THE DEVIL AND THE DIVA

I moved from southeast Iowa to the Twin Cities in…I think itwas spring of 2000. My son had settled in the area a few years earlier, and Ifell in love with the place after just a few visits. I had to remain in Iowauntil all of our aging animals were gone, one being a horse. If you read mymemoir, you will have met him. Mr. Red. My daughter ended up at the Universityof Minnesota, so it was wonderful when our small family was once again reunited. 
I can't explain why I love the Twin Cities. I've tried. Howcan you love a city that is oftentimes dark and ugly and full of crime? A placewhere your car is destroyed right in front of your house? When you get muggedleaving a venue? When your pocket is picked at a gas station?  When cops throw people over car hoodsand arrest them steps from your door? When you sometimes wonder if you justheard gunshots. Pretty sure those were gunshots. 
I love it because there's magic here.  There's this wonderful energy, thischarge of creativity that's in the air and in the buildings and in the sidewalkunder your feet. It's in the snow that falls and pisses you off because youcan't get anywhere.  If you couldflip a switch and actually see the creativity, it would look like flying sparks settling in your hair and inside your boots, catching on youreyelashes. When you inhale, you breathe sparks into your lungs.
I set a book in the Twin Cities, but I was unable to conveymy love of the place, or why I loved it.
Well my friends… If you want to understand why Minnesota iswonderful, if you want to know how in the hell people can stand it here when adark winter night bottoms out at -40 (that's not wind chill), download a copyof the Devil and the Diva by David Housewright and Renee Valois.  You will understand.  You will want to move here. Even if youalready live here, you will want to move here.


Here's my short blurb:
Mysterious, lush, and lovely; a present-day gothic taledrenched in love for a magical land called Minnesota.

It's rich, it's lush, it's romantic, it's smart, it's funny.It's a mix of genres, a Beauty and the Beast tale.  Mystery. Crime fiction. Intrigue. Gothic romance.  Inside the pages we visit Minneapolis, St.Paul, Duluth, the North Shore, all in winter. Winter!  A masked man. Dark wool capes that flow over deep snow. Ahouse like a castle. A woman in a white gown holding a candelabra.
READ MORE ABOUT THE BOOK: THE DEVIL AND THE DIVA
Full disclosure: David is a friend of mine and contributed ashort story to the Halloween anthology Deadly Treats. He's also an Edgarwinner. So there ya go!