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University of Michigan Press University of Michigan Press University of Michigan Press University of Michigan Press University of Michigan Press

Cover Image for When Evil Came to Good Hart
6 x 9. 200 pgs. 20 B&W photographs. (2008)

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978-0-472-11666-9
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978-0-472-03315-7
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978-0-472-02196-3
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Subjects
History--American History / Michigan and the Great Lakes--History

When Evil Came to Good Hart

Mardi Link



A new look into an old story—the cold-case file of the murders of a wealthy Detroit-area family in their northern Michigan cabin in 1968




About the Book

"The murder mystery that has confounded and fascinated people for over forty years has been given a whole new life. When Evil Came to Good Hart is a well-researched and well-written piece of nonfiction that holds the reader in its spell, just as it has the many writers, reporters, and law officers who have puzzled over it. My highest praise for Mardi Link's book is to say that it reads like a good novel, a real page-turner."
—Judith Guest, author of Ordinary People and The Tarnished Eye

In this page-turning true-life whodunit, author Mardi Link details all the evidence to date. She crafts her book around police and court documents and historical and present-day statements and interviews, in addition to exploring the impact of the case on the community of Good Hart and the stigma that surrounds the popular summer getaway. Adding to both the sense of tragic history and the suspense, Link laces her tale with fascinating bits of local and Indian lore, while dozens of colorful characters enter and leave the story, spicing the narrative.

During the years of investigation of the murders, officials considered hundreds of tips and leads as well as dozens of sources, among them former secretaries who worked for murder victim Dick Robison; Robison's business associates; John Norman Collins, perpetrator of the "Co-Ed Murders" that took place in Washtenaw County between 1967 and 1969; and an inmate in federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, who said he knew who killed the Robison family.

Despite the exhaustive investigative efforts of numerous individuals, decades later the case lies tantalizingly out of reach. It is still an unsolved cold case, yielding, in Link's words, forty years worth of "dead-end leads, anonymous tips, a few hard facts, and countless cockamamie theories."

Mardi Link is a journalist and the 2007 Betty Crumrine Scholar from the Antioch Writers' Workshop. She is the cofounder and former editor of ForeWord magazine and the former editor of Small Press magazine. She lives in Traverse City.

 

On the Web

Mardi Link's website

Mardi Link's blog

9and10 news

Watch: Mardi Link discuss the Emmet County Cold Case on 9&10 News

Mardi Link podcast

Listen: UMP Author Podcast Series: Mardi Link | mp3 | July 2008

Read: Article on CLEWS | 2/3/2009

Read: Article on Publishers Weekly | 2/2/2009

Read: Q&A with Mardi Link (PDF)

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