Review by Deborah K. Frontiera This novel is set during the summer and fall of 1942 in the Sault Ste. Marie area. The fictional Portstown, with its lighthouse, is described as being on Lake Superior about half an hour from the Soo. (Perhaps based on Bay Mills?) In the first chapter, readers meet the lighthouse keeper and artist, Lorelei, and her family—a young deaf son Misha, her husband Devon, a freighter ship captain, and her grandfather Edmund, retired lighthouse keeper. Other family members and townspeople are described as well. Readers also learn that Lorelei, while supposedly missing her ..read more

Book Reviewer: Sharon Brunner James M. Jackson painted a picture with “Granite Oath” of suspense and mystery about a missing woman, illicit drugs, prostitution and corrupt corporations. The location of the mishaps and tribulations occurred in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P.) which began deep in the woods with an abandoned, ransacked trailer near Iron Mountain. The other towns mentioned were Marquette, Baraga and Norway. Jackson lives at Madison, Wisconsin one part of each year and deep in the woods somewhere in the U.P. the other part of the year. The story took place during the summer m ..read more

Review by Sharon Brunner In Not Your Mary Sue, Rebecca Frost brought attention to the dynamics of a relationship in which a woman was held captive by a charming psychopath. She managed to create a variety of scenarios of suspense, tender moments, tension and a whole host of family situations. Jay, the serial killer, played on Mary Sue’s or Marcy’s vulnerabilities. She and others in the novel either refer to her as Mary Sue or Marcy throughout the novel. Her father arranged for her to spend time alone at an island resort during the summer months. He had unwittingly exposed her to a psychopath ..read more

“A Dangerous Season” by Russell Fee is the third and final installment of the Sherriff Matt Callahan Mysteries.  As with the previous stories, the action takes place mostly on the fictional Nicolet Island. My sense of Michigan geography is maybe not as well-developed as it could be, but my instincts tell me that Nicolet Island is standing in for Beaver Island.   In Fee’s stories, Nicolet Island has a population of about 500, has two inland lakes, and is adjacent to Charlevoix.  The stories also reach out to an unnamed Indian reservation that might be modeled after Hannahvil ..read more

Latest Jack Handler Thriller Deals With Soo Locks Explosion Review by Tyler R. Tichelaar Sault: What Could be Worse than Great Lakes Erosion?  is the fourteenth Jack Handler novel by Michael Carrier. That said, it can be read as a stand-alone book with little trouble. I have not yet read all of Michael Carrier’s books, but I have read the first several, so I was basically familiar with many of the main characters. Carrier makes it easy to follow the story, because he gives short, catch-up briefings on characters and events. Also, as a rather clever marketing strategy, he lets you know whi ..read more