I write noir-inspired mysteries bathed in the waters of the Mississippi River and historical fiction that features the stories of regular people caught in the currents of American history. I also dabble in memoir, because – well, why not?
I’m a born and bred Midwesterner. I’ve lived as far north as Minnesota and as far south as Oklahoma. Fittingly, I found a home in St. Louis, right smack in between.
I wasn’t dreaming about a writing career when I started college. After I gave up my fantasy of making a living as a professional bowler, I imagined a career in law or maybe politics before I settled on psychology. I moved to St. Louis for graduate school where I got a PhD and ended up meeting my future husband and sticking around. I settled into an academic career where I set out to make the world a somewhat better place for people living on the margins: the homeless, people struggling with drug addiction, people living with HIV. The grind of academic life wore me down, though, and I found myself on a career path toward middle management. After a dozen years, I’d had enough and quit. I wish I could say I had a grand plan about what I wanted to do next, but I didn’t. That’s when writing caught my attention.
I’d always loved writing, took pride in the words I put down, even if writing was a tool I used in my work rather than the goal unto itself. I tested my abilities by writing articles and guidebooks about travel along the Mississippi River. I loved the work and had great experiences, met amazing people, and learned a lot. It wasn’t a lucrative idea, though, so I had to keep a foot solidly in my old career world to keep paying the bills. I still do.
A few years ago, a friend suggested I write mysteries set along the Mississippi. Intrigued, I wrote and rewrote my first novel, Rock Island Lines. A light bulb went off. I liked writing fiction. A lot. My Frank Dodge mystery series now includes several novels, all of them featuring the restless writer who keeps stumbling into trouble in river towns from Minnesota to New Orleans, places inhabited by people who aren’t what they appear to be, by crooked politicians, and by good people struggling to make sense of it all. The river isn’t just a backdrop in these books; it’s the engine driving the stories. Dodge wrestles with the same things the rest of us do — who we are, what we owe to others, and how to hold on to the people we love when the current gets rough. If you like noir-inspired stories with a strong sense of place, start the Frank Dodge series and find out what the river is hiding.
Travel has shaped my life in extraordinary ways — well beyond my Mississippi River-themed works — which inspired me to write a memoir: Quit Telling Me to Be Safe. As a younger man, fear shrunk my world, but travel made it big again. The essays in the book describe the anxieties and fears I felt (and sometimes still feel) about traveling to new places, and the payoff I got by fighting through those feelings.
But wait! There’s more! I’m working on the first novel in a historical fiction series (loosely based on my family history) that will feature the experiences of regular folks at different periods in American history. I hope to release the first book (tentatively called Revolution) in early 2027. Stay tuned.
I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I do. Please let me know what you think.
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