Book Talk: These authors made an impression in 2022

The end of the year is when we take a look at some books that made an impression.

In fiction, former Beacon Journal reporter Thrity Umrigar’s “Honor” is a powerful book about love and sacrifice. “Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury” is an admirable debut novel by Akron native Kinley Bryan, about a destructive storm on Lake Huron in 1913. “A Light Beyond the Trenches” by Akron author Alan Hlad takes the unusual perspective of a German soldier in World War I, a Jewish man blinded in battle who learns to work with a guide dog.

Cuyahoga Falls author Karen J. Hasley finishes her fine four-book New Hope historical Western series with “A Glimpse and Gone Forever” about trouble in 1880s small-town Nebraska. Another historical novel, “The Physician’s Daughter” by Cleveland native Martha Conway, is about a persevering woman just after the Civil War. Tallmadge author Amanda Flower takes a departure from romance with “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” in which Emily Dickinson and her maid solve a murder.

“Wayward Son” is second in Steve Goble’s commendable series about a private detective based in Northern Ohio; here, he’s looking for a missing boy. Jason Kapcala’s Lodi-set debut noir novel “Lonely Town” has a bleak plot but memorable characters. “Razing Stakes” is third in TG Wolff’s series about a Cleveland homicide detective with a messy personal life. Former Cuyahoga County forensic scientist Lisa Black launches a new crime series with “Red Flags” about a D.C.-based crime-scene analyst. Linda Castillo’s “The Hidden One,” 14th in a series about a police chief in a Holmes County town, takes Kate Burkholder to Pennsylvania to investigate the murder of an Amish bishop.

“Sleepwalk” by Cleveland Heights author Dan Chaon is a terrific, darkly funny odyssey. “North Hill” by William Zink is a coming-of-age story set in late-1960s Akron.

In cozy mystery novels, “Evil Under the Tuscan Sun” is the third entry in the superior Tuscan Cooking School series by Shelley Costa, writing as Stephanie Cole. “Hot and Sour Suspects” is eighth in the Cleveland-set Noodle Shop Mystery series by Vivien Chien.

In nonfiction, “The Nineties” by former Beacon Journal reporter Chuck Klosterman puts a decade in perspective. Joyce Dyer takes a deep analysis of John Brown’s odyssey from Hudson to Iowa, Kansas and Harpers Ferry in “Pursuing John Brown.” Cleveland author Brad Ricca’s “Ten Days in a Mad-House” is a graphic novel abridgement of investigative journalist Nellie Bly’s 1887 series.

Daniel Stashower finds new insight into an old case in “American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper,” about Cleveland’s 1930s Torso Killer. Former Cleveland resident Kristin Ohlson’s “Sweet in Tooth and Claw: Stories of Generosity and Cooperation in the Natural World” gives hope that nature can endure. The long-awaited “Akron Family Recipes: History and Tradition from Sauerkraut Balls to Sweet Potato Pie” by Judy Orr James fulfills its goal of preserving food history.

The Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University collaborated on the Global Vaccine Poem Project to create “Dear Vaccine: Global Voices Talk to the Vaccine.” “Comeback Evolution: Selected Works of Walter K. Delbridge” is the work of an Akron poet who was sidelined by life and circumstance.

“Color Capital of the World: Growing Up with the Legacy of a Crayon Company” is the memoir of John W. Kropf, whose family owned the American Crayon Company in Sandusky.

In sports, “Hebrew Hammer: A Biography of Al Rosen, All Star Third Baseman” by Joseph Wancho is the first full-length biography of the Cleveland slugger. Vince Guerrieri’s “Weird Moments in Cleveland Sports: Bottlegate, Bedbugs, Burying the Pennant and More!” is filled with peculiarities.

Young adult fiction titles included “Children of Ragnarok,” a sweeping epic based on Norse mythology by Cinda Williams Chima. “The Last Laugh,” a gruesome sequel to “The Initial Insult,” a Poe-inspired horror novel by Mindy McGinnis, is the darkest of the dark. More wholesome options are “The Knight of the Short Nose” by Wooster medievalist C. Dale Brittain, a rousing comic novella based on a 12th-century epic poem, and “Looking for Time” by Tricia Springstubb, about two lonely preteens who bond over a mistreated dog.

For younger children, “The $150,000 Rugelach” by Akron authors Allison and Wayne Marks is about two sixth graders paired up in a baking contest. “Ellis Island and Immigration for Kids: A History with 21 Activities” by Jean Daigneau of Kent is packed with information and ideas. “It’s the End of the World and I’m In My Bathing Suit” is a comic novel for middle readers by Justin A. Reynolds of Cleveland, in which a boy and his friends roam their neighborhood during a power outage. The passage of wisdom and tradition is the message of “The More You Give,” a stunning storybook by Wooster author Marcy Campbell.

Event

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma-Powers branch, 6996 Powers Boulevard): Scarlett St. Clair (“King of Battle and Blood”) talks about “Queen of Myth and Monsters,” second book in her Adrian X Isolde vampire fantasy series, 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.

Book Talk:Unlikely friends bond over dog in ‘Looking for True’

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Book Talk: These authors made an impression in 2022