One of the big questions my mystery novel series is going to test is whether a series of mysteries set in the upper Midwest can be compelling to readers nationwide. I’ve set my characters in a fictional amalgam of my experiences living for nearly five years in northwest Wisconsin.
You see, Stephen King made Maine work for horror. But seldom to commercial writers who write novels set outside of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago do well. Only in mysteries can you sometimes break through. After all, Tony Hillerman’s novels are set in the southwest and they do well. I think there’s even someone who sets their mysteries in Myrtle Beach South Carolina.
But will Hope, Wisconsin be compelling? I hope so. I’m filling it with enough interesting characters that it ought to be. But only time will tell.
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