Beagle Books & Bindery

Beagle Books & Bindery
112 - 3rd St W
Park Rapids, MN 56470
Owners: Bob and Sally Wills
Managed by: Jennifer Wills Geraedts

Book discussion groups are an important part of Beagle Books. The Women's Book Club meets once a month on the third Thursday at 6:00 PM, the Men’s Group meets the third Tuesday of every month at 8:00 AM.

Special events from book signings to celebrations and book-related adventures are announced here and in the e-Newsletter we share with Sister Wolf Books.

Beagle also carries beautiful, unique Inuit art pieces, and Scandinavian books, music, and maps.

Our July events include the Sunday Classic Series at the Y-Steak House (a collaboration between a local restaurant & Beagle Books) - ticketed event which includes a full supper & talk by an author (or performance by a musician). Our July guest authors will include:

7/8 - Paul Sailer

7/15 - Douglas Wood

7/22 - Jim Proebstle

During the month of July, Beagle Books participating in the Where's Waldo Find. If you're unfamiliar with this promotion, 250 indie bookstores were chosen across the U.S. to participate. Those 250 bookstores are coordinating with 19 (or more) other businesses in their communities to do a scavenger hunt for Waldo in the participating businesses. There will be prizes and of course, a party.

Check out  Beagle Books & Bindery today!

Armchair Interviews

Armchair Interviews

Connecting Authors to Their Readers...

If You Love to Read ... How do you learn about new authors and great books?

Armchair Interviews is the answer. We introduce you to new authors, "old friends" who've written a new book, or even a new genre.

Our Great Reviews are divided by genre and give you lots of choices about what to read/buy next. We pride ourselves on introducing emerging authors -- and if we love them, we want you to, also.

Connie Anderson and Andrea Sisco, Minnesota residents, Armchair Interviews hosts and interviewers, have a long-time love of books, reading, talking about books, recommending good reads to book clubs, and hand-selling their newest favorite read.

Armchair Interviews came to life in fall of 2004. Connie Anderson had attended a seminar on Internet marketing and was telling Andrea about an idea she had for a business. "May I join you?" Andrea asks--and as they say, the rest is history. Andrea suggested this perfect name for our company, and her graphic artist son-in-law Alan Pranke (see our guys for contact info) designed our awesome and so-perfect logo. Then Connie met this "nice young man" at a networking event--and Paul Larsen of CreativeArc (see our guys for contact info) became our webmaster, designing our perfect web site and helping us launch it January 25, 2005. Notice overuse (no, not really) of word PERFECT?


Four Times in a Row 2006, 2007, 2008 and now 2009 -- and We're Thrilled!

In April 2006, we were thrilled beyond words when Writers Digest honored our site as one of 101 Best Websites for Writers. Then we were so pleased to receive the same honor in 2007, again in 2008 and 2009! Wow, did we feel proud to be recognized for our efforts in "Connecting Authors to their Readers."

Because both Connie and Andrea have done a lot of interviewing when they were hosts of their own TV author interview shows (Connie's was "Author/Author" and Andrea's was "Book Talk"), they obviously love to ask authors questions.

Connie interviewed Jacquelyn Mitchard the day before she was Oprah's Book Club selection for "Deep End of the Ocean"--certainly changing her writing life as that book was on the bestseller list for several months and then made into a movie.

Now for Armchair Interviews, Andrea and Connie pride themselves on being very prepared so that the author feels they know their book and their writing. Such wonderful guests that we've conducted audio interviews with and posted on our site over the years. Hopefully their interview guests feel that the time was well spent and it was an enjoyable experience.

Perhaps the best part of Armchair Interviews is all the wonderful people we "have met" that are our dependable and much-appreciated reviewers. Their commitment to writing quality reviews and meeting our deadlines is much appreciated. We know about their lives and have laughed and cried along with them as life has sent many challenges their way. THANK YOU ALL!

Both Andrea and Connie have been guest bloggers as well as guests on teleseminars on various subjects like: getting reviews for your book, being interviewed, and more. Andrea has been interviewed several times by author Mayra Calvini and those interviews have "gone around the Internet world."

