Hopefully, novelist Kristina Riggle doesn’t have a class reunion on the horizon soon. It would be a bummer for anyone who had read her new book, “The Life You’ve Imagined.”

I’ve seen slides of decapitated victims, an author brandishing a 45 and pretty much everything else so I’m seldom surprised when mystery authors do something a little different to attract attention, but I’ve never seen a mystery author playing a violin. Tomorrow (Wednesday September 1) at 7 p.m. at Aunt Agathas mystery book shop in Ann Arbor Michigan author Gerald Elias will be brandishing a violin as part of his presentation. Elias is a concert violist and the author of “Devil’s Trill” and “Danse Macabre”. He will be playing his violin at the booksigning.

The following blog post was written by Robin Agnew co-owner of Aunt Agathas bookstore.

Jacobus…was dumbfounded by such a compelling, polished personal performance, unaware of anything else but the music – his own definition of a great performance.  – from Devil’s Trill

“Devil’s Trill” is one of the more traditional mysteries I’ve read in a long while, and I’ve recently re-read books by Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and Patricia Moyes.  It’s also a breath of fresh air with a truly interesting main character and a fantastically interesting setting.   Daniel Jacobus is an old, blind, crotchety (he gives new meaning to the word “codger”) violin teacher, and it’s also clear from the novel that he’s a teacher with a rare gift.  Along with his deductive skills – honed from many years as a blind man – his gift to mystery fiction is an insight into the backstage goings-on of the classical music world.

Kicking off his novel is a prologue about the provenance of the so-called Piccolini Stradivarius, a rare violin now used only in competition by the gifted winner of a contest held every 13 years for violists under the age of 13.  The winner of the Grimsby competition the year we encounter it is a ripe old nine year old.  Jacobus, attending the concert and reception, is in a terrible mood as he hates the competition and all it stands for, and when the violin is stolen at the end of the evening, he’s not exactly choked up.

He’s also distracted by a new student from Japan, Yumi, who remains strong no matter the abuse he piles on her, and even better, seems flexible in her thinking and capable of actual learning.  He, Yumi and his friend Nathaniel, who is looking for the eight million dollar violin for the insurance company he works for, make an interesting trio as they canvass New York, mainly interviewing various members of MAP, the group that runs the competition.  The book is at it’s best when it’s firmly within the world of classical music.  The background of the place where these fabulously rare and expensive instruments are sold, the backstage whiff of Carnegie Hall, the infusions of the author’s obvious love for, and knowledge of, classical music, all keep you turning the pages. 

There wasn’t a murder until late in the proceedings, and though it kicks the narrative engine into gear, it almost doesn’t matter.  Things wind up in Japan, another fascinatingly explored venue (you’ll want to fly over and take a bath after reading this book). The touchstones of the novel are the character of Daniel Jacobus, and the music that he loves.  In the second novel, “Danse Macabre”, the book opens with the murder, and the narrative pace is the richer for it.  Instead of a figure who Jacobus hated, as in the first novel, the victim is a friend of Jacobus, a renowned violinist well loved all over the world, and his spectacularly gruesome death is even more drenched in celebrity when his musical rival and former protege, BTower, is convicted of killing him.

The meat of the story takes place two years later: BTower is on death row, waiting a quickly approaching end, and he’s been put there mainly by testimony given by Jacobus at his trial.  Of course who is recruited by BTower’s lawyer to actually prove his innocence: Jacobus. Adhering closely to the classical rules of mystery story telling, of course it’s a given that BTower is innocent, and that his innocence will not be proved until the very last second.  The mystery part is Jacobus’ path to the truth; he’s again accompanied by Nathaniel (while Yumi makes a couple appearances, she’s off on a concert tour).  The love of music infuses this one as much as the first, but some of the story telling kinks have been worked out, and the result is a smoothly told story that will have any reader flipping the pages to get to the end.

Each book is threaded together by one piece of music – in each, the title piece.  I wasn’t familiar with the piece in the first book, but the piece in the second, which Yu-Na Kim used in her skating routine this past season, was familiar to me and it’s probably hauntingly familiar to many of you, you just may not know it.  My lack of knowledge of classical music is fairly vast, but reading these two novels made me feel I had learned a bit.  At the very least, I benefitted from Mr. Elias’ obvious passion, an asset to any novel.

As a lawyer Steve Lehto is used to strange stories, but none is stranger than the one he will tell at the Kerrytown BookFest where he is appearing Sunday September 12. Some of the story is about luck and some of it is about pluck (Lehto’s).

