Alter Ego
by Brian Freeman,
Quercus• ISBN: 978-1-68144-19-0 • $26.99 Hardcover
This book starts out a little like a Cohen brothers’ film with an obviously nefarious individual finishing up some unknown task (we don’t know what, but it’s not good) in the Minnesota north woods during a snowstorm. He trudges back to his rental car, uses a disposable phone to inform his client (we assume) the job is done and drives off … soon to be killed when a deer leaps in front of an oncoming semitruck and is thrown through his window. The main clues in the car? A recent fired gun and newspaper page with a circle around the story of a movie being shot in Duluth about an old case solved by police Lt. Jonathan Stride. Well then.
This is no tongue-in-cheek dark comedy, though, and Stride must track down a murderer while negotiating the suspicious glitter of a Hollywood crew filming in his gritty city (which happens to be my hometown).
Thanks to Brian’s talented weaving of Jonathan Stride’s life in – oh, my goodness, 11 books – we’ve gotten to know this character and the others in his world well enough that we miss them when the last page is turned. Lucky for us, Brian is also prolific and generally there is a new Stride to enjoy each year.
This one will not disappoint Duluth lovers as we travel with the lieutenant around the city. I love that as much as I enjoy Brian’s work, sometimes brutal, but always well-told, people reading it in 20 foreign languages also appreciate the characters and the setting. Brian once told me Duluth is a hit in Italy – that’s a good Stride for our small-town city.
– Konnie LeMay
Minnesota 1918
When FLU, FIRE, and WAR Ravaged the State
by Curt Brown,
Minnesota Historical Society • ISBN: 978-1-68134-080-7 • $24.95 Hardcover
Curt travels through time and hops around the state in his retelling of a devastating year in the history of Minnesota that ended in widespread and viciously destructive fires that altered our northern communities. Using archival research, historic images and current interviews, as one would expect of a seasoned reporter, Curt reminds us of tragedies and triumphs from 100 years ago.
Especially for our region, the vast destruction of the fall fires and the lives they consumed seems almost inconceivable. Stories of people helping each other and the fact that our towns have been reborn after those flames reminds us of human resilence and the important matters of community life.
– Konnie LeMay