Marilyn Jax - Road to Omalos

Road to Omalos

by Marilyn Jax

After his family business goes up in flames, his son is murdered and his wife dies of a broken heart, Miami businessman Chadwick Otto knows who is to blame for his torment, but the legal system seems unable to redress the wrongs. So, he turns to one of the most highly respected private investigation firms in South Florida to bring the guilty party to justice.

What investigators Claire Caswell and Gaston Guy Lombard don’t know when they take the case is that they aren’t the only ones searching for the notorious criminal believed to have fled to the Greek island of Crete. A team of vigilantes with their own form of justice in mind is pursuing him too.

BIOGRAPHY
Marilyn Jax spent close to 20 years as a senior government enforcement investigator for the State of Minnesota. During that time she investigated multitudes of cases, including acting as a lead investigator on one of the largest real estate fraud cases in Minnesota history. She is also a retired Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

Jax enjoys sharing her experience with people interested in investigative work and hopes to inspire young people to pursue a career in fraud investigation. She is the highly acclaimed author of six-time national award winning novel, The Find. Her second book, Road to Omalos, was published in June 2010.

Marilyn Jax lives in Minnesota and the Caribbean and spends time in Montana and Miami.

PUBLISHER
www.beaverspondbooks.com

WEBSITE
www.marilynjax.com

PURCHASE
Amazon.com
www.marilynjax.com



OTHER BOOKS
The Find

Book Review Blog Session

Sheila DeChantal at Book Journey and Reagan Remmer's from Miss Remmers' Reviews plan to attend the Rain Tree Twin Cities Book Festival on Saturday October 16th. Currently they are working together to invite other Minnesota and Wisconsin area book reviewers to come and join in for a weekend book blogger meet up surrounding this event. They will gather the evening of the 15th and continue through the morning of the 17th.

Currently Sheila is connecting with Minnesota authors to see if any would like to talk with reviewers about their book and writing. They are developing a schedule of author interviews to be posted on Sheila's blog site throughout the next few months after the Book Festival event. Book reviewers are also invited to contribute posts regarding the Book Festival, the books, and attendees.

If there are any authors who would like to be considered journeythroughbooks@gmail.com for an interview, they are welcome to contact Sheila at If these authors are going to be at the Twin Cities Book Festival we can try to connect at that time or at least meet and then continue future discussions through email.

bloggers who live in the area and would like to join in this meet up, please feel free to contact Sheila at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com. Reagan Remmers currently has a set of hotel rooms set aside for those who need them and once connected to the group you will be emailed a form with more information.

Sheila DeChantal has been reviewing books and authors for 18 months from her home in Central Minnesota. She enjoys reading a variety of genres and connecting with the book community whenever she has the chance.

*If the Book Blogger meet up is of interest to area bloggers we will try to put together future events a couple of times a year.

Colleen Baldrica - Tree Spirited Woman

Tree Spirited Woman

By Colleen Baldrica

Tree Spirited Woman takes you through one woman’s intimate transformation from the death of her maternal grandmother to the establishment of a new and guiding friendship with a wise and mystical woman. With Tree Spirited Woman as her guide, she learns to “let go and trust” in love, personal relationships, and ultimately, death.

Tree Spirited Woman will provide each reader with an abundant opportunity to grow alongside the book’s main character. The simple philosophies for living flow through each of the chapters. This is a book that can be read and reread, with deeper understanding and personal awakening culled from each visit to its pages.

BIOGRAPHY
Colleen Baldrica began her spiritual journey as a child. Inspired by the teachings of her Native American grandmother, she carried that wisdom forth into her career as an adult. She holds a Masters degree in Counseling and a PhD in the Philosophy of Education and she worked in public education for 28 years. As the author of Tree Spirited Woman (Beaver’s Pond Press 2006) she has begun a new quest - to share with others what experience has taught her about those simple truths she learned as a child. As she speaks to others, she continues to enjoy the path she has discovered, taking long walks in the woods, sharing meaningful conversations, and taking time to curl up with a good book

WEBSITE
www.colleenbaldrica.com

PURCHASE
Beaver Pond Press

Check out this great press publication!
St. Croix Valley Press Article

EVENTS
Saturday, October 9 – 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Fall Festival Craft Show
Maple Grove Community Center
12951 Weaver Lake Rd 9:00-4:00

Saturday & Sunday, October 23 & 24
29th Annual Woman and Spirituality Conference
Mankato State University

Saturday & Sunday, November 20 & 21
Festival of Trees
DECC (Duluth Entertainment Convention Center
Duluth, MN

Jim Proebstle - In the Absence of Honor

In the Absence of Honor

by Jim Proebstle

In the Absence of Honor weaves together the lives of a bewildered, downsized widower; a wealthy, aging megalomaniac; two corrupt members of the local Ojibwe tribal council, and a Department of Interior agent in their battle over a valuable piece of property in Northern Minnesota. Money, power and greed are weaving a new story of corruption as casinos take a grip over the economic lifeblood of the reservation.