A few years ago Lehto wrote a book on the 1913 Calumet tragedy where 73 people died on Christmas Eve when someone yelled “fire”. His book “Death’s Door” won a Michigan Notable Book Award and rewrote history books.

But that’s not the story. Three years ago Jay Leno on the Tonight Show used the book’s grim title to poke a little fun. A Finnish American newspaper had run an ad for the book declaring it would make a great Christmas gift. That headline became a natural for Leno’s friendly jabs at comic headlines.

Taking it all in stride, Lehto mailed off a copy of the book to Leno in what he describes in a Neal Ruben column in the Detroit News as “the gaudiest Christmas paper he could find”. Knowing that Leno was a car buff he included his unpublished manuscript for a book on the Chrysler ’63 Turbine automobile. Sly fox that Lehto. Leno who is a car collector would buy one of the rare automobiles six weeks later while in Detroit.

A few days after Lehto sent the gift package a call comes into Lehto’s office with a guy on the phone saying he’s Jay Leno. It was. No joke.

The two car buffs hit it off and later Leno would ask Lehto to stop by for a ride if he was ever in California. Lehto of course found himself in California soon after the invitation and he got his ride, but he also got a promise of a foreword if the book was optioned. A few rewrites and a foreword later and a book was born.

Lehto will have his new book, “Chrysler’s Turbine Car: The Rise and Fall of Detroit’s Coolest Creation” at the Kerrytown BookFest so be sure you catch up with him so he can tell you the rest of the story.

After talking with Kathy and Abdulrahman Zeitoun of New Orleans last week I understand why author Dave Eggers chose their story from the many which emerged from the hurricane-devastated New Orleans. They are a totally engaging couple and I am looking forward to their visit to East Lansing as part of the 2010 One Book, One Community program which has been underway  since Eggers’ book “Zeitoun” was selected for reading by the incoming Freshman class and the East Lansing Community.

The Zeitouns will be in East Lansing September 19 for a public program, but first things first. The author, Dave Eggers is visiting East Lansing today and tomorrow (Sunday August 29 and Monday August 30) for two public events where he will discuss “Zeitoun”. The book is about the couple and  their very personal response to Hurricane Katrina which began its devastation five years ago to the day of Eggers’ visit.

Eggers, author of the memoir, “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”, is passionate about human rights, especially how victims are treated in society and through the Zeitouns he make his case that America may have taken a step back in when it comes to civil rights. “Zeitoun” certainly is a book about survival and heroism, but it is more about xenophobia and racial stereotyping in a post-9-11 world.

Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-American, is the centerpiece along with his spouse Kathy. When evacuation orders come Abdulrahman stays behind to protect his rental properties and home. Kathy leaves with the children. After the flooding Abdulrahman makes his way through the city in a battered canoe acting as an angel of mercy to those who couldn’t leave. He is arrested and placed in a makeshift prison for weeks. When she does not hear from him Kathy imagines the worst. The question you have to ask is how could this happen in America.

MSU and East Lansing have planned one of the more compelling and timely programs since the One Read program began. In addition to the Eggers’ and Zeitoun’s visits there are programs on the engineering of the levee, a writing workshop, theme dinners and screening of two documetaries on Katrina and New Orleans.

Eggers will be at East Lansing High School Auditorium, 7 p.m., Sunday August 29 and he will speak to incoming freshmen, 9 am. Monday at the Breslin Student Event Center. Both events are public and are free.

You had to be there — but if you weren’t the new book “Blues in Black and White: The Landmark Ann Arbor Blues Festivals” (University of Michigan Press) takes you back in time to what was likely the greatest assembly of blues artists of all time.

With an erudite and knowledgeable essay by music historian and archivist Michael Erlewine wrapped around stunning, never-before-seen black-and-white photographs by Stanley Livingston of virtually every major blues performer, the book is a one-of-kind tribute to a bygone era.

Michael Erlewine described writing the essay that introduces the book as “no challenge. It was like water off a duck’s back. It was a key event in my life; I was totally present.”

Erlewine attributes the festivals, at which he did scores of interviews with the major blues artists and sidemen, as the impetus for him becoming a music historian. He would later found the online definitive guide to recorded music, the All Music Guide.

The two seminal blues festivals in 1969 and 1970 accomplished something no others had done: They brought together legendary blues artists, like Howlin Wolf, B.B. King and Muddy Waters, with the new urban sound of Chicago-style blues.

