An author reception and book signing to celebrate Andrea Zimmermann’s new book, Horse Latitudes: A Martin Sharp Mystery, will be held in the first floor meeting room of C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street, on Saturday, June 27, from 2 to 4 pm.

All are invited to drop by for some home-baked goodies and conversation with the author. Books will be available for purchase if desired. There is no registration.

Horse Latitudes, Zimmermann’s fifth book, is a page-turner set on the shores of Lake Michigan that evokes the rich landscape and waters of Grand Traverse Bay, its history, and its people.

The story opens when Martin Sharp, a powerhouse attorney in Chicago, hears his old friend and mentor has gone missing on Grand Traverse Bay. He drops everything and heads to a small town in northern Michigan to find him. Martin starts to investigate and discovers that the town, under its idyllic veneer, roils with tribal disputes, tension between locals and tourists, racism, and the exodus of the younger generation. Within days, Martin’s quest for his missing friend turns into a hunt for a serial killer. And as the nightmare unfolds, he is shocked to realize the role he played in setting it all in motion.

Zimmermann loves northern Michigan for its beauty, vast waters, Native American presence, and connection to her family.

“My family is from Michigan — both my parents and siblings were born there; I came along after they had relocated to Connecticut,” Zimmermann said. “I didn’t really have a feel for the state until I was an adult and spent time with family on the shores of Grand Traverse Bay. Now I try to visit for a week every summer.”

Northport, Mich., on Leelanau Peninsula, inspired Zimmermann’s fictional town of Dovesport. Her depictions of Ottawa as well as the folklore about an island where the gulls denuded the vegetation and drove off its inhabitants were also directly informed by her visits.

“The island has ruins of a big house and skeletal trees — definitely good fodder for a mystery needing creepy scenes,” Zimmermann said.

She would pass by the desolate island every time she went out with her uncle on his classic wooden sailboat, a 32-foot cutter, similar to the one that plays such an important role in the book.

“My late uncle sailed all over the world in that boat, and spent his later years on Lake Michigan,” said the author. “He was a great help to me in understanding what it feels like to be out on the water — master of your vessel — surrounded by northern Michigan’s endless deep blue skies and brilliant sunshine that extends long into the evening. He shared boat plans, related his experience with the Ottawa people, and read my first draft for technical accuracy.”

Horse Latitudes is dedicated to her aunt and uncle, “who welcomed me to their home on Grand Traverse Bay, summer after summer” and cousins “who shared all their favorite haunts with me.”

Although the book was completed last fall, it “took a village” to create the cover for Horse Latitudes, said the author.

Zimmermann envisioned a design that captured the essence of Gull Island with its isolation, ruins, and cacophony of seagulls. After a few false starts, the author reached out to a journalist friend, Eliza Van, who does beautiful watercolors. Van accepted the commission and rendered the scene, to which Zimmermann added the prow of the sailboat. The cover design was completed by another creative friend, Lys Guillorn at Still River Editions in Danbury.

“It is exactly as I envisioned it,” said Zimmermann. “I’m so thrilled and grateful that Eliza and Lys were able to create the perfect cover. And they were both very good-natured about my ‘particularness!’”

Zimmermann is the author of three nonfiction books: The Great Danbury State Fair, The Case Files of Detective Laszlo Briscoe: True Crime in Newtown 1889-1933, and Eleanor Mayer’s History of Cherry Grove Farm; and another mystery, A Legacy of Lies: A Rock Ridge Mystery. Copies of her new book, Horse Latitudes: A Martin Sharp Mystery, will be available at the author reception for those who wish to purchase a copy, and Zimmermann, of course, will be delighted to sign her books.