Shorelines of the Great Lakes, by Erick Carne, 1996.
Long-time architect and artist in Plymouth, Mr. Carne died in 1996, shortly after which his family published this book of his watercolors depicting activities and sites along the shorelines of all the Great Lakes.

Livonia

Mackinnon's Machine, by Sarah Wolf, 1991.
The author lives in Livonia, but her characters travel from New Zealand to Egypt, Israel, and Libya during training as assassins and then as targets of assassins. A librarian helps Mackinnon ascertain the real targets, and he resolves to head off the very men he trained.

Detroit

Cold Medina, by Gary Hardwick, 1996.
The author and screenwriter still lives part-time in Detroit, where he was born and raised. A much-more-lethal and hallucinogenic variant of crack, medina is a new drug which has just hit the streets of Detroit. The young black star of the police department must find the serial killer who has been mutilating the corpses of black drug kingpins.

Berkley (Oakland County north of Detroit)

Extremities, by Kathe Koja, 1998.
A native of Berkley who lives with her husband and son in Detroit, Kathe Koja enters the lives of ordinary people in the 16 stories in Extremities and finds them caught in extraordinary and often disturbing situations. Each story, unique in character and setting, gives a snapshot of an existence where reality and nightmares collide.

Keego Harbor (Oakland County west of Pontiac)

The Man Who Loved God, by William Kienzle, 1997.
The author was born in Detroit and now lives in Keego Harbor, writing mysteries set in Detroit to be solved by a genial, caring priest. This one, Father Zachary Tully, comes to Detroit from Dallas to present an award and finds himself working with his half-brother to solve a murder.

Milford (Oakland County north of Kent Lake)

Bodies in Motion and at Rest, by Thomas Lynch, 2000.
A mortician at his family-owned funeral home in Milford, Lynch brings the beauty of poetry to his second collection of essays on death, small-town life, history, and memory.

Howell (Livingston County west of Brighton)

Perjury, by Stan Latreille, 1998.
The author, chief judge of the 44th circuit court in Howell, writes with the assurance of an insider handling all the novel's twists and turns. The setting for the novel is fictitious Kirtley, MI, where a newly-arrived attorney has been appointed to defend a beautiful young woman indicted for perjury against her rich and powerful husband.

Whitmore Lake (Washtenaw County north of Ann Arbor)

The Rocky Mountain Moving Picture Association, by Loren D. Estleman, 1999.
Veteran crime writer Estleman, a resident of Whitmore Lake, sets his sights on the Hollywood of 1913, where the gutsy movie company of the title has gone to grind out silent Westerns beyond the reach of the Thomas A. Edison Trust. No surprises here: the big guys win.

Ann Arbor

Feast of Love, by Charles Baxter, 2000.
Late one midsummer night, insomniac author Charlie encounters his neighbor Bradley, who insists that Charlie’s latest book should consist of actual people who have stories and need somebody to listen. Bradley tells the first of the stories of love; a dozen more follow and form an ensemble of contemporary men and women capable of emotion and passion, longing and regret.

Chelsea (Washtenaw County west of Ann Arbor)

Marker, by Lowell Cauffiel, 1997.
A former Detroit News reporter and father of actress Jessica Cauffiel, the author lives and writes in Chelsea. In Marker , a Detroit judge jeopardizes his family and career with high-risk actions, then is scared straight into a shaky recovery when he is framed for the murder of his college pal and drug supplier.

Flint

Novemberfest, by Theodore Weesner, 1994.
A native of Flint, Weesner set his sixth work of fiction in Portsmouth, NH, where he now lives. The title works on two levels: the last scene takes place in Germany during Novemberfest, and the main character learns what it is like to be in the November of his life.

Davison (just east of Flint)

Great Birding in the Great Lakes: A Guide to the 50 Best Bird-watching Sites in the Great Lakes States, by Tom Powers, 1998.
The author is treasurer of his local Audubon club and librarian at the Flint Public Library, but is passionate about birdwatching. His information-rich narrative serves as an excellent travel guide, with precise directions, a bird checklist, best times to visit, and highlights of what you can expect to see.

Unexplained Michigan Mysteries: Strange but True Tales from the Michigan Unknown, by Gary Barfknecht, 1993.
As owner and managing editor of Friede Publications in Davison, Barfknecht has brought several other Michigan authors' books into print. His own book is a collection of 70 stories about some very strange happenings in Michigan; they span from prehistory to the present, and they range from the understandable to the unbelievable.

Owosso (Shiawassee County, east of Flint)

Dewey Defeats Truman, by Thomas Mallon, 1997.
The town is the birthplace of Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential candidate and last-minute loser in the 1948 election. The book is about Owosso's people and how the upcoming election changes, or fails to change, their private lives.

East Lansing

Great Lakes, Great National Forests: A Recreational Guide to the National Forests of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, by Eric Freedman, 1995.
Eric Freedman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Detroit News and teaches journalism at Michigan State University. This book provides the information you need to find campgrounds, trailheads, mountain biking tracks or canoe routes along lakes and rivers, as well as an historic insight on the national forests.

Okemos (just east of Lansing)

Death of a Constant Lover, by Lev Raphael 1999
Okemos-based Lev Raphael set this sneaky, subversive crime novel at the State University of Michigan, where Nick Hoffman teaches in the English, American Studies, and Rhetoric Department. When a vindictive student is stabbed to death during a mini-riot, Hoffman and his lover are plunged into a darkly amusing diversion involving professional and personal jealousies.

Sunfield (west of Flint)

Fish Michigan: 100 Southern Michigan Lakes, by Thomas E. Huggler, 1998.
Known as "Michigan's Fishing Pied Piper," Sunfield resident Tom Huggler added 50 new lakes and incredibly detailed maps to this new edition of his 1991 book. Up-to-date fishing information includes year-round techniques, localized tactics, best times, hot lures and bait, and DNR survey and stocking records.

