A trip through the Upper Peninsula unveils its natural beauty to the casual observer: vast tracts of forest, hidden streams and waterfalls, and the promise of solitude. It's all there if you want it. What you don't see, however, is something just beyond the visible, hiding in the shadows and behind the trees, in the even more vast imagination. Yes, dear reader, we're talking about murder and mystery.
That, at least, is how some authors have come to see the Upper Peninsula. As a setting for mystery novels, the U.P. has been coming into its own. And to the authors who use it in their books, it is as much a driving force to their stories as the characters themselves.
One such author is
Henry Kisor, who is working on a fourth mystery set in the western U.P.
"My mysteries are less about whodunit than they are about the setting; I am trying to tell people how the western U.P. is hemorrhaging population and how the remaining residents nonetheless huddle together against adversity, often with the help of human flotsam from elsewhere that washes up on its shores," Kisor says. "This U.P. culture is rich and deep, not at all touristy-Yooper in nature, and it is gold for a mystery writer."
Kisor's books draw in part on his personal experience. A retired Chicago Sun-Times book editor, Kisor spends summers at a cabin near Ontonagon, and says when he first attempted a book, it was always going to be about the U.P.
"Originally I had planned to do a nonfiction book trying to describe the soul of the U.P. in the form of a true-crimer about a serial killer, but the only serial killer I could find stopped at two victims," Kisor says. "Then one day, the idea came to me that maybe a bear could be trained to kill humans, and after a little more research discovered it was quite possible."
This change led to his first mystery novel,
Season's Revenge, in 2003, in which Deputy Sheriff Steve Martinez must solve a mysterious death.
Another former newspaper editor now writing U.P.-based mysteries is
Nancy Barr, who lives and works on the Keweenaw Peninsula. Her
Page One trilogy published from 2006 to 2009, features reporter Robin Hamilton as she is caught up in small-town murder and intrigue in Escanaba. Barr says she took her inspiration from both personal and professional experiences, having grown up in Rapid River and worked at newspapers in Escanaba and Houghton.
"I believe in that old adage of write what you know, especially when you're getting started as an author," Barr says. "The
Page One trilogy
was my first foray into novel-writing, and it made it much easier to craft a story around familiar territory."
But that's only part of what made the U.P. a good mystery setting, says Barr.
"Every small town is full of 'characters,' the natural rugged beauty of the area provides a stunning backdrop and plays a huge role in my last two books, and the weather can become a character itself, as I used it in the last book," she says.
Real-life murder and mystery aren't new to the U.P.: One of the area's most famous literary sons, John Voelker, based his courtroom fiction books on real cases drawn from his experience as a judge in Marquette, including the book
Anatomy of a Murder, on which the film of the same name was based in 1959.
Bestselling author
Nevada Barr also wrote a 1994 mystery novel,
A Superior Death, set in Isle Royale National Park.
Other authors over the years have mentioned the U.P., from Ernest Hemingway to Neil Gaiman. But by far the majority of novels that take the area as their setting are mysteries, and part of that is the extremity and ruggedness of the surroundings.
Steve Hamilton writes mysteries set in the eastern U.P., where his main character, retired Detroit cop Alex McKnight, inherited a set of remote cabins in Paradise. Hamilton is from downstate, near Milford, but spent summers in the U.P., and felt it was the perfect location to set a mystery.
"It can be a very lonely place, first of all. It doesn't have to be lonely, because there are some great, great people up there -- but if you do want to be by yourself, you're definitely in luck," Hamilton says. "So that element of human isolation can really work in a mystery, especially when you want somebody's behavior and outlook to become a little more extreme because of that isolation. Beyond that, there's such a uniquely stark beauty to the place. Not to mention the cold-hearted killer, Lake Superior, in the background at all times."
The rich natural resources of the area also feature prominently in Joseph Heywood's
Woods Cop mystery series featuring Department of Natural Resources officer Grady Service as he deals with a serial killer and animal parts smugglers, among others.
For those who are looking for the next crop of U.P. mystery novels, the timing is good, with several more coming soon.
Kisor's fourth book featuring Steve Martinez,
Hang Fire, is his current project.
Steve Hamilton says his eighth Alex McKnight book,
Misery Bay, will be out in the summer of 2011. And Heywood's seventh Grady Service book,
Shadow of the Wolf Tree, was published in May.
Whether the intrepid protagonists are facing old or new enemies, solving murders, embroiled in personal tragedy, or dealing with political issues, one constant will be the same for each: The Upper Peninsula will make its mark on the story, whether it is in the self-reliant toughness of the residents or the striking landscapes of deep forest, clear lakeshore and ancient mountains.
Kim Hoyum is a freelance writer based in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Her credits include contributor to Geek Girl on the Street as well as a regular writer for Marquette Monthly. Hoyum is a graduate of Northern Michigan University where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in writing.