"An Unquiet Grave" is an exciting read

One of the top 20 books in the 2008 Michigan Notable Books list, "An Unquiet Grave" turned out to be a very good read. I couldn't hardly put it down and spent a few late nights finishing it up. A few days later my wife got around to reading it and she plowed through it in two or three days. So what's this Unquiet Grave about and what made it so intriguing to me?

Set in the very real Irish Hills, but in a not so real insane asylum at Hidden Lake there is a cemetery for the former patients. The asylum has been closed and everything is being torn down along with the cemetery. The graves are being dug up and the remains are being moved.

One such grave is dug up, but instead of a former patient - it's filled with rocks. Where did the patient go, who is the serial killer on the grounds and why are the victims left at the deserted asylum?

Louis Kincaid must travel back to Michigan and get to the bottom of this mystery at the request of his adopted father. While searching for the killer and trying to solve a mystery that seems to unravel and create more questions than answers, Louis must face some old ghosts of his own.

I love a good book, especially a good mystery. Add to that the fact that the story takes place in Michigan (and an area I'm familiar with at that) and I give "An Unquiet Grave" 4 Stars on a scale of 1 to 4 with 4 being the highest.

Find out more about the author(s) - P.J. Parrish

Here are the 20 Michigan Notable Books for 2008

Each year the Michigan Notable Books selection committee puts together what they believe to be the 20 best books that are either about or take place in Michigan. Other qualifications are that the books could take place in Great Lakes region, be written by a Michigan native, or be written by a current Michigan resident. In case you missed out on the 2007 list - you can read this post from last year. I read quite a few of the 2007 books.

Without further ado, here are the 20 Michigan Notable Books for 2008:

• Alden B. Dow: Midwestern Modern
• Connecting the Dots: Tyree Guyton's Heidelberg Project
• Elijah of Buxton
• The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam
• Fork in the Road with Eric Villegas
• From the Vine: Exploring Michigan Wineries
• Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed
• Mackinac Bridge: A 50-Year Chronicle, 1957- 2007
• "My Brave Mechanics:" The First Michigan Engineers and Their Civil War
• One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II
• Paper Tiger: One Athlete's Journey to the Underbelly of Pro Football
• A Primer on Parallel Lives
• The Red Parts: A Memoir
• Returning to Earth
• Sailing Grace
• The Sound the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky: The Writings of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft
• Stealing Buddha's Dinner: A Memoir
• Sweety Pies: An Uncommon Collection of Womanish Observations, with Pie
• Up in Honey's Room
• Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations With Gerald R. Ford

Via Michigan.gov/NotableBooks

Meet some of the 2007 Michigan Notable Books authors this spring

The 2007 Michigan Notable Books author tour runs April 5 through May 24. The tour encompasses just about every area of the state giving Michigan residents a chance to meet the authors of the 2007 Michigan Notable Books. 19 of the authors are participating in the tour this year for book signings and discussions. You can view the schedule and authors for April and May.

I just started reading Steven Lehto's book, "Death's Door: The Truth Behind Michigan's Largest Mass Murder" last night. His book is one of the 20 Michigan Notable Books for 2007. You can view the entire list here.

The 2007 Michigan Notable Books list

I love to read. I go through at least one book a week over numerous topics. The state of Michigan releases a list of books by Michigan authors (or that cover Michigan-related topics) every year through the Library of Michigan. There are 20 books in the 2007 list. It looks like there are books for all age groups to enjoy. I didn't know this, but they have been putting an annual list together since 1991.

The Michigan Notable Books list tries to be "reflective of Michigan's diverse ethnic, historical, literary, and cultural experience."

Here are some that I am adding to my reading list -

• Death's Door: The Truth Behind Michigan's Largest Mass Murder - Steve Lehto This book explores the enduring mystery and drama surrounding the 1913 Christmas Eve tragedy at Italian Hall in Calumet. After a still-unidentified man falsely cried, "Fire," more than 70 people, many of them children, were crushed to death in the stairwell amidst the panicked crush to flee the building. The author expertly analyzes the objectivity of the local newspaper coverage, the coroner's inquest, and the mystery surrounding the doors (did they open inward or outward?), and reaches several thought-provoking, startling, and controversial conclusions.
• So Cold a Sky: Upper Michigan Weather Stories - Karl Bohnak From the first European explorers to pioneer settlers to modern-day Michiganians, the Upper Peninsula's inhabitants have faced weather's most devastating challenges: extreme snowstorms, heat waves, floods, fires and more. Combing historical accounts from as early as the 1600s with personal tales from U.P. residents, this narrative peppered with weather maps, nature photos and snapshots offers an in-depth look at the region's most severe weather.
• Taking Care of Cleo: A Novel - Bill Broder Set in Prohibition-era Charlevoix, and complete with booze, bootleggers, and the Purple Gang, this engaging novel with a strong historical sense of place details the lives of the Bearwalds, the only Jewish family in this small Lake Michigan resort community. Rebecca dreams of attending the University of Michigan to escape "taking care of Cleo," her autistic older sister. After Cleo stumbles across a beached yacht full of contraband liquor, she renovates the boat and recruits Rebecca to help sell the booze, leading to a case of mistaken identity and run-ins with Detroit gangsters.
• An Unquiet Grave - P.J. Parrish In this suspenseful thriller, Florida PI Louis Kincaid, a native of Detroit, is called back to Michigan by his foster father, who needs help with a personal situation. As events unfold at a notorious sanitarium, modeled after Eloise, Kincaid learns of a dark conspiracy and troubling revelations, not just about his foster father's situation, but also about himself.

See the full list.

Want to see last year's (2006) list? View it here.

Michigan books offer up a good scare

We are coming up on Halloween which usually gets people in the mood to watch scary movies or read spooky books. You might be surprised at how many Michigan-based books or Michigan authors have written books with such a theme. Some of these I have read such as the Michigan Ghost Towns series. I find it interesting about the history of some of these towns and the circumstances that led to their founding and subsequent vanishing. Not exactly "spooky" material, but interesting history nonetheless.

The Michigan Chillers series is written for kids and I have not read them. However they seem to get rave reviews on Amazon.com and from local independent bookstores.

Enjoy!

Mayhem on Mackinac Island (Michigan Chillers)

MICHIGAN CHIILERS (MICHIGAN CHILLERS 12 BOOK SET) (Michigan Chillers)

Michigan Ghost Towns, Lower Peninsula

Haunted Michigan: Recent Encounters with Active Spirits (Ohio)