Many of you followed the story of my move from Sacramento to Milwaukee late last year. While my wife and I have gotten a lot of incredulous looks from people—why did we leave sunny California for the frozen tundra wasteland of Milwaukee?—we love almost everything about Milwaukee. We love the art and music scenes, the restaurants, the cheese curds and beer, and yes, even the cold winter weather!
Before last year, I'd lived my whole life in California, and that's where I joined the Sacramento chapter of NaNoWriMo where I finished my first novel. It was in that group where I met Max Christian Hansen, who has edited every one of my mystery novels since The Incumbent Coroner, Fenway Book 2 (and he even did a re-edit of Book 1 in 2020). He and I co-chaired the NaNoWriMo chapter in Sacramento for a couple of years.
So I was delighted that Max, who does a lot of freelance work for a company based in Milwaukee, was coming for a short visit! While out on a trip to the Midwest, he stopped in to see his co-workers in Milwaukee—and he and I took a boat tour down the Milwaukee River and out to Lake Michigan on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon. We learned about Milwaukee history. We ate currywurst at the Hofbrauhaus, drank some great microbrews, stopped to see the Bronze Fonz, and and discussed The Trailer Park Murder , the latest book that Max is editing for me. It's scheduled to come out December 5, but I think it might get released a few weeks earlier!
If Max had stayed another day or two, maybe we could have gone for brunch at Don's TV Repair, a diner-style speakeasy in the Walker's Point neighborhood that makes an appearance in The Trailer Park Murder!
While I'm pretty good with words, I'm terrible with pictures, and I failed to get a single snapshot of Max and me together. Instead, here's a cool picture of the Milwaukee skyline from the outer harbor!
