While it's been almost 40 years since American author Howard Norman called Nova Scotia home, the Maritime province is never too far from his mind.

Since around 1990, the Ohio-born Vermont resident has frequently set his books in Nova Scotia and its capital city of Halifax.

"I feel like my imagination has a kind of dual citizenship," said Norman, 68, whose published works include children's stories, memoirs and fiction.

Norman's Next Life Might Be Kinder, What Is Left The Daughter, The Museum Guard: A Novel, Devotion and My Famous Evening: Nova Scotia Sojourns, Diaries, and Preoccupations all have ties to Nova Scotia.

One notable exception is 1994's The Bird Artist, a tale of love and murder set in coastal Newfoundland in the early 1900s that caught the eye of legendary performer David Bowie, who once listed the novel among his 100 must-reads.

That work was a fiction finalist for the National Book Awards, a prestigious American literary competition of which past winners include Norman Mailer, John Updike and E. Annie Proulx.

Norman was also a finalist in the same category in 1987 for The Northern Lights, a coming-of-age story set in 1950s Manitoba.

Repeat visitor

The author's latest book, My Darling Detective, takes place in 1970s Halifax.

Howard Norman's newest book, My Darling Detective, is set in 1970s Halifax. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

"There's an intellectual probity that I always find compelling to apply to Halifax, but it's just the way one gets to view the same place at different angles," said Norman.

"It seems to endlessly sustain me in that regard ... for me, it just keeps rejuvenating my interest and intensifying my sense of storytelling."

He's not sure what initially drew him to Canada's East Coast, but in 1970, he began living in Advocate Harbour, a small fishing community that lies along the Bay of Fundy. Though he stopped living there in 1980, the salted sea air keeps drawing him back to Nova Scotia.

Norman has admittedly "fairly clichéd" reasons for returning again and again, both literally and literarily: the seaside, the people, the weather.

His last trip to the province was 18 months ago. When visiting, Norman has been known to stop by the Nova Scotia Archives for research before returning to Vermont to write.

Newest work features local landmark

The opening scene of My Darling Detective is set at the Lord Nelson Hotel, a downtown Halifax landmark. The book involves love, murder and mystery, and begins with an act of vandalism at an auction involving a photo taken by famed war photographer Robert Capa.

The detective assigned to the case, Martha, is engaged to a man named Jacob, whose mother is accused of the crime. As Martha investigates the case, she unearths history about Jacob's family, details he wasn't aware of.

Martha and Jacob's relationship is one that fits along the lines of how Norman's work often covers romance.

"I write a lot about difficult courtships, you know, where everything seems to be working against two people, but their intuitions keep them close," he said.

Norman said he plans to write another book involving the characters from My Darling Detective.

Asked if he'd consider moving back to Nova Scotia, Norman said Vermont — with its strong sense of community — is similar to his former Maritime home.

"There's quite a similarity in terms of how people comport themselves and behave toward each other.... There's not a very difficult transition between Vermont and Nova Scotia for me," he said.

However, he said the American political climate does give him pause.

"Our present political atmosphere in the U.S. would certainly sponsor any sane person to perhaps think of living elsewhere."