Seven Michigan Authors to Put in Your Beach Bag this Summer
These authors all have two things in common: They live in and write about Michigan. If you’re looking for a good beach read, grab one of these books and hit the sand for a relaxing afternoon.
1. Aaron Stander’s Ray Elkins Thriller Series is a group of eight mystery novels set in Northwest Lower Michigan. They follow Sheriff Ray Elkins as he solves murders and keeps the peace among the orchards, sandy beaches, and tourists. People who love the natural landscape and know Northern Michigan well will enjoy the imagery and references to familiar places in Stander’s Books.
2. Anne-Marie Oomen’s latest book Love, Sex and 4-H is a coming-of-age memoir about small-town Michignan life in the 1960s. Oomen sets the wholesomeness of her life as a farm girl and the domestic lessons of 4-H club against the political and social revolution of the time. Oomen brings readers along as she falls in and out of love, wins her first prize, learns to kiss, survives her first heartbreak, and makes almost all of her clothes. Readers who enjoy memoir will appreciate Oomen’s humor and honesty.
3. Mardi Link also writes murder mysteries set in Northern Michigan. Her latest in a series of three is Wicked Takes the Witness Stand. Residents of the small town of Gaylord are shocked when a state trooper finds the frozen body of oilfield worker Jerry Tobias in December of 1968. Bungled forensics, shady prosecution, police cover-ups, and a star witness out for revenge all add to the drama as it unfolds. Link is also known for her memoir, BootStrapper that tells the story of how she overcame heartbreak and bankruptcy to save her struggling Michigan farm.
4. Danny Knobler’s book Numbers Don’t Lie—Tigers: The Biggest Numbers in Tigers History is for any Tigers fan. Even if you root for another team, you’ll enjoy this book if you love baseball. Knobler tells the stories behind the stats of this great American team, including Ty Cobb’s 366 career batting average and Justin Verlander’s 2 career no-hitters. The book spans more than 100 years of Tiger’s history.
5. Ellen Airgood’s latest novel for young readers is the The Education of Ivy Blake, a companion to her first novel Prairie Evers. Shy, introverted Ivy’s world is turned upside down when she’s forced to leave her friend Prairie and return to live with her unstable mother. Her love of art and creativity helps her find her footing and triumph against the odds.
6. Jon C. Stott’s Paul Bunyan in Michigan: Yooper Logging, Lore & Legends gathers the oral traditions of the loggers who settled Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and spent long winter evenings spinning tales of extreme weather, strange geography, legendary beasts and improbable feats. Paul Bunyan was featured in each story, and eventually became a part of our national mythology. In his book, Stott preserves the tall tales for generations to come.
7 Nancy Coco’s novel, All Fudged Up: A Candy-Coated Mystery with Recipes, is set on Mackinac Island. Allie McMurphy is overwhelmed with keeping her family’s historic hotel and fudge shop running, and it only gets worse when she discovers a corpse on the property.
