Top Ten Michigan True Crime books

  Some fans of local literature who hail from the Great Lakes state have begun a website, MittenLit, devoted to books and authors with ties to Michigan. The state has produced its share of giants in the true crime genre (and can drop a name like native daughter Ann Rule) and classic books (like Anatomy of a Murder, which was a thinly fictionalized murder case and is still a popular subject in Michigan).

So the MittenLit folks were wondering about the top ten Michigan true crime books. I came up with this list, but I'd love to hear other suggestions or see other lists.

Laura's Top Ten Michigan True Crime Titles

in no particular order:

Anatomy of a Murder

The Michigan Murders by Keyes

Butcher's Dozen by Larry Wakefield

Death's Door by Lehto

Arc of Justice by Boyle

Red Parts by Maggie Nelson

The Errant Nun by Milostan

When Evil Came to Good Hart by Mardi Link

Internal Combustion by Maynard

A Hanging in Detroit by Chardavoy

What else belongs on the list? Has any Michigan story or Michigan author particularly impressed you with a true crime tale?

Comments

[lost indie]

"Forever and Five Days" by Lowell Cauffiel.

It's about Gwen Graham and Kathy Wood. They were lesbian lovers who worked in a nursing home near Grand Rapids. To seal the deal that they would be together forever they murdered the nursing home residents. Each murder added an additional day to forever.

Many years later my dad stayed in that same nursing home. In the same room and bed location where the first murder took place,

Yeah...

[Laura James]

That sounds like an interesting story -- I'll have to look for this. Thanks for the suggestion!

[fussball]

Gute Arbeit hier! Gute Inhalte.

[allexx]

Anyone know the name of the adrian michigan killer in 1984ish? Had the victims in his basement and the kids found them. I was friends with his daughter. Wanted to find out how she was these days.

[antonio]

Allexx, let me ask my dad. My dad grew up in Adrian, Michigan. He had told me when he was little he had a dream - something along the lines that a person was killing people (girlfriends) and burying them in his house. Apparently they found his ex-gf's buried under the kitchen tiles...or maybe it was the basement. Can't remember. I'll let you know...

[Kaz]

Ivory Lee Tindall was his name and it happened in 1984. His son Victor turned him in. I met Victor 8 years later and he is a fantastic guy with alot of guts. You have to realize Ivory severely beat his children and fathered many kids as the result of raping his own daughters. The Local news covered it, and for some reason it wasn't really followed by the mainstream media. Naturally all your big players like CNN weren't available then. Here is the Toledo Blade article I found. If you dig you can probably find more.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19850622&id=HHoUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zwIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6401,1844529

[Mary H]

two good reads that i just completed, When the thumb pointed fingers. and Murder in the thumb, should be on the list

[jennifer]

I actually know that family...who were you friends with Alleexx

[order fioricet]

Great site.. I like Anatomy of a Murder..

[Jennifer]

I am trying desperately to find a book about child abduction in (southeast maybe Dearborn area??) Michigan in the late 1970's (possibly very early 80's--but almost positive it was the 70's). Embarrasingly enough I honestly don't know if it WAS a true story or just a novel. I was too young to read this book of my moms but I was a voracious reader even then and I snuck the paperback book and read it. I really want to find it. The cover had snow on it and possibly a shadow of a snow angel in the yard...and/or a van. I would almost swear it was called "Angels in the Snow" and the kids were taken in a van from their front yards/neighborhoods. When I have googled etc I can't find anything. An author Michael Graham wrote "Snow Angel" and I thought I found it BUT the copyright was 2006 so this could not be the book!!! I am not very computer literate and I need help finding this book!!! Please Please Please. Thanks, fellow crime story lover, Jenny 11/06/09

[v.arreguin20@yahoo.com]

Crazy regarding the Tindall guy. My family lived across the street and we all went to school with many of their kids. I can't recall how many kids, but there were quite a few. I remember selling girl scout cookies and when I approached the dirt floor garage, the father screamed at me to leave immediately. Apparantly that's where he buried the bodies. We had left Dorothy St. in 1979 so the bodies were discovered after we left. Pretty creepy that you can live next to a murderer and rapist and not even know it. Their older daughter's name is Ivory and my aunt and her were best friends. God bless their family and I hope they are able to recover from this horrible crime their father committed.