Erlewine came by his love of the blues naturally. He and his brother, Dave, founded and played in the Ann Arbor blues band The Prime Movers in the 1960s. At one point, the band boasted Iggy Pop as a member. Erlewine was a folkie himself for a time, traveling with the likes of Bob Dylan.

He said he had listened to blues music at his mother’s knees as she played piano. His parents were both folkies, and he often heard that folkies discovered the blues — but he disagrees.

“Blues didn’t need a revival,” he said. “It didn’t need to be revived, it just needed to be heard.”

He heard the blues by taking frequent trips to Chicago to visit clubs and to root through bins of 45-r.p.m. singles, looking for music.

“The blues was live,” he said. “It was robust and in-your-face. It was not something you pulled out of a history book. It was like going back in time.”

Except, he said, it was right there.

And maybe that’s what “The Blues in Black and White” does. It takes you to a time in which Kodachrome would be out of place. Livingston’s casual, candid photos tell the story of a time that can’t be replicated.

Strangely enough, the 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival was the first time Livingstone really heard the blues. He was captured by the sound and the uniqueness of the event.

His iconic photo of B.B. King on the cover just shouts the blues, and his photo of Howlin’ Wolf with a woman hanging on his back and a nametag on his shirt identifying his as a performer tells you how laid-back the festivals were.

A quote, almost a blues lyric in itself, describes the photo of Howlin’ Wolf: “Woman, I don’t need you. I got a wife at home feeds me with a golden spoon.”

Erlewine said that early on Livingston’s photographs were ripped-off and, as a result, the photographer “sat on them for 40 years.”

“The few times I tried to deal with the music industry I just got screwed,” Livingston said. “I really got bummed and just put the negatives away.”

Livingstone credits Tom Erlewine, another brother, the book’s designer — and, for a number of years, his photo assistant — for bugging him to get the photos out and do a book. From that treasure trove of more than 1,000 negatives, the three selected a little over 150 for the book in a process Livingstone described as “agonizing.”

For Livingston, it was a heady time to be in Ann Arbor. He would later shoot 20 to 30 rolls at the Free John Sinclair Rally, which included John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Bob Seger, Allen Ginsberg and Stevie Wonder. “I really burned up quite a bit of film,” he said.

Shooting the blues festival was pure serendipity for Livingston. “A friend dropped by and dragged me to the blues festival,” he recalled. “That’s what started it all. I was there to enjoy the music, but I became literally focused on the performers, and didn’t get to listen.”

Livingston knows what he was able to do at the festivals was a case of “the right place at the right time.” And gone are the days when performers would allow you to take candid photos of them.

“In my opinion, that’s a great tragedy,” Livingston said.

He said it’s hard to have a favorite photo, but he acknowledges that the cover shot of King is one, along with the doublepage spread of Mance Lipscomb sitting in a chair, playing the guitar in his arctic sweater.

In his essay, Erlewine points out that the average age of the performers at the blues festivals was about 50.

“We are talking about and end of a movement. Not a beginning,” he writes. “Only the youngest remain alive.”

Patricia Polacco is making a rare public appearance in mid-Michigan this weekend and if you want to see her you better get there early.  There is Tuesday Books in Williamston Michigan and every few years Polacco visits the scene of the crime-her hometown. Polacco will talk with fans, and they are rabid fans, and do a reading and sign books from 1-3 p.m.

The author who now lives in Union City is especially popular with teachers who she lionizes in her books. Her most recent book “The Junkyard Wonders” is based on her actual experiences growing up as a learning impaired student unable to read or do simple math calculations until that special year when she was 14. Polacco’s parents divorced when she was young and she spent the school year in California and summers with her father in Williamston.

At 14, Polacco stayed in Williamston for the school year and a very special teacher, Mrs. Petersen, came into her life and transformed her and other student’s lives. That forms the basic premise of the new book. A few years ago, Polacco told me in an interview that because she learned to read and write later in life she turned to visual communication which has served her well. She now has illustrated and written more than 70 books. Polacco who still has trouble reading and putting words on paper went on to receive a PHd and became an art restorer before turning to writing and illustrating.

In her book ” The Junkyard Wonders” she follows the escapades of a “special ed” class” who are transformed through the efforts of Mrs. Petersen. Polacco is outspoken about education politics and it doesn’t take much to get her going on the topic. She has set several of her books in Williamston and typically runs into old friends while visiting the city. Tuesday Books is located at 137 W. Grand River in Williamston.

