Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Writer Henry Kisor discusses his latest book, Hang Fire, at Ironwood’s Carnegie Library on Saturday. Kisor’s series of mystery novels is set in fictitious Porcupine County, based on Ontonogan County.
IRONWOOD — “The Porkies is a place full of wonder and legend. It’s a wonderful place for imaginary crimes,” Henry Kisor, mystery writer, told a crowd of about 20 Saturday morning at Ironwood’s Carnegie Library.
Kisor discussed his fourth Steve Martinez mystery, Hang Fire. Martinez is the fictional police officer in Kisor’s novels who keeps finding another mystery to solve in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Hang Fire is a term which refers to the misfire of a muzzle loader, said Kisor. The book is about a murder with a muzzle loader at a historical re-enactment camp in Porcupine County, based on the Ontonagon area.
Kisor, who splits his time between Chicago and the Ontonagon area, wrote his first book in the 1980s, because as a book editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, he said he “could talk the talk but not walk the walk.” He knew he needed to write his own book.
His first book was a memoir. It was so well-received he wrote another. In all, he has written seven books, and is currently working on another.
Of his mystery series, Kisor said it let him tell the story of the Upper Peninsula by means of a crime novel.
People in Ontonagon do confuse themselves with people in his books, Kisor said.
