CAPTION: Superior Death - Matthew Williams

By MATTHEW HANSON, Mining Journal Correspondent

MARQUETTE — Those putting together a summer reading list might want to leave room for a book with lots of local flavor.

“Superior Death,” a mystery by Marquette resident and freelance writer Matthew Williams, tells the tale of a newspaper reporter investigating a death his mother witnessed. On shelves since April, the book is set in Apostle Bay, a fictional Lake Superior town many will recognize as Marquette.

WILLIAMS

Newspaper Reporter Vince Marshall follows a trail beginning on Eagle’s Cliff, a “peninsula reaching a half mile into Lake Superior” which the reporter thinks of as “beckoning ore freighters to come and kiss its dizzying, striated cliffs.” The path climbs and darts through a century’s worth of intrigue that ultimately brings Marshall back to where he started.

The story is backed by a nifty subplot of suspected teenage drug use and the contentious labor negotiations of Apostle Bay teachers.

Struggling to keep up with a back-sliding home life and the demands of fatherhood, Marshall connects the dots that bring closure in a roaring finish.

“I’m getting a lot of positive comments,” Williams said. “I wrote about three-quarters of the book before I decided how it would end. I knew the story would be about a reporter whose mother was involved in a death. But once I decided upon the ending, I had to re-write most of it.”

Williams, 42, should have plenty of perspective on Marshall’s life: he was a reporter for the Mining Journal for four years.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Williams first moved to the Upper Peninsula in 1981 to attend Michigan Tech.

After eight years in Washington, D.C. as a civil engineer, Williams, with his wife Suzanne, a chemistry professor at Northern Michigan University, moved to Marquette in part so that he could pursue a writing career.

In addition to reporting news, Williams wrote Tot Tales, a column relating the efforts of raising the couple’s son, eight-year-old Sam.

Williams said he had always written, but learning to “write on demand” for a newspaper contributed to the book’s rapid-fire style and allowed him to write while being a stay-at-home dad.

“As a reporter, you don’t have time to sit and stew (over what needs to be written) when you come to work in the morning,” he said. “You have to write immediately. I had, at times, to write this book in short bursts, so I’m grateful for that skill.”

Williams confirmed his time at the Mining Journal provided fodder for the story, but stressed the story is fictional.

“I’m sure that there are cases where my experience shows through,” he said. “It seems like almost everyone I talk to believes there is one scene or character in the book they know. I’m afraid to tell them it’s totally fiction because it’s great to see people get hooked into it.”

Lessons learned as a reporter paid dividends for Williams down the road. Time spent poring over old copies of the Mining Journal for the Pages from the Past, the paper’s 1996-97 celebration of its 150th anniversary, gave him historical perspective he used recreating a newspaper account of an auto accident in the book. Williams added many in the community were generous with their resources in giving him an education.

“Everyone I worked with at the courts took the time to educate me when I was a reporter. (Marquette County Prosecuting Attorney) Gary Walker loaned me legal books and (then-county clerk) Dave Roberts explained to me the process of numerous issues. At the Mining Journal, Barb Bannister made an effort to teach me writing style.”

“Superior Death” — the first of a three-book deal between Williams and Avalon Books — is the result of many hours writing and pitching his work to publishing houses.

“I got plenty of rejections. Man, some of them were brutal,” Williams said. “But they made the book better. I added personality and stayed away from formula writing.

“That’s the thing. You just have to stay patient and keep trying.”