Photography. Unfortunately, about the time my work was beginning to be recognized my eyes began to present issues resulting in my no longer practising the craft.

            I continued on this path of discovery by diving into another artistic field that I long wanted to explore: Creative Writing. I have always been an avid reader of fantasy and mystery novels, so following the advice of an English Professor I had to write ‘what you know’ I opted for mystery fiction since I could develop stories set in familiar places where I travelled or lived and apply my knowledge of people, languages and histories. You see, it was my intent to write with an ear to dialects of ordinary peoples in their settings and to present those settings with a sense of both place and time.

            I believe I have succeeded in that goal with my Detective John Robichaud series, which is set in Halifax during WWII. I also have two other series written under the same method: Matt Murphy PI set in 1960s Greenwich Village (where I have visited many times) and Paul Jarvis set in the Pacific during WWII.

            I am the author of the Detective John Robichaud Mysteries. I currently live in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.