The first historical study-and a riveting account-of the last execution in Michigan.

The first historical study—and a riveting account—of the last execution in Michigan. On September 24, 1830, Stephen G. Simmons, a fifty-year-old tavern keeper and farmer, was hanged in Detroit for murdering his wife, Levana Simmons, in a drunken, jealous rage. Michigan executed only two people during the fifty-year period, from 1796 to 1846, when the death penalty was legal within its boundaries. Simmons was the second and last person to be executed under Michigan law. In A Hanging in DetroitDavid G. Chardavoyne vividly evokes not only the crime, trial, and execution of Simmons, but also the setting and players of the drama, social and legal customs of the times, and the controversy that arose because of the affair. Chardavoyne illuminates his account of this important moment in Michigan's history with many little-known facts, creating a study that is at once an engrossing story and the first historical examination of the event that helped bring about the abolition of the death penalty in Michigan. Simmons execution came at a time when Michigan had begun to change from a sparsely populated wilderness to a thriving agricultural center, and Detroit from a small military outpost to a metropolis founded on trade, manufacturing, and an influx of immigrants and other settlers. The hanging was a defining moment during this period of dramatic social change. Thousands of spectators crowded into Detroit expecting to see a thrilling public execution. Many of those spectators, however, left deeply disturbed by the spectacle they had witnessed. Chardavoyne, a lawyer, probes the unsettling incident which sparked a profound shift in attitudes toward capital punishment in Michigan, examining along the way such mysteries as why Simmons was hanged for his crime when other contemporary killers were hardly punished at all. A Hanging in Detroit will fascinate legal historians and lay readers alike with its incisive look into Great Lakes regional history and crime and punishment in Michigan.

Edgar Award Finalist: The true story of a serial killer who terrorized a midwestern town in the era of free love—by the coauthor of The French Connection. In 1967, during the time of peace, free love, and hitchhiking, nineteen-year-old Mary Terese Fleszar was last seen alive walking home to her apartment in Ypsilanti, Michigan. One month later, her naked body—stabbed over thirty times and missing both feet and a forearm—was discovered, partially buried, on an abandoned farm. A year later, the body of twenty-year-old Joan Schell was found, similarly violated. Southeastern Michigan was terrorized by something it had never experienced before: a serial killer. Over the next two years, five more bodies were uncovered around Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan. All the victims were tortured and mutilated. All were female students. After multiple failed investigations, a chance sighting finally led to a suspect. On the surface, John Norman Collins was an all-American boy—a fraternity member studying elementary education at Eastern Michigan University. But Collins wasn’t all that he seemed. His female friends described him as aggressive and short tempered. And in August 1970, Collins, the “Ypsilanti Ripper,” was arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole. Written by the coauthor of The French Connection, The Michigan Murders delivers a harrowing depiction of the savage murders that tormented a small midwestern town.

"Detroit Rich Boys" tells the story of James Mussellistine, better known as Muscles to his friends, a young teenager from the west side of Detroit. He ended up being part of the original Puritan Avenue gang known as the PAs. Although he was raised in a middle-class neighborhood off Six Mile Road, the young gangster couldn't stop hanging out with the likes of Niddy and Roni, two friends from across Puritan Road. When Muscles and his friends enroll in Mumford, Detroit's most volatile school, the roller-coaster lifestyle of gangbanging rolls from the school strait to the streets. The Puritan Gang was the poorest gang in the school, and their numbers were weak compared to their legendary rivals, the Six, Seven, Eight Mile Gangs. Even so, Mumford's Puritan leaders, the PAs, arose from virtual anonymity to become one of the most dangerous neighborhood gangs in Detroit history. "Once upon a time Detroit was once considered the promise land for black people in America. By the1980s, however, Detroit had become the land of bondage, where people were enslaved by drugs, poverty, and violence. From the Lunatic Assassins and the 8 mile Sconies to the Black Killers and the PAs. The streets of the Westside are all here." Al Profit Murder City

