Customer Reviews

When Evil Came to Good Hart

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Northern Michigan author Mardi Link's latest book, WHEN EVIL CAME TO GOOD HART is right on the mark when it comes to explaining the 40 year old murders of a Michigan family. The Robison's of suburban Detroit were brutally killed in their northern Michigan summer cottage in June of 1968.
No one was ever arrested for the crime.

Many theories and many suspects were examined by the Michigan State Police investigators throughout their 16 month long search for the killer.
At first the crime scene suggested murder-suicide, when that was ruled out by forensics the idea of a deranged local killer emerged. This theory was followed by a drug crazed beach roaming intruder, the local cottage caretaker, a downstate serial killer, and finally someone personally known to the family who needed to keep a dark secret just that, secret!

Ms. Link's able story telling helps unravel what appears on the surface to have been a complex and mysterious murder case. Her story examines the evidence and details that eventually leads all law enforcement officials
connected to the case to narrow the killer down to one person.

So, the question is, why was that person never arrested??? That very well may be explained in Mardi Link's sequel!

I spotted this gem of a true-life crime novel one day while surfing on Amazon. For anyone who is a fan of true crime novels or cold case books this is a great choice.

This is an accounting of an unsolved murder that took place 40 years ago in Good Hart, Michigan. It's about the murders of a wealthy Detroit family vactioning in Good Hart in 1968. It was the American dream at the time, to escape the city and be able to spend the summer on the shore, and instead turned into a mystery. Dick and Shirley Robison and their 3 teen age boys and young daughter were found in July of 1968 murdered in their cabin. The story we're told is based on newspaper accounts, court documents and interviews with the people involved. What at first looks like your typical American family is quickly discovered to be full of even more mystery that confused authorites and made the crime impossible to solve. This writing in this book is wonderful and keeps you riveted. It's hard hitting and factual, and yet involves the reader in the last days of this families lives in a way that is anything but dry. This is a book I'd recommend to all fans of mystery and whodunits.

After more than 40 years we finally have a comprehensive non-fiction account of all the known facts regarding this most shocking crime. In Good Hart, MI, 1968, a whole family was gunned down and left undiscovered for a month in their secluded upscale north woods cottage. The murderer or murderers were never brought to trial. This is a crime close to the hearts and minds of many of the people of Michigan, even those not born when it happened. Finally Mardi Link has brought the facts together and out into the open for all to ponder. What was the father, Richard Robison doing that could have prompted this horrid overkill? Was his partner a con artist who ran out of slick talk? Read this book to learn of a most captivating unsolved mystery.

When Evil Came to Good Hart

When you live in Northern Michigan it is as if you live in a world onto yourself. Crime rarely happens here, and when that rare event does occur, the culprit is caught...usually within a week's timeframe. That was not the case for the Robinson family.

This unsolved murder still haunts the small village of Good Hart. I began reading this story on a dark stormy night while I was home alone. Not a good idea. This story, especially the beginning, is vivid and transported this Northern Michigan reader to that scary cabin in Good Hart.

Interesting, moving, chilling, and technical is how I would describe When Evil Came to Good Hart. A must read for any Northern Michigan resident. A should read for anyone interested in a no nonsense crime story.

I read this book two years ago. It put me on a true crime jag and I have read easily over 100 true crime books since, some very, very good, some not so...but this one is still the best. It is pure, elegant, journalistic in the best sense of the word, but creative and artful as well. It is smart. It approaches beautiful, or as close to beautiful a gruesome tale can be, that is. One of my favorite books. I just wanted the author to know. You will love this book.
Jim Linderman
Dull Tool Dim Bulb

I could not put this book down as I moved through the pages of investigation with the Michigan State Police and other agencies. It is like the reader is right there in the horror of the moment in a setting that was molded and shaped by a Creator's hand. How can so much madness take place and a place so beautiful? How could the State Police's main suspect stay just out of reach of arrest? Almost 40 years of leads and tips are followed to their respective ends leaving this reader with one suspect driven to a horrific murder of and entire family to cover up own life of deception.

The reader sees and smells the glory of Northern Michigan and smells the stench of murder and feels the frustration of a murder still open.

In the tiny town of Good Hart, MI, the Robison family - father, mother, 4 children - were murdered in their summer cottage in June 1968. In 2008, EVIL COMES TO GOOD HART, the result of copious research by author Mardi link, was published.
The first thing a potential reader should know is that the case was never solved.
But unless that is a sticking point for the reader, ECTGH is a great read.
Link not only presents the details of a police investigation that lasted for years, but also detailed background information about the father, Dick Robison - a strange multi-faceted, and not especially likable businessman - as well as on principal suspect Joe Scolaro, Robison's business partner.
Link's writing and research are excellent and she provides the reader with not only the information noted above, but she has a fine eye for the beauty of northern Michigan and ear for the history and social personality of the region, which adds a welcome depth to the book
ECTGH is fine true crime and, unless the lack closure will bother you as much as it has for years the detectives who have worked the case, genre fans will enjoy it.

The only reason I gae this book 4 stars is because I knew that it was not going to be solved in the end. It is a ery well written, suspenseful book.

This is just one of those really sad homocides that haunts many of those who want justice to be served. This book was recommended to me from a good friend who saw Mardi Link at her local library discussing the book. She knew I would enjoy the book due to my interest in investigation and forensic studies. The Bob Crane murder always intrigued me as well because that same murder today would probably been solved do to better evidence collecting and technological advances in the forensic science field. It's just sad that these people are dead and it turned into a cold case since the late 60's. I'm really surprised a lifetime movie hasn't been made out of this case.
Anyhow, Mardi Link does a great job with the investigative writing and research of interviewing as many people involved in the investigative work. She paints a very vivid photo of the murders and it hits home with those of us who want justice to come to those who disregard human life as garbage. I would have wished Unsolved Mysteries had created an episode about this case with Robert Stack narrating it - I think it would have also rekindled national interest. Nice job Mardi !

This book is a long-awaited non-fiction entry on this horrific unsolved murder. A family of six, killed in their idyllic summer retreat, their bodies undiscovered for a month in the July heat, has baffled amateurs and professionals alike since 1968. Mardi Link clearly laid down all the millions of loose ends into a tight and mesmerizing story of the suspect, the evidence, mistakes and opportunities (missed and realized) and organized it all into a gripping read about an open-ended mystery still in search of a final solution.