Sleuthing in a small town
Sleuthing in a small town
Local editor’s new mystery novel highlights Escanaba
| CAPTION: David Archambeau/Daily Mining Gazette Escanaba is featured in the debut novel by columnist and editor Nancy Barr, a resident of the Hancock area who called Delta County home for more than 20 years. The book is the first in a new mystery series published by Arbutus Press. |
By JANE NORDBERG, DMG Writer
HOUGHTON — “Before moving back to Escanaba, I had never had reason to dial nine-one-one. Now I was doing it for the third time in two weeks. So much for small town tranquility.”
So muses Robin Hamilton, the heroine of a new murder mystery set in Escanaba and authored by Hancock-area resident and Daily Mining Gazette news editor Nancy Barr.
Written following Barr’s experiences as a police beat reporter at Escanaba’s Daily Press, “Page One: Hit and Run” makes the most of what the author knows best — the newsroom and small town politics.
“People think small towns are a great place to hide, but people love to gossip in a small town,” said Barr, explaining why she wrote her main character as a young woman who returns to her hometown of Escanaba after six years in Chicago, hoping to escape bad memories and the strife of a big city.
“The truth is,” Barr said, “if you’re someone prone to having affairs or shady business dealings, you probably don’t want to live in a small town, because people are not only going to find out about it, they’re going to talk about it.”
Hamilton, like Barr, has a nose for the newsworthy and an appreciation for small town life. Barr also wrote her protagonist as an only child who lost her mother at an early age, a challenge which Barr viewed as the catalyst for a strengthened father-daughter bond in her own life.
“So many times we hear about the bond between mothers and daughters, and I think the father-daughter bond gets overlooked,” the author said. “I wanted to explore that relationship further because I think it is important; that’s what I had growing up since my mother died when I was 9 and my dad was my only family.”
While being an only child might have had something to do with developing what Barr called a “vivid imagination” at an early age, her mother’s reading habits may have planted the seed now germinating in the young author’s first novel.
“She was a big Ellery Queen fan, and she always watched the ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ series in the 1950s and ‘60s,” Barr said. “She loved mysteries, and I think they were pretty much all she read.”
Although Barr knew by the age of 19 that she “someday” wanted to write a novel, it wasn’t until she began reading mysteries that something clicked, she said. Now 34, the author described the novel as a culmination of the people and places she encountered in Delta County.
“Escanaba is a unique town in that it’s not really a tourist destination,” Barr said. “It hasn’t preserved a lot of its history in the way that Houghton or Hancock has, but some of the buildings and parks are beautiful, and the people are worth writing about.”
Readers familiar with Escanaba will recognize such landmarks as the House of Ludington historic hotel, the Hereford and Hops restaurant and Ludington Park, where Barr’s heroine takes her Basset hound, Belle, for daily walks. Barr said she took some literary license with other details that were “necessary to move the story along.”
Hamilton’s fictional editor, Bob, and confidante law enforcement friend Charlie were composites of real people Barr came to respect and trust.
“I never wanted to portray the cops as bumbling, because I never met those kinds of cops while working at the Daily Press,” she said.
Covering the police beat provided her with a respect for the law enforcement officers, she said, who knew everyone in town and went into the force because they cared about the community.
“The cops I knew were very well-trained, and even if they weren’t always book smart, they were at least street-smart,” she said. “I met a lot of officers of all different ages, and it was a very positive experience.”
Hamilton herself was created out of what Barr called a “need for a younger, more independent character,” in a genre rife with older protagonists.
“One problem I see in society is that we seem to have lost touch with each other, and our friendships and family ties are not as close,” she said. “I wanted to see a characater that reflected that, someone younger, and independent to a fault. Robin has a tough time asking for help.”
Her debut novel under her belt, Barr promises the public will see more of the heroine best-selling mystery author Carolyn Hart has called an “appealing new sleuth, who uses her reporter’s skills and small-town savvy to unmask a wily murderer.”
A first draft of Barr’s follow-up novel, tentatively titled “Page One: Vanished,” is already completed, where Hamilton will encounter more trouble in tale that spans several Upper Peninsula counties.
Published by Arbutus Press of Traverse City, “Page One: Hit and Run” sells for $16.95 and is available locally at North Wind Books in Hancock, at Book World in Houghton and at Grandpa’s Barn in Copper Harbor.
A book launching party and signing will be held at North Wind Books at 3 p.m. on July 25.
She will also present a talk titeld “Get a Clue: Writing and Publishing a Mystery” at Grandpa’s Barn in Copper Harbor at 7 p.m. July 31. The public is encouraged to attend both events.
For more information, go to www.nancybarronline.com and the publisher’s Web site at www.arbutuspress.com.
Jane Nordberg can be reached at jnordberg@mininggazette.com
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