Our "backstory": Connie and Andrea met in 1976 when they were building their families through adoption. Friends since then, they have been involved in various events related to adoption, including working with Amerasians (American fathers/Asian mothers), running a national adoptive parent organization and publishing OURS, the organization's bi-monthly magazine.

Carl Brookins - Minnesota Author

BLOODY HALLS

By Carl Brookins

isbn: 978-1-59080-570-1
Released by Echelon Press in 2008

When Jack Marston took his position at an unusual urban college as director of student services, he didn’t expect to find himself involved in murder and suicide. But working with adult students turns out to be a new an interesting challenge.

Jack is starting a new relationship in his former home town along with his new job. A calm and satisfying life is what it appears to be. Settling in, he puts other talents as an amateur actor into action and is selected for the lead in Ibsen's "Enemy of the People" at the college. Without warning, life takes a strange twist and Jack find himself playing altogether different roles.

A student is brutally murdered and the college president assigns Jack to liaise with the police. Though homicide investigator is not in his job description, he is soon forced to scrutinize faculty and staff, a role not unlike that of his character in the play. The irony of his dual roles escapes no one’s attention, including that of the killer.

In the end he is forced to solve a murder to save himself, a colleague, and his obligation to the students of the institution.

Learn more about Carl and his books at:
http://www.carlbrookins.com/
http://agora2.blogspot.com/
Carl's books are available at bookstores in Minnesota, around the country and on
line.

BIOGRAPHY
Brookins has been a television producer, a faculty member at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul and a mystery fiction reviewer for magazines, newspapers and online. He’s a board member of MWMWA, and a member of Sisters in Crime, EPIC, PWA and MWA. He tours bookstores and libraries with The Minnesota Crime Wave, and co-hosts a cable TV series about crime fiction, and currently writes three crime fiction series: The Tanner/Whitney sailing series, The Sean Sean P.I. series and a traditional academic series with Jack Marston. His current books are “Case of the Deceiving Don,” and “Bloody Halls.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

SHORT STORIES
“A Winter’s Tale” “Silence of The Loons” anthology, fall, 2005
“A Fish Story,” “Resort To Murder” anthology, fall, 2007
“Night Sail,” quarterly Mystery magazine http://www.mouthfullofbullets.com, 2007
“Fire Storm” “The Heat of the Moment” California fund raising anthology, fall, 2007
“A Shaggy Dog Story,” in the qarterly “Out of the Gutter,” June 2009

NOVELS
INNER PASSAGES
Mystery: July, 2000, Top Publications

A SUPERIOR MYSTERY
Mystery: September, 2002, Top Publications

OLD SILVER
Mystery: March, 2005, Top Publications

THE CASE OF THE GREEDY LAWYERS
P.I. Mystery: September, 2005, Five Star Mysteries
P.I. Mystery: June, 2008 Nodin Press

THE CASE OF THE DECEIVING DON
P.I. Mystery: 2008, Five Star Mysteries

BLOODY HALLS:
Amateur detective, Echelon Press, Winter, 2008

ARTICLES
“Smallest In the Land”
Non-fiction. The story of Fargo-Moorhead’s educational/public television station. For the International Journal of Radio and Television, June 1966.
“Author! Author!” Advice for authors appearing on radio and television.
“Women Writing The West” magazine, April, 2000.
“Dining on The Road” CrimeSpree magazine, September, 2006
“Giving Good Interview” Crime Spree magazine, 2007
Mystery reviews, “Saint Paul Pioneer Press,” August, 1999—May, 2002.
Mystery reviews, “Mystery Scene Magazine,” Fall, 2002—2004
Mystery reviews, ReviewingTheEvidence web site 2002 to 2006
Mystery reviews, Books n’ Bytes website, 1998 to the present.
Mystery Reviews, Mystery Morgue website, 2006 to the present.

From Inner Passages: Desert to Ocean
“Mystery Reader’s Journal,” Spring, 2002
Writing Lies for Fun and Glory but Very Little Money
“How I Got Published” Writer’s Digest Books, Fall, 2007