The genre abounds with summertime fare, including two new books in the theme that both so happen to be Michigan stories. Both are books I think we'll be hearing about. . . .
Seventeen-year-old Robin Adams vanished in 1976. It took the better part of a decade to find her.
A new book about a bizarre and complicated murder case that was eventually solved is earning rave reviews. It sounds particularly interesting to me because the story comes from Caro, Michigan, in the "Thumb" of Michigan, where I was born and raised and where my family has lived since the 19th century.
And, okay, maybe the place has some... quirks. As the author said in a recent interview, “We don’t run out of bizarres here.”
Murder in the Thumb
The author is a former editorial page editor for the Columbus Dispatch and editor at the Huron Daily Tribune. And he selected this story, of all the ones he must have heard and worked in a newsroom, as the most book-worthy. That's something.
I think I'll be hearing more about this book, as I've gotten note about it from several people who recommended it.
* * *
I am glad that the University of Michigan press put its impratur on a new book about the Bath school massacre. I know a few dozen journalists who ought to bone up on their history with this title, the ones who failed to reference this crime when covering more recent examples of school violence. School massacres have so often been erroneously declared the "first" or "worst" by journalists who are not familar with the disaster that took place at Bath, Michigan.
It's the true but nearly forgotten story of a madman who killed 45 people -- most of them children -- with a bomb. He blew up the school. There is a lot of bad information about the case out there (Wikipedia is one place to find it), so I hope this new book sets the record straight.
Arnie Bernstein is the author of Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing
I'm not on Facebook, My Space, or Twitter. I just can't bring myself to do it, LOL!
Posted by: Kevin M. Sullivan | June 20, 2009 at 05:16 PM
I am reading "Murder in the Thumb" right now and it is fascinating and hard to put down. I grew up in Caro and knew some of the people mentioned in the book. Highly recommend it.
Posted by: Holly Bracy | June 21, 2009 at 01:10 PM
I'm on Facebook but I left Twitter as I thought it was only a thing for people with too much time to do! No My Space, either!
Posted by: Fiz | June 21, 2009 at 05:38 PM
I am a Facebook late adopter. I dug my heels in hard. HOWEVER, now that I'm on I have to say its been fun connecting with people I haven't seen in years. Especially a group of reporters I worked with right out of J school. Give it a try, it's actually pretty cool. And, can I be your friend?
Posted by: Mardi Link | June 22, 2009 at 07:20 AM
oh bother -- I don't even have a cell phone!
Posted by: laura | June 22, 2009 at 08:45 AM
Laura, tell me you're joking? You don't have a cell phone? How do you do it? My wife made me drop our land line after 20 years, as we all have cell phones. Come to think of it, I believe my granddaughter has a cell phone; well, maybe not, she's only 26 months old!
Posted by: Kevin M. Sullivan | June 22, 2009 at 10:47 AM