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U.P. provides intriguing setting for new mystery series
The Ann Arobr News
Monday, August 07, 2006
BY SONJA BRODIE
News Special writer
This summer brings us a new mystery series set in the Upper Peninsula. "I find that there's a lot of interest in the U.P. even if you don't live here. People who have vacationed here - there's something about the U.P. that just sticks with them,'' says first-time author Nancy Barr. "People seem to have a lasting connection to the area. It has that kind of magic.''
Barr has created a sassy 30-something sleuth in Robin Hamilton, a reporter at the Daily Press in Escanaba. "I thought it was a good job for an amateur sleuth if you will. She doesn't set out to be a detective and she's not. Her investigation take more of a journalistic turn,'' says Barr, a former police and court reporter herself who now works as the news editor at the Daily Mining Gazette in Houghton.
"Page One: Hit and Run,'' the first in the series, sees Robin return to her roots after her fiancé's death in Chicago. She has little time to settle back in before an unsettling hit-and-run accident happens across the road from her new home. Asked by a childhood friend to investigate the case and prove her son's innocence, Robin uncovers a host of shady goings-on in town.
Finding enough serious crime in the U.P. has not been a problem for Barr. "You have to be creative when you're dealing with a rural area. Obviously there are some topics that you're not going to get into, like gang violence. We don't have a gang problem up here. ... We don't have a club scene. To keep things realistic, the outdoors will definitely play a big role,'' she says. "If you use your imagination, you can come up with plenty of crime.''
"Page One: Hit and Run'' is written in the first person, from Robin's point of view. "By using the first-person point of view, I was able to cut right to the chase and I think it adds something to the mystery because you only see what the main character sees so you're investigating this right along with her,'' Barr says.
Even though Barr had always been interested in criminal justice, she still had to do a fair amount of research. "I was lucky in that I had easy access to cops. Any time I had a question about something, I had to pull up the Rolodex and make a phone call and I had my information.''
A business graduate from Lake Superior State University, Barr has never had a creative writing lesson. She learned on the job when she began working on the Robin Hamilton series six years ago. "The most enjoyable part is the creating part,'' she says. "When I sit down to write, it's like a movie playing in my head. And really I don't know what's going to happen. I just let the characters go and speak for themselves. The challenging part is in the second draft, going back and making sure that all the threads follow.''
Barr has recently completed the first draft of the second Robin Hamilton book, tentatively titled "Page One: Vanished'', and she plans to write one mystery a year. "I think the character is interesting enough. There are a lot of things I want to delve into with regard to her past, her personality, relationships,'' she says. "As long as I'm interested in the character and as long as there are readers for such a series, I'll keep writing them.''
©2006 Ann Arbor News© 2006 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.
Posted August 27, 2006
Green Bay Press-Gazette
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Jean Peerenboom column: Hamilton doesn't waste time in debut 'Page One'
The crime rate in Escanaba, Mich., is about to go up, and mystery fans will be delighted. I just finished "Page One: Hit and Run" and my one complaint is that Nancy Barr doesn't write fast enough. I can't wait for her next mystery featuring Robin Hamilton, a crime reporter and amateur sleuth in Escanaba.
Barr's debut novel is published by Arbutus Press ($16.95) out of Traverse City, Mich. The character of Hamilton is roughly based on Barr's experiences with a small-town newspaper. Barr was a police reporter for two years. She lived not far from Ludington Park in Escanaba. However, she said, "this is not based on anything real."
Barr is 34; her character is 31. Both are single. Robin is allergic to cats; Barr has three cats. And, she assures people who insist they recognize people in her characters, the people in her novel are not based on anyone real.
The story finds Hamilton, a recent transplant from Chicago, mixed up in a hit-and-run accident that happens almost in her front yard. She is a new hire at the local newspaper (relocating after her fiancé — a Chicago police officer — was killed in the line of duty). She returns to be closer to her father and becomes reacquainted with old friends.
Her dad asks her to help the young man who is arrested in the hit-and-run, which turns out not to be an accident. Another body turns up and all of sudden her snooping lands her in hot water, and the hospital.
It is fast-paced and action oriented, yet character driven. Barr gives us a good sense of place without letting it detract from the story. The characters are well drawn, multidimensional and likeable.
The book has drawn praise from other mystery writers. Carolyn Hart, for example, says it "grips the reader as the fast-paced narrative unfolds. The debut mystery launches appealing new sleuth Robin Hamilton, who uses her reporter's skills and small-town savvy to unmask a wily murderer."
Steve Hamilton, author of "A Stolen Season," says, "Nancy Barr hits the ground running in this strong debut, with enough twists and surprises to satisfy any reader. Her heroine makes this a series to watch out for."
Barr moved to the Upper Peninsula when she was 9. Before that she lived in Illinois and Southern California. "When I was a kid, I thought about being everything under the sun except a writer. It dawned on me in college while reading a book that I could do this," she said. With that, she switched from engineering and pre-med to writing.
After writing "Page One," she spent several months hunting for an agent. "I got really discouraged and set it aside for years. Last summer, a publisher sent a news release (she is a news editor for the Daily Mining Gazette in Houghton, Mich.) on an author who was coming to our area for a book signing. When I talked to the publisher, I told her about my book and she asked me to send it to her.
"Two grueling months later, I got a letter with suggestions for tightening the manuscript and they said they'd be willing to publish the series," she said.
It's her first novel, and for now she wants to stick with the Hamilton character until the series gets going. Personally, I'm looking forward to getting to know Hamilton a lot better in years to come.
Lansing State Journal
Published October 1, 2006
Walsh: New mysteries are set in the Upper Peninsula
By Ray Walsh
"Page One: Hit and Run," by award- winning journalist Nancy Barr, is a nicely designed, slim paperback mystery introducing Robin Hamilton, a newspaper reporter in Escanaba.
After a few years working for a paper in Chicago, Hamilton has returned to her hometown in the U.P after the unsolved shooting death of her fiancé. When a prominent accountant is killed in a hit-and-run accident, Hamilton is assigned the story; soon, a young man is arrested, but claims innocence.
As she investigates, she is faced with many unanswered questions and numerous evasions; there are a variety of possible suspects in what she believes is a case of cold- blooded murder.
The likable, hard-working reporter soon becomes more involved when another body surfaces; she has real reason to worry after an attempt is made on her own life.
This is a highly entertaining, enjoyable debut crime novel, with strong characterization, intriguing plotting and a great Northern Michigan setting; Barr's already working on a sequel.
Ray Walsh, owner of East Lansing's Curious Book Shop, has reviewed crime novels and noir thrillers regularly since 1987.
Page One: Hit and Run
A Robin Hamilton Mystery
written by Nancy Barr
ISBN 1--933926-15-5
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