Deb Baker | |
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| Born | 1953 (age 70–71) Escanaba, Michigan, U.S. |
| Pen name | Hannah Reed |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | De Pere High School University of Wisconsin |
| Genre | Mystery |
Deb Baker (born 1953) is an American mystery writer from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, who has created three mystery series.
Baker was born in Escanaba, Michigan. [1] She lived in the Upper Peninsula until she was 10. [2] Baker lived in Gladstone, Michigan before moving to De Pere, Wisconsin where she graduated from De Pere High School. [3] She earned a degree in English with emphasis on creative writing from the University of Wisconsin and began her writing career. She currently resides in North Lake, Wisconsin.[ citation needed ]
Baker writes American mystery fiction, especially in the cozy subgenre. [4] She has written two series under her own name. The Dolls To Die For series features a Phoenix, Arizona doll collecting club and member, Gretchen Birch, [5] who solves murders with her new-age Aunt Nina while sharing a doll restoration business with her mother. Baker is an "avid doll collector herself." [6] Baker also wrote the humorous Yooper mysteries centering on a fictitious town in the Michigan Upper Peninsula where Gertie Johnson, mother of the local sheriff, solves murders the old-fashioned way with friends Cora Mae and Kitty. [1] The Yooper series was called a "quirky, very appealing series" by Booklist . [7] Using the pen name Hannah Reed, she writes the Queen Bee mystery series about Story Fischer, a Wisconsin beekeeper. [8]
Baker’s first novel, Murder Passes the Buck (2006), was based on her personal experience in the Michigan Upper Peninsula. The colorful characters she created won her the Authorlink International First Novelist Award [9] in the mystery category, then went on to win Best of Show.
The Lower Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Lower Michigan – is the larger, southern and less elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; the other being the Upper Peninsula, which is separated by the Straits of Mackinac. It is surrounded by water on all sides except its southern border, which it shares with Indiana and Ohio. Although the Upper Peninsula is commonly referred to as "the U.P.", it is uncommon for the Lower Peninsula to be called "the L.P."
Michigan is a state in the Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwestern United States. It borders Wisconsin to the northwest in the Upper Peninsula, and Indiana and Ohio to the south in the Lower Peninsula; it is also connected by Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie to Minnesota and Illinois, and the Canadian province of Ontario. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of 96,716 sq mi (250,490 km2), Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the largest by area east of the Mississippi River. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit. Metro Detroit is among the nation's most populous and largest metropolitan economies. The name derives from a gallicized variant of the original Ojibwe word ᒥᓯᑲᒥ, meaning "large water" or "large lake".
Marquette is the county seat of Marquette County and the largest city in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the shores of Lake Superior, Marquette is a major port, known primarily for shipping iron ore from the Marquette Iron Range. The city is partially surrounded by Marquette Township, but the two are administered autonomously.
The Upper Peninsulaof Michigan—also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P.—is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac. It is bounded primarily by Lake Superior to the north, separated from the Canadian province of Ontario at the east end by the St. Marys River, and flanked by Lake Huron and Lake Michigan along much of its south. Although the peninsula extends as a geographic feature into the state of Wisconsin, the state boundary follows the Montreal and Menominee rivers and a line connecting them.
Lara Flynn Boyle is an American actress. She is known for playing Donna Hayward in the television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991). After appearing in Penelope Spheeris's comedy Wayne's World (1992), Boyle had a lead role in John Dahl's neo-noir film Red Rock West (1993), followed by roles in Threesome (1994), Cafe Society (1995), and Happiness (1998). From 1997 to 2003, she starred in the ABC series The Practice, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
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"Michigander" and "Michiganian" are unofficial demonyms for natives and residents of the U.S. state of Michigan. Less common alternatives include Michiganer, Michiganite, Michiganese, Michigine, and Michigoose (female).
North-Central American English is an American English dialect, or dialect in formation, native to the Upper Midwestern United States, an area that somewhat overlaps with speakers of the separate Inland Northern dialect situated more in the eastern Great Lakes region. In the United States, it is also known as the Upper Midwestern or North-Central dialect and stereotypically recognized as a Minnesota accent or sometimes Wisconsin accent. It is considered to have developed in a residual dialect region from the neighboring Western, Inland Northern, and Canadian dialect regions.
Undine Eliza Anna Smith Moore, the "Dean of Black Women Composers", was an American composer and professor of music in the twentieth century. Moore was originally trained as a classical pianist, but developed a compositional output of mostly vocal music—her preferred genre. Much of her work was inspired by black spirituals and folk music. Undine Smith Moore was a renowned teacher, and once stated that she experienced "teaching itself as an art". Towards the end of her life, she received many awards for her accomplishments as a music educator.
Helen Broderick was an American actress known for her comic roles, especially as a wisecracking sidekick.
Joanne Fischmann is an American writer, using the pen name Joanne Fluke. She is best known for her cozy mystery series surrounding a small-town baker, Hannah Swensen. Six movies for the Hallmark Channel have been created based on her Hannah Swensen series. Fluke is also known for making chocolate chip cookies for her readers. Fluke has written under the pseudonyms John Fischer, R.J. Fischer, Jo Gibson, Chris Hunter, Gina Jackson and Kathryn Kirkwood.
Cudighi is an Italian-American dish consisting of a spicy Italian sausage seasoned with sweet spices that can be bought in links or served as a sandwich on a long, hard roll, often with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. It is primarily found in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the Midwestern United States.
The State of Superior is a proposed "51st state" that would be created by the secession of the Upper Peninsula from the rest of Michigan, named for adjacent Lake Superior. Some proposals would also incorporate territory from the northern Lower Peninsula, northern Wisconsin, and even Minnesota. The proposals are spurred by cultural differences, geographic separation from Lower Michigan, and a belief that the problems of the "Superior Region" are ignored by distant state governments. When the Northwest Territory was being organized by the fledgling U.S. government, Thomas Jefferson proposed a state which he named Sylvania, including the Upper Peninsula and territory that is now northern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota. The idea has gained serious attention at times, but faces substantial practical obstacles.
Karen Kingsbury is an American Christian novelist born in Fairfax, Virginia.
Kathryn Casey is an American writer of mystery novels and non-fiction books. She is best known for writing She Wanted It All, which recounts the case of Celeste Beard, who married an Austin multimillionaire only to convince her lesbian lover, Tracey Tarlton, to kill him.
The cuisine of Michigan is part of the broader regional cuisine of the Midwestern United States. It is reflective of the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the state, and draws its culinary roots most significantly from the cuisines of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, and Native North America.
The Stormy Kromer cap is a wool hat manufactured by Stormy Kromer Mercantile. The hat is popular in the Midwest region of the United States and with hunters and outdoorsmen. It is named for George "Stormy" Kromer (1876–1970), a semiprofessional baseball player from Kaukauna, Wisconsin, who later worked as a railroad engineer. Kromer lost many hats to the wind while working on trains, and in 1903, he asked his wife Ida (1877–1960) to make him a warm hat that would stay on more securely. She modified a baseball cap into what became the Stormy Kromer cap by sewing on a pair of ear flaps. A summer version, made from pillow ticking, remains in use among modern American train engineers, and variants with red or blue polka dots were formerly popular in the early 20th century.
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Mara Rockliff is an American author of children's books specializing in works based on true stories. Her book Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery that Baffled All of France won an Orbis Pictus Honor from the National Council of Teachers of English. The American Library Association selected her book Sweet Justice: Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott for a Sibert Honor. She also received the Golden Kite Award for Me and Momma and Big John.
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