Hudson (Lenawee County, between Adrian and Hillsdale)

Characters on the Loose, by Janet Kauffman, 1997.
A teacher, farmer, and writer, Janet Kauffman lives on a farm near Hudson. Most of the 15 stories in this book have an odd, end-of-the-millennium down-home quality. The offbeat characters find quirky friendships far more nurturing than family relationships and are clearly disconnected from mainstream America.

Grand Rapids

Shadow Counter, by Tom E. Kakonis, 1993.
Crime novelist and professor at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Kakonis has created Waverly, a professional gambler and ex-college professor who spent seven years in Jackson prison for homicide. Eventually Waverly is dragged into a nasty mess involving a fixed UNLV basketball game and a strange herbalist with a world health center in a former pizza and sub shop.

Allegan (between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo)

Walnut Pickles and Watermelon Cake: A Century of Michigan Cooking, by Larry B. Massie, 1990.
Living in an old one-room schoolhouse in the middle of the Allegan State Forest, Massie and his wife have surrounded themselves with antique furnishings--including cast-iron pots and pans and 1930s-era appliances. Their collection of recipes is for those who love the culinary heritage of Michigan or who want to learn more about it.

Idlewild (Lake County, east of Ludington)

What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, by Pearl Cleage, 1997.
Former Detroiter Pearl Cleage's first novel is set in Idlewild, the childhood home of narrator Ava Johnson, who was recently diagnosed HIV-positive. When her sister decides to take custody of an abandoned crack baby, Ava falls in love with both the baby and their neighbor, as she and her sister grapple with senseless violence, teenage pregnancy and love after AIDS.

Grayling (Crawford County, south of Gaylord)

The Road Home, by Jim Harrison, 1998.
Jim Harrison was born in Grayling and graduated from Michigan State University, spent a year teaching in New York, then returned to Michigan to live permanently on a farm in Leelanau County. His first novel since 1988, The Road Home continues the multigenerational tale of Dalva's family, Nebraska land baron John Northridge, interweaving dream and fantasy, Native American perspectives, and natural history.

Houghton Lake (Roscommon County, east of Cadillac)

A Dance in Deep Water, by Doug Allyn, 1997.
The author lives and writes in Houghton Lake. The pull of the North Woods is felt in this novel in which a mother and young son return to northern Michigan to take over her dead father's cafe. They discover a mystery surrounding the disappearance and possible death of her hitherto unknown Indian grandfather and decide to investigate.

Gaylord (Otsego County, north of Grayling)

Wild Lake Michigan, by John and Ann Mahan, 1991.
the Mahans live in a log home outside Gaylord, exploring and researching the Great Lakes region on a full-time basis. They provide a portrait of the largest body of water lying entirely within the United States. Sharing stories of Native Americans, geologists, and environmentalists, the authors place human history in the natural context of Lake Michigan.

Traverse City (Grand Traverse County, north of Cadillac)

Lucky Man, Lucky Woman, by Jack Driscoll, 1998.
Living and writing in Traverse City, the author has written an intelligent and believable tale about lives and marriages in jeopardy. Perry, a Michigan man, and Marcia find themselves at odds over Marcia's struggle to overcome her infertility. The couple are good navigators, motivated by love, and they manage to hold their course.

Suttons Bay (on Leelanau Peninsula, north of Traverse City)

Winona's Web: A Novel of Discovery, by Priscilla Cogan, 1996.
A clinical psychologist and respected practitioner of ceremonial pipe and sweat lodge ceremonies in a Native American spiritual community, Cogan lives in Suttons Bay during the summers. The novel's central character, Winona Pathfinder, an elder Oglala Sioux medicine woman, announces that, although neither terminally ill nor suicidal, she intends to die in two months. The author very knowledgeably confronts the differences between Native American and western ways of healing, teasing the reader with humorous twists and spiritual visions.

Lake Leelanau (on Leelanau Peninsula, north of Traverse City)

Lake Country, by Kathleen Stocking, 1994.
The author lived in Ann Arbor in the 1960s, in New York in the 1970s, and now on the Leelanau. Stocking's previous book of essays about the Leelanau Peninsula was very well received, motivating her to travel into other parts of the state. The essay titles track her journeys: "The Moose in Negaunee," "Drummond Island," "Ann Arbor Again," "Utopia on North Fox Island," "My Beaver Island Grandmother."

Mackinac Island (in Lake Huron, east of St. Ignace)

History from the Hearth: a Colonial Michillimackinac Cookbook, by Sally Eustice, 1997.
During her summer vacations from teaching elementary students in Cheboygan, Sally Eustice is a craft demonstrator and lead guide at Colonial Michilimackinac on Mackinac Island. This book gives historical details of hunting, trapping, gardening, trade, butchering, canning, cooking, and baking as practiced at the Michilimackinac frontier outpost. The recipes can be practiced in today's kitchens.

Pickford (between St. Ignace and Sault Ste. Marie)

Cry of the Wind, by Sue Harrison, 1998.
Sue Harrison lives in Pickford in the Upper Peninsula with her husband and their two children. Cry of the Wind is book two of the Storyteller Trilogy, set near the North Pole. The healing woman, K'os, plots her revenge against those who enslaved her many years before. Her adopted son's feelings for a former slave threatens them both, for it inspires the hatred of those who would rather see them destroyed than united.

Lake Superior

A Superior Death, by Nevada Barr, 1994.
A park ranger herself, the author gets this novel moving with a rescue of two drunk men who can't handle their leaky boat. By the end of the tale the lead character has come across apparent cannibalism and incest, not to mention murder deep beneath the waters of Lake Superior.

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