Residents of the idyllic villages scattered throughout the Upper Peninsula's richly forested paradise live in quiet comfort for the most part, believing that murder rarely happens in their secluded sanctuary3/4but it does, and more often than they realize. This collection of twenty-four legendary murders spans 160 years of Upper Michigan's history and dispels the notion that murder in the Upper Peninsula is an anomaly. From the bank robber who killed the warden and deputy warden of the Marquette Branch Prison to the unknown assailant who gunned down James Schoolcraft in Sault Ste. Marie, Sonny Longtine explores the tragic events that turned peaceful communities into fear-ridden crime scenes..

Storytelling at its fully imagined best." -Ben Hamper, bestselling author of Rivethead

Little known tales and lore from Michigan's Upper Peninsula uncover mysteries, curses, and strange beasts in this collection of offbeat and fascinating stories. That's the best I've ever seen you look," the barber said to the corpse. What kind of filthy decedent could inspire such derision? Learn the answer and read myriad other little-known tales from Michigan's northernmost region in Forgotten Tales of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Find out what happened after an aggrieved husband aimed a gun at his wife's lover and then asked the crowd, "Shall I shoot him?" Meet the sleeping man who rode the rails without a train. Discover the truth behind the rumors that one mining town was cursed with the ten plagues of Egypt, and learn why hugs terrified an entire city. And what were those hairy, bipedal beasts haunting the woods? Join Yooper Lisa A. Shiel as she brings to the fore these wonderfully offbeat and all-but-forgotten tales from the UP's history.

In the bitter cold of 1985, two buddies embark on a hunting trip from suburban Detroit to rural Michigan, unaware they would soon become the hunted. Darker than Night tells the chilling true story of the mystery that haunted a community and baffled the police for two decades. The eerie silence surrounding their sudden disappearance is broken after nearly two decades when a relentless investigator inspires a terrified witness to break her silence. The witness narrates a haunting scene that had unfolded years back, pointing fingers at the prime suspects–the Duvall brothers. With no bodies unearthed, the justice system is riveted by the startling revelations during an electrifying trial in 2003. The brothers, Raymond and Donald Duvall, had bragged about the murders, evocatively explaining how they dismembered their victims and fed them to pigs. Despite the shocking confession, the case holds its ground purely on a single witness's account, taking the courtroom through a labyrinth of dark secrets and sinister acts. This gripping thriller presents a vivid tale of crime that reveals the devastating power of evil.

Darkness and mystery follow four friends to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, threatening them at every turn… Laurel and Arnie are delighted when their friends Claire and Charles join them for a visit at their summer home. Tucked away on beautiful Manistique Lake in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, it’s the perfect place for everyone to relax and enjoy all the state has to offer. Their vacation doesn’t stay peaceful for long, however, when former cop Arnie is drawn into an ongoing investigation. Although it appears the victim, Maddy Pierce, may have committed suicide, other evidence points to the possibility of murder. Investigating Maddy’s death involves the group more than they had imagined, and soon their trip goes from good to wrong. It’s apparent they have a malicious enemy and that someone is willing to do whatever it takes to keep Maddy’s death a mystery.

"On Midsummer Eve, 1865, more than 30 Finnish and Sami immigrants disembarked from a Great Lakes ship to a place called Hancock, Michigan. At the time, Hancock consisted of nothing more than a small cluster of humble buildings, but it was here, on the outskirts of mid-19th-century civilization, that Finnish settlement in Michigan's Upper Peninsula (UP) took root. Much to the surprise of these new Americans, Midsummer was not a religious holiday marked by feasts in celebration of the season's prolonged sunlight. Rather, the newcomers were immediately hastened into the bowels of the earth to extract copper in pursuit of the American Dream. In short order, hardworking Finnish immigrants became reputable miners, lumberjacks, farmers, maids, and commercial fishermen. A century and a half later, the UP boasts the largest Finnish population outside of the motherland and sustains the determined spirit the Finns call sisu--an influence that remains palpable in all 15 UP counties."--

On opening day of bear hunting season in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a game warden is murdered right under Little Donny's tree stand. Little Donny disappears into the backwoods, forcing sixty-six-year-old Gertie to use her "unique" investigative techniques to find her favorite grandson. Gertie's search is hampered by her pin-curled bodyguard Kitty, her man-hungry friend Cora Mae, and Grandma Johnson?who should be mushing peas between her new false teeth in the Escanaba nursing home instead of setting up camp at Gertie's place. To top it off, Gertie's son Blaze, the local sheriff, seems more concerned with arresting his mom for cruising down Highway M35 without a driver's license than finding Little Donny or catching the killer. Note: NO animals are harmed in this romp through the backwoods! Praise for the series: "Laugh-out-loud funny" Crimespree Magazine "Fans of Janet Evanovich, imagine Grandma Mazur with a shotgun." Green Bay Press Gazette "One of the most memorable heroines in recent crime fiction." Lansing State Journal.