The story of murder, conspiracy, sex, fraud and betrayal is set in northern Minnesota. It revolves around the conflict between two corrupt Ojibwe tribal council members and a wealthy brewery executive over an historically important piece of land. Ultimately, Jake, our hero, and Donna, the Department of Interior Agent, are caught up in the discovery of an Indian Mafia network skimming money from casinos throughout the United States. While corruption and greed fill the motivation for some; love and hope are the driving behavior for others. The tale whisks the reader from a small northern community and Indian reservation to powerful forces in Washington, DC.

BIOGRAPHY
Jim Proebstle is the founder and president of Prodyne, Inc., a management consulting firm. He has a BA and MBA from Michigan State University, where he played on a national championship football team in 1965 and earned academic honors.

Jim’s love for the wilderness and his fascination with Native American reservation life fueled his imagination for In the Absence of Honor. He and his wife, Carole, summer in northern Minnesota and live the rest of the year in Deer Park, Illinois, close to their two children and five grandchildren.

SPEAKING EVENT
Sept. 21st – 7:00 p.m.
Barrington Area Library
Barrington, IL

WEBSITE
www.intheabsenceofhonor.com

The next book will be released in April, 2011

PUBLISHER
Emerald Book Company
www.emeraldbookcompany.com

Jan Dunlap - A Bobwhite Killing

A Bobwhite Killing

by Jan Dunlap

Birders always hope for a rarity when they go on a Birding Weekend, but when Bob White finds the weekend leader sporting bullet holes in his chest, he realizes that more than an unusual bird is at stake. To make matters worse, Bob must contend with a lost love, big cats, ATV enthusiasts, and small-town intrigue as he sets out to find a killer, along with an elusive Northern Bobwhite, in Minnesota’s Fillmore County. In this third Birder Murder mystery, Bob discovers that the past and present can collide in surprising ways to shape the future…assuming he’ll survive the weekend and still be around to see it.

BIOGRAPHY
Jan Dunlap is the author of the Bob White Birder Murder Mystery series, which combines serious bird watching, dead bodies, environmental issues, and humorous complications! The first two novels in the series, The Boreal Owl Murder and Murder on Warbler Weekend, have attracted a wide range of readers, from birders to mystery lovers of all ages. While she is pleased to have received numerous accolades and Minnesota Book Award nominations for the novels, Jan thinks her greatest accomplishment is juggling – she is an author, speaker, adjunct professor, and mother of five children. A former high school career center manager, she often finds bits of real life sneaking into her Bob White books. She lives in Chaska, Minnesota, and welcomes visitors to her website at www.jandunlap.com.

BOOK LAUNCH
Saturday, Sept. 18, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Once Upon a Crime
604 W. 26th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55404

SIGNINGS/EVENTS
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Book talk
Minnetonka High School
Minnetonka Community Ed

Thursday, Oct. 21, 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Book signing
Wild Birds Unlimited
Duluth, MN 1:30-2:30 pm

WEBSITE
www.jandunlap.com

BOOKS IN SERIES
The Boreal Owl Murder (2008)
Murder on Warbler Weekend (2009)
A Bobwhite Killing (2010)

PUBLISHER
North Star Press, Inc. of St. Cloud

Laurie Hertzel - NEWS TO ME

News to Me: Adventure of an Accidental Journalist

by Laurie Hertzel


The story of how Laurie Hertzel fell into journalism, starting as the newsroom clerk at the Duluth News-Tribune in the 1970s and becoming a reporter almost against her will. It's a sort of coming-of-age story, and a look at newsrooms back in the days of fedoras and typewriters, and the experiences of a woman in a man's world. Parts of it are pretty funny--hopefully, the parts the author intended.


BIOGRAPHY
Laurie Hertzel is the Senior Editor for Books and Special Projects at the Star Tribune, where she has worked for 14 years. Previously, she was a senior editor of Minnesota Monthly magazine, and a reporter and editor at the Duluth News-Tribune for nearly 20 years. She has had Fellowships at Duke University and the James Thurber House, and has been a speaker and faculty member at the Nieman Conferences on Narrative Writing and Editing at Harvard
University.

BOOK LAUNCH
September 7
The Loft Literary Center
Minneapolis

SIGNINGS AND APPEARANCES
7 p.m. Aug. 31
Write-On Radio, KFAI-FM

7:30 p.m., Sept. 13
Magers & Quinn, Minneapolis

7 p.m. Sept. 16, book launch
Fitger's, Duluth

6:30 p.m., Sept. 20
Talk on memoir and creative nonfiction
Mounds View Public Library

7 p.m. Sept. 28
Talk on book clubs
Grand Rapids Public Library

4 p.m. Sept. 29
Talk, Tower Hall
College of St. Scholastica

7 p.m. Oct. 6
Micawber's Books
St. Paul

2 p.m. Oct. 16
Cross River Heritage Society
Schroeder, Minn.

WEBSITE
www.lauriehertzel.com

BLOG
http://lifewiththreedogs.blogspot.com

OTHER BOOKS
They Took My Father: American Finns in Stalin's Russia
UM Press, 2004

Real Feature Writing
(contributed one chapter) 2006.

PUBLISHER
University of Minnesota Press

PURCHASE
Indie Bound

or

Amazon