During a particularly unsettled period in my life, I felt steadied by Harrison’s writing. I read “Farmer,” then “Warlock.,” This man lived here? Amazing. 

A snippet from one of his poems helped me understand why I felt as I did. 

Abel always votes
Cain thinks better of it
knowing not very deep in his heart
that no one deserves to be encouraged.
Abel has a good job and is a responsible screw,
but many intelligent women seem drawn
to Crazy Horse, a descendant of Cain,
even if he only gets off his buffalo pony
once a year to throw stones at the moon.
Of course these women marry Abel but at bars and parties
they are the first to turn to the opening door
to see who is coming in.

I needed direction, and I always tried to read and write my way out of trouble. So I summoned all my courage to write Harrison because he seemed more of a friend than a literary celebrity. I needed to sort out whether to stay or go. Should I jump on the back of Crazy Horse’s painted pony and ride away? Or should I stay rooted. 

I was stunned when he wrote back. His words resonated. I treasured the letter and put it away to keep it safe. 

But then the house burned a couple years later. Almost everything was lost.

I thought Harrison’s letter had been tucked safely away among the albums and files that had escaped the flames, stored in the basement. But I could never seem to find it again, though I spent hours searching. 

In the interim, I married a Crazy Horse, though he’s tame enough now that he spent part of his mini-vacation cleaning out our spare room. He called me there to go some papers he found tucked away in an old filing cabinet, to see if there was anything worth saving.

And there it was. Harrison’s letter dated May 21, 1983. Part of what he wrote: 

In order to further protect my privacy I am on the verge of disappearing altogether. I have purchased a green janitors suit that says ‘Ralph’ on the pocket. With this suit I also have a pair of ankle high black shoes and a key ring with 33 keys that open no doors, a wallet full of $2 bills – with this goes a John Deere cap and a 90 day Greyhound pass. 

Words to live by. Thanks, Ralph.

The chill is in the air and cider is around the corner so it’s time to load up that Kindle (who said that?) for fall reading. Reading is one of the most personal activities you can do despite what best sellers lists tell us. So here are 10 books from my fall reading list. Only a few of these will ever show up on a “best sellers list”, but I figure most can find their own “Eat Pray Love”; Stieg Larsson, Janet Evanovich; or “Hunger Games”. Some of these books are not out yet so you have to watch for them. 

1. “Zeitoun” by Dave Eggers (shown at left) is a must read on the 5^th Anniversary of  Hurricane Katrina. Eggers matter of factly follows Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun New Orleans residents who find themselves in a human maelstrom when Abdulrahman refuses to leave the city and ends up in jail despite his heroic efforts to save those who were left behind. Eggers forces readers to confront xenophobia and the lingering racism of a post 9-11 world. The book has become even more timely as we confront the Ground Zero Mosque debacle. The incoming MSU Freshmen class is reading the book as part of the One Book, One Community Program. The Zeitouns will visit MSU on September 19 and Eggers will kick of the program August 29-30 with two events open to the public. All these events are free. 

2.”Threatened Species” by Michigan author Jeff Vande Zande – It’s a glorious Michigan rendition of “A River Through It” by Norman Maclean. VandeZande will put you in the north woods and knee deep in its streams and rivers in this story about a father and son who are being split up and their last trip north.

3. “Bad Blood” by John Sanford is not a sleeper, but Sandford will be at Schuler Books & Music Okemos September 29. “Bad Blood” is a Virgil Flowers’ book and it takes you deep into a chilling murder in the Sanford tradition.

4. “The Etiquette of Freedom” by Jim Harrison and Gary Snyder. Harrison “walks” beat poet Snyder through his long career as a writer. Read a short summary on Mittenlit.com 

5. “Rich Boy” by Sharon Pomerantz from Ann Arbor Michigan is written in the tradition of Tom Wolfe and its strong narrative style is captivating. Pomerantz follows a young man’s quest for success into adulthood that spans three decades. 

6. Tom McGuane’s newest book “Driving on the Rim” is a dark comedy set in his adopted state of Montana. His protagonist, Dr. I.B. Pickett, get himself in and out (mostly) out of numerous jams as he confronts life, death and small town nosiness with lust thrown in for good measure. 

