Out Now
Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee by Dan Kois
The year is 1987, and six middle schoolers are wandering Milwaukee trying to sell newspaper subscriptions. As they roam Hampton Heights, the night turns sinister, and the boys soon find themselves dealing with werewolves, witches and more wild creatures of the darkness. This local adventure is prime Halloween material.
Struggle for the City by Derek G. Handley
This nonfiction book by UW-Milwaukee professor Derek Handley follows the effects of urban renewal policies on Black Americans, focusing on three neighborhoods: the Hill district in Pittsburgh; the Rondo district in St. Paul; and Milwaukee’s Bronzeville. Through archival Black newspapers, oral histories and more, Handley examines how leaders and residents resisted the effects of the 1954 Housing Act and 1956 Highway Act.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Close Call by Kim Suhr
This collection of short stories by a Wisconsin author follows the trials of travails of its Midwestern characters – a door-to-door salesman, distant friends planning a reunion, a researcher grappling with mental illness.
The City in Glass by Nghi Vo
Vo made it big as a fantasy author in 2021 with her novella, The Empress of Salt and Fortune, which won a Hugo Award. She’s also the author of acclaimed fantasy novels The Chosen and the Beautiful and Siren Queen. Her new novel, The City in Glass, brings readers to a strange city where demons and angels do battle.
October
The Killers’ Terms by Kevin Kluesner
OCT. 8
This thriller marks the third in Kluesner’s Cole Huebsch series, following a Milwaukee FBI agent, as he investigates an attack on a local journalist, who also happens to be his girlfriend. The author is doing a talk at Boswell Books on Nov. 14 with some journalist guy.
Being Henry: The Fonz … and Beyond by Henry Winkler
OCT. 31
Henry Winkler may not be from Wisconsin, but the dude’s literally cast in bronze on our riverwalk – I think that merits him a spot on this list. His new memoir offers a look into his early years growing up in New York, the fateful audition that won him the role of the Fonz, and his career since. Also, if you happen to be interested, Winkler spoke with Milwaukee Magazine this year for a cover story about our city’s relationship with “Happy Days,” which you can read here.
November
The Bones of Bascom Hall by Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden
NOV. 19
Frank Lloyd Wright, murderous motorized book stacks, unearthed human remains in an attic – this new mystery novel weaves dozens of threads around a story set at UW-Madison. A professor begins an investigation linking newly discovered bones to the 1970 bombing of Sterling Hall, and soon finds herself enmeshed in a potential conspiracy.
