Marshall, Michigan is the hometown of author John Bellairs. Established in 1830 and expected to become the state's capital, Marshall is located in the south central part of the state and has become one of America's largest historic districts. The historic buildings and their stories intrigued the young Bellairs, who fantasized his own adventures walking between home and school. Bellairs adapted his experiences, these cherished sights and sounds, into his all his books (with the exception of his first three published works), describing Marshall in The House With a Clock in Its Walls:

"To begin with, the town was marvelous. It was the sort of place he had always wanted to live in....It was full of tall, elaborately decorated old houses. Even the ordinary white-frame houses had things that made them seem different -- a stained-glass window or a bouquet of iron flowers on top of a cupola."

Ann LaPietra has meticulously researched and created a walking tour of the author's inspirations, providing historical background of locations and their significance in Bellairs' work as well as the novels completed and continued by Brad Strickland.