Doug Herle lives in Edmonton, Alberta. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Communications in Professional Writing, with distinction, from MacEwan University. His main focus was in speechwriting, essays and fiction. No Solace in Death is his first novel.

 

No Solace in Death is based on a short story (of the same name) that I wrote back in university for a creative writing class. Many of the characters in the short story are the same, including the protagonist, who was then named Benjamin Bradley. Having watched  and enjoyed classic detective noir films like the The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep (both with Bogart), I developed a love of the genre and went to the source material, reading Chandler, Hammett, MacDonald, Spillane, etc... I was hooked. When I started my short story, I wanted to write a detective, who, like many other protagonists of great noir literature, had a personality that was both off-putting, yet likable and had a distinct voice and wit. The novel format allowed me to flesh out the main character by building on his flaws and strengths. I hope it's a character that every fan of hardboiled detective novels will enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing. This quote from Benjamin Thomas is what I believe describes him best.

"I picked up the flask and shook it. It was empty. My heart broke."

​

As for the Setting - I chose Arizona because of the scenery. I was in Tucson Arizona a few years ago and was struck by both its barren landscape and the beauty of the red mountains and the sunset where the tangerine sky is swallowed a dark blue. The Arizona desert offered idyllic scenes that I won't forget and have never seen anywhere else. Although the story is set in a fictional town of Arizona, it could have taken place any of the Arizonan cities.

​