This is one of the finest statewide sourcebooks ever published, a remarkable compilation of sources and resources that are available to help researchers find their Michigan ancestors. It identifies records on the state and regional level and then the county level, providing details of vital records, court and land records, military records, newspapers, and census records, as well as the holdings of the various societies and institutions whose resources and facilities support the special needs of the genealogist. County-by-county, it lists the names, addresses, websites, e-mail addresses, and hours of business of libraries, archives, genealogical and historical societies, courthouses, and other record repositories; describes their manuscripts and record collections; highlights their special holdings; and provides details regarding queries, searches, and restrictions on the use of their records.

WHEN GRACIE McBRIDE, the wild girl who had left town eighteen years earlier, is found dead in an apparent suicide shortly after her homecoming, it sends shock waves through her native Starvation Lake. Gus Carpenter, executive editor of the Pine County Pilot, sets out to solve the mystery with the help of his old flame and now girlfriend, Pine County sheriff deputy Darlene Esper. As Gus and Darlene investigate, they can’t help but question if Gracie’s troubled life really ended in suicide or if the suspicious crime-scene evidence adds up to murder. But in such a small town it’s impossible to be an impartial investigator—Gracie was Gus’s second cousin; Darlene’s best friend; and the lover of Gus’s oldest pal, Soupy Campbell. Yet with all the bad blood between Gus and Gracie over the years, Gus is easily distracted by other problems. His employer is trying to push him out, the locals are annoyed that his stories have halted construction on a new hockey rink, and Darlene’s estranged husband has returned to reclaim his wife. When Gus tries to retrace Gracie’s steps to discover what happened to her in the eighteen years she was away from Starvation Lake, he’s forced to return to Detroit, the scene of his humiliating past. And though he’s determined to find out what drove Gracie back home, Gus is unprepared for the terrible secrets he uncovers. The second book in Bryan Gruley’s irresistible Starvation Lake series, The Hanging Tree is a compelling story about family and friendship, sex and violence, and the failure of love to make everything right.

A chronological history of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, from its beginnings in the 1830s to the present. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the federal trial court based in Detroit with jurisdiction over the eastern half of Michigan, was created in 1837 and operated as recently as 1923 with a single trial judge. Yet by 2010, the court had fifteen district judges, a dozen senior U.S. district judges and U.S. magistrate judges, and conducts court year-round in five federal buildings throughout the eastern half of Michigan (in Detroit, Bay City, Flint, Port Huron, and Ann Arbor). In The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan: People, Law, and Politics, author David Gardner Chardavoyne details not only the growth of the court but the stories of its judges and others who have served the court, litigants who brought their conflicting interests to the court for resolution, and the people of the district who have been affected by the court. In chronological order, Chardavoyne charts the history of the court, its judges, and its major cases in five parts: The Wilkins Years, 1837 to 1870; The Industrial Revolution and the Gilded Age, 1870 to 1900; Decades of Tumult, 1900 to 1945; The Era of Grand Expectations, 1946 to 1976; and A Major Metropolitan Court, 1977 to 2010. Along the way, Chardavoyne highlights many issues of national concern faced by the court, including cases dealing with fugitive slave laws, espionage and treason, civil rights, and freedom of speech. Chardavoyne also examines how conflicting interests—political, local, and personal—have influenced the resolution of a myriad of issues not directly related to the court’s cases, such as who becomes a federal judge, how many judges the court should have, in which cities and in which buildings the judges hold court, what kinds of cases the judges can and cannot hear, and the geographical boundaries of the district and of divisions within the district. This volume includes helpful appendixes that list the Eastern District of Michigan Court’s Chief Judges, Clerks, Magistrates and Magistrate Judges, and United States Marshals; along with the succession of judges, and a list of District and Circuit Court Case Filings, 1837–2010. Legal professionals and scholars will appreciate this thorough history.