Any day is a perfect day for reading on the couch, at the camp, or on your commute. From murder mysteries to true tales of courage to books filled with fun facts, Northeastern Ontario has inspired many writers to share their stories. Here are just a few page-turners written about Northeastern Ontario, or by writers who call Northeastern Ontario home.
Career broadcaster Scott Overton turned his real-life talent and experience as a radio personality to writing a suspense-filled novel that author Sean Costello described as “a gripping insightful debut.” The story revolves around a fictional Sudbury radio morning show host who finds a death threat at work. He shrugs it off as a prank until a series of pranks turns into something much more deadly than horseplay. Scott’s insights into the world of broadcasting, his believable characters, and a tightly crafted plot make Dead Air a must-read.
Want to know where you can swim with a polar bear, where you can visit the home of the fellow who wrote The Hardy Boys series, or where Shania Twain lived before she hit the big time? Come on Over! Northeastern Ontario A to Z has the answers—The Polar Bear Habitat in Cochrane, Leslie McFarlane (a.k.a. Franklin W. Dixon) in Haileybury, and Timmins! Written by two professors emeriti of Laurentian University’s History Department, the book features over 180 pages of fun and informative facts that are bound to both entertain and educate visitors to Northeastern Ontario.
A Sudbury family physician, Klaus Jakelski has worked in the emergency room and the operating room. He has recently applied his medical expertise and his lifelong love of writing to a new venture—fiction. A medical thriller with political overtones, Dead Wrong is about a skilled young surgeon and the ambitious news anchor who helps him solve the case of 34 mysterious deaths at an elite Boston heart hospital. Complex characters and a strong plot with a twist here and a turn there make this debut novel a most satisfying read.
These best-selling photography books by Sudburian Andrew Knapp feature a handsome, brown-eyed border collie named Momo who’s an absolute pro at playing hide-and-seek. Momo and his human BFF have travelled across Canada and the United States with Momo hiding in plain sight while Andrew snaps the photos. From the Big Nickel to Bridal Veil Falls (British Columbia), you will surely enjoy Andrew’s spectacular shots of locations both iconic and quirky while you play along and look for Momo in each photograph. Not to worry if some of them leave you stumped . . . the answers are at the back of the book!
When two teens go missing in this brilliant crime novel, the clues lead Detective John Cardinal to conclude that there could be a serial killer on the loose in his Northeastern Ontario town. And while that Northeastern Ontario town is called Algonquin Bay, place names like Airport Hill, Trout Lake Road, and Lake Nipissing definitely conjure up thoughts of North Bay, where the author grew up. It will take only a few pages before you’re hooked and craving to read the rest of the books in this best-selling series.
A Member of the Order of Canada, Michael Barnes has published more than 50 books and is regarded as an authority on the history and folklore of Northern Ontario. Killer in the Bush details the great fires of the 1920s in the Kirkland Lake/Temiskaming area that destroyed hundreds of square kilometres of forest and resulted in a great many deaths. The book features riveting and heartbreaking true stories of the devastating power of forest fires and the bravery of the people who lost their lives and of those who survived.
Check out your local public library or favourite bookstore for more fact, fun, and fiction about Northeastern Ontario and for books written by authors whose Northeastern Ontario upbringings fuel their creative passions.