7. “Detroit Disassembled” with an essay by Pulitzer poet Philip Levine and photos by Andrew Moore is a coffee table book which tells the story of a city on the rocks through photos of abandoned buildings and other decaying scenery. 

8. “Charlie Chan: The Life and Times of a Chinese Detective” seems like a great companion to “Zeitoun”.  The author Yunte Huang, a Chinese American who was active at Tiananmen Square and forced to leave his country, is inspired by a Charlie Chan paperback he finds at a rummage sale. He delves into racial stereotyping and the Asian American cultural experience from the perspective of how Charlie Chan is seen by different groups. 

9. “Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe of Super Athletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen” by Christopher McDougall is one strange story of a runner looking for greatness and his search for the secrets of the Terahumara Indians of Mexico who hold the answers. Long known as the world’s best ultrarunners, the Terahumara look at running as a pleasurable experience and the author wants to know how they do it.  

10. “The Michigan Murders” by Edward Keyes has been reprinted with a new prologue and epilogue by two Michigan True Crime writers. The book comes on the anniversary of the conviction of James Norman Collins who was responsible for the murder of at least six women in the late 1960s in the Ann Arbor area. The book set new direction on True Crime writing and the book will be released at the Kerrytown BookFest September 19 in Ann Arbor Michigan. 

Depending on how things go other books which are likely to make it on this list are: “the Whole Earth News”; “The Confederacy of Dunces”; and Vince Flynn’s “American Assassin”.

Western Michigan author Kristina Riggle has got a big smile on her face in today’s Detroit Free Press article on her new book “The Life You Imagined”. Her book explores the lives of four women in their thirties as they return to their hometown for varying reasons. Each women is faced with the question are we doing what we thought we would be doing.

As with her first book, Riggle has placed her story in a Western Michigan-like city. This time it’s called Haven sort of an amalgam of Grand haven and South Haven. She told the reviewer Christopher Walton that she “can’t imagine setting a book anywhere else”. Riggle is an MSU journalism graduate.

Riggle is currently on an author tour and also will be at the Kerrytown BookFest in Ann Arbor Michigan September 12. She will be joining a panel discussion on Michigan Lit with Moderator Eric Olsen talking with authors Bonnie Jo Campbell, Michael Zadoorian, Kristina Riggle and Wendy Webb.

The following review by Ray Walsh, proprietor of Curious Book Shop in East Lansing Michigan, first appeared in the Lansing State Journal.

Two recent books are likely to intrigue readers who enjoy Michigan history. One offers a variety of interesting facts while the other, aimed at younger readers, provides a thought provoking stepping stone for creativity.
“Michigan’s County Courthouses” by John Fedynsky, (University of Michigan Press, $40), is a tall, well- designed book that’s subtitled “An Encyclopedic Tour of Michigan Courthouses”.
It explores the fascinating history of all of the courthouses in each of the state’s 83 counties as well as the Michigan Supreme Court.
The oversized book is illustrated with many detailed black and white photographs, includes maps and is arranged alphabetically for ease of reference. Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman has written an excellent foreword that delves into the content and intent of the volume, noting the challenges that Fedynsky faced in compiling this work.
This isn’t just a boring reference work that merely lists facts and figures; instead, it’s a wonderful effort that captures much of the essence of Michigan history, from its wilderness beginnings through contemporary times.
There are many intriguing insights into the state’s history, including land squabbles, architectural priorities, financing efforts, political dickering, unusual cases and famous trials. Fedynsky, who is an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Michigan, also includes a selected bibliography for historians seeking more information.
This is ideal for any local library and is an exceptionally useful updated addition to Maurice Cole’s 1974 book on the same subject.
“Diary of a Michigan Kid”, illustrated by Cyd Moore (Sleeping Bear Press, $9.95) is an unusual oversized paperback that should offer hours of creativity for kids. It’s much more that just a simple diary, providing lined space for children to write as well as blank pages for drawing.
Interspersed with the colorful drawings by Collins are questions (and answers!) relating to Michigan history that many adults may even have trouble answering. Simple recipes for tasty pizza, s’mores, fudge and snow candy also appear.
Additionally, there are games for children who are on vacation or travelling, activity ideas and space for poetry or creative insights. A completed book would be fun to examine ten or twenty years from now or even later, when fond memories of childhood may slowly start to fade.

Ray Walsh, owner of East Lansing’s Curious Book Shop, has reviewed crime novels and Michigan books regularly since 1987. Visit the store’s redesigned website.