This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Last week, I drove from Baltimore to St. Paul, Minnesota to be with family for Thanksgiving. To my surprise, I got a bonus holiday: Hmong New Year. And what a gift it seems to live in a country where people have arrived from so many different parts of … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. My summer started out with grand plans: cross country travel for a book tour, and a chance to catch up with family and friends in the Midwest and West. But life throws you curveballs, doesn’t it? And my shocker was a big fat COVID-19 infection that occurred when … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. What would it have been like to be a mischievous teenager, living in your parents’ mansion in St. Paul, Minnesota, during the roaring twenties? It sounds like I’m talking about an escapist YA novel. The truth is, the 1927 diary of such a girl exists. To my great … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. I’m filing this dispatch from Minnesota, where I’ve arrived early for a mystery convention. The last two Bouchercon gatherings of 2020 and 2021 were virtual, making this year’s gathering in Minneapolis especially tempting to me, not only to see mystery friends but to revisit the beautiful “City of … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. In my long-ago life as a newspaper reporter, there were a few words I wasn’t allowed to use. No profanity, of course. And the other expression I remember was THE WHITE STUFF. White stuff was on the lips of every television weather reporter when they talked about snow. … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Last weekend, when I was visiting the “Twin Cities” of Minneapolis and St. Paul, I was hit with an unexpected surge of purple. Purple was the favorite color of Prince, a Minnesota funk-rock star—and April 21 was the one-year anniversary of his untimely death in 2016 by … Read more