Wednesday, May 12, 2021

You Be the Judge of Don Hilton’s New Book

Don presenting me with my FREE
autographed copy of his new book
at the Lorain Public Library
You remember Don Hilton, right?

I’ve mentioned him on this blog a few times. He's the local author who penned one of my favorite go-to reference books: Murders, Mysteries and History of Lorain County, Ohio 1824-1956. I consult it when I want to learn the gruesome details about some unsavory incident (a shooting, stabbing, etc.) that appeared on the front page of a Lorain Times-Herald in the early 1900s.

Well, Don’s written another book. But this time, the topic is much more sedate and respectable; the book is called Dearly Departed Judges of Lorain County, Ohio 1824-2020.

Why write about Lorain County Judges?

As Don explained, he had done some of the research while writing Murders, Mysteries and History of Lorain County, Ohio 1824-1956. The short judge bios in that book attracted the attention of Lorain County Court of Common Pleas Administrator Sherry Clouser, who enlisted him to create official bios of Lorain County’s general division judges. These bios are now displayed under the judges' portraits in the Lorain County Justice Center. 

It made sense to make the bios available to the public by compiling them into a historical book, with additional information and research, written in Don’s inimitable light, whimsical style.

Don and his new book got a terrific write-up in the Morning Journal by Kevin Martin a few weeks ago. The article about his new book was actually the front page headline article that day. 

And before I forget, the book is a family affair. Don’s wife Kathleen “Kat” Sikora Hilton did the wonderful illustrations.

You can order the book here on Amazon. It’s also in many fine stores (including Burning River Boutique in Vermilion).

5 comments:

  1. I looked it up on Amazon and it is listed for $8.00.That seems like a very reasonable price for all the time and effort that went into the research for the book.But how did you get one for FREE,Dan?

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  2. Don is a self-publisher and very generously gave me one. On his earlier tome about murder and mayhem I had helped him with some research.

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  3. Anonymous:

    I use Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. There is no up-front cost to recover, so I can set a more reasonable price. Beyond that, the cost *has* to be low if you want to get the history out into as many hands as possible.

    And just in case you ain't got the 8 bucks... I dropped copies at the public libraries around the county, too.

    Dan got his free not only because he's helped me with past research, but when he -finally- writes his, I'm expecting a little quid quo pro. Besides, cash-money exchanging hands in the Lorain Public Library sort of raises eyebrows!

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  4. Thanks for explaining the publishing angle better, Don! And I forgot to mention how I was tackled by the security guard while walking out of the library with my copy of your book! After doing the fandango on my gourd with his nightstick (a phrase I copped from Joseph Wampaugh) the guard apologized when he realized his mistake!

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  5. Yeah. I told the guard I saw you stuffing books down your drawers... ;]

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