Coming Summer 2013 - The Best Place

An irritating best friend gained during a childhood spent in a Catholic orphanage, a father who became a Communist and went to Russia in the 1930s, and 3:00 a.m. visits to The Pancake House. Such is the life of Lyla Hopewell. But in the summer of 2005, when her old boyfriend Bill has a heart attack, her best friend Bel really gets on her nerves, and Finn Fest comes to Marquette, things will change for Lyla.

Joined by a cast of Marquette’s most eccentric and endearing characters—the foul-mouthed fourteen-year-old Josie; ninety-three-year-old Eleanor, still trying to fix her little brother’s love life; ex-boyfriend and blunt womanizer, Bill; blind Mary Mitchell and her ornery sister Florence; the sweet but romantically confused cabdriver Sybil; and many, many more—Lyla recounts her life-story as she comes to terms with her past. After years of feeling unloved, neglected, frustrated, and unfulfilled, can Lyla finally find her own best place? More

Iron Pioneers - Book One of the Marquette Trilogy

When iron ore is discovered in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the 1840s, entrepreneur Gerald Henning and his beautiful socialite wife Clara travel from Boston to the little village of Marquette on the shores of Lake Superior. They and their companions, Irish and German immigrants, French Canadians, and fellow New Englanders dream of a great metropolis at the center of the iron ore industry.  Despite blizzards and near starvation, devastating fires and financial hardships, these iron pioneers persevere until their wilderness village first becomes integral to the Union cause in the Civil War and then a prosperous modern city. More

The Queen City - Book Two of the Marquette Trilogy

During the first half of the twentieth century, Marquette grows into the Queen City of the North. Here is the tale of a small town undergoing change as its horses are replaced by streetcars and automobiles, and its pioneers are replaced by new generations who prosper despite two World Wars and the Great Depression. More

Superior Heritage - Book Three of the Marquette Trilogy

The Marquette Trilogy comes to a satisfying conclusion as it brings together characters and plots from the earlier novels and culminates with Marquette’s sesquicentennial celebrations in 1999. More

My Marquette:

Explore the Queen City of the North, Its History, People, and Places With Native Son Tyler R. Tichelaar

My Marquette is the result of its author’s lifelong love affair with his hometown. Join Tyler R. Tichelaar, seventh generation Marquette resident and author of The Marquette Trilogy, as he takes you on a tour of the history, people, and places of Marquette. More

Narrow Lives

The story of Lysander Blackmore, the sinister banker in The Queen City.  Focusing on minor characters from Mr. Tichelaar’s Marquette Trilogy, these characters speak in their own voices, giving them greater personal depth and providing multiple perspectives. 

The novel explores the influence one person has, even in death, upon others, and it explores the prisons of grief, loneliness, and fear self-created by people when they doubt their own worthiness. More

The Only Thing That Lasts

The Only Thing That Lasts is written as the autobiography of Robert O'Neill, the famous novelist first introduced in The Marquette Trilogy. As a young boy during World War I, Robert is forced to leave his South Carolina home to live in Marquette with his grandmother and aunt. He finds there a cold climate, but many warmhearted friends as he matures into adulthood and becomes a famous writer. The Only Thing That Lasts is a joyful, lighthearted, yet meaningful story of home and hearth. More

King Arthur’s Children: A Study in Fiction and Tradition

Did you know King Arthur had many other children besides Mordred? Depending on which version of the legend you read, he had both sons and daughters, some of whom even survived him. From the ancient tale of Gwydre, the son who was gored to death by a boar, to Scottish traditions of Mordred as a beloved king, Tyler R. Tichelaar has studied all the references to King Arthur’s children to show how they shed light upon a legend that has intrigued us for fifteen centuries. More

Spirit of the North: A Paranormal Romance

I went upstairs, too tired to fear leaving my sister alone with a strange man. He could not possibly hurt her in his condition, and he was so handsome I felt almost certain he was kind. Perhaps when he became well, he could teach us how to live here—at least show me how to chop down a tree or shoot Uncle's rifle. I told myself his presence was a good thing. Little could I foresee how much he would hurt us both.

In 1873, orphaned sisters Barbara and Adele Traugott travel to Upper Michigan to live with their uncle, only to find he is deceased. Penniless, they are forced to spend the long, fierce winter alone in their uncle's remote wilderness cabin. Frightened yet determined, the sisters face blizzards and near starvation to survive. Amid their difficulties, they find love and heartache—and then, a ghostly encounter and the coming of spring lead them to discovering the true miracle of their being. More

Creating A Local Historical Book:
Fiction and Non-fiction Genres

Does Your City or Region Have a Fascinating Story that needs to be told before it’s forgotten?

Yes, it does, and you can be the person to write it.

In this short ebook, Tyler Tichelaar, author of My Marquette and The Marquette Trilogy, talks in an interview format about how he became interested in writing both local history and regional and historical fiction and his research and writing process to bring his books to fruition. More