Minnesota Fiction

New and recommended fiction by Minnesota authors

Updated October 6, 2025
Rochester Public Library RPL Staff
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Minnesota Fiction

New and recommended fiction by Minnesota authors

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Sirens & muses : a novel
Angress, Antonia
Paper Book
Four artists are drawn into a web of rivalry and desire at an elite art school and on the streets of New York in this "gripping, provocative, and supremely entertaining" (BuzzFeed) debut "Captures the ache-inducing quality of art and desire . . . a deeply...
The Book Haters' Book Club
Anthony, Gretchen
Paper Book
"This sparkling novel starts with high energy and unique characters that move from one surprise to another." --Ann Garvin, USA TODAY bestselling author  All it takes is the right book to turn a Book Hater into a Book Lover... That was what Elliot--the beloved...
The crane husband
Barnhill, Kelly Regan
Paper Book
Nebula Award nominee for Best Novella World Fantasy Award nominee for Best Novella "If I had to nominate a worthy successor to Angela Carter, I would nominate Kelly Barnhill. "--Laura Ruby, two-time National Book Award finalist and author of Bone Gap...
The sun collective
Baxter, Charles
Paper Book
*A NEW YORK TIMES 2021 NOTABLE BOOK* A timely and unsettling novel about the people drawn to and unmoored by a local activist group more dangerous than it appears--from the winner of the PEN/Malamud Award and "one of our most gifted writers" (Chicago Tribune).
The Night of the Radishes
Bent?ez, Sandra
Paper Book
From critically acclaimed author Sandra Benitez comes a compelling novel that takes one woman on a journey from Minnesota to Mexico in a search that tests her marriage, uncovers family secrets, and forces her to discover who she truly is. Annie Rush -- a 34-year-old Minnesotan-...
Beguilement
Bujold, Lois McMaster.
Paper Book
"Bujold builds a better fantasy romance with compelling characters and the fascinating clash between their cultures, she a farmer's daughter, he an adventurer on the trail of a deadly demon."--Locus One of the most respected writers in the field of speculative fiction, Lois...
The finders
Burton, Jeffrey B.
Paper Book
Jeffrey B. Burton's The Finders marks the beginning of a fast-paced new mystery series featuring a heroic golden retriever cadaver dog named Vira and her handler, Mason Reid. Mason "Mace" Reid lives on the outskirts of Chicago and specializes in human remains detection....
The sturgeon's heart : a novel
Casey, Amy E.
Paper Book
Three people in the same northern city of Duluth, Minnesota, are vanishing in different ways. Howard Wright finds his skin turning transparent, revealing the bloody workings of musculature beneath. His body becomes otherworldly and insistent, spinning him into visions that echo trauma from...
Eggs in purgatory
Childs, Laura.
Paper Book
INTRODUCING THE CACKLEBERRY CLUB MYSTERY SERIES! The New York Times bestselling author of the Scrapbooking Mysteries and the Tea Shop Mysteries cooks up a delicious series full of friendship, murder, and one spectacular breakfast after another....   ...
The sisters of Summit Avenue
Cullen, Lynn
Paper Book
From Lynn Cullen, the bestselling author of Mrs. Poe and Twain's End, comes a powerful novel set in the Midwest during the Great Depression, about two sisters bound together by love, duty, and pain. Ruth has been single-handedly raising four young daughters and...
Bears behaving badly
Davidson, MaryJanice
Paper Book
We're not dating, we've never been dating, we're not going to hook up, no way, absolutely not...oh. Oops. My primary focus has always been taking care of were-babies in the interspecies foster care system. I am unapologetically a fierce mama bear shifter and I am completely united with...
The temps
DeYoung, Andrew
Paper Book
*Named a Best SFF Book of 2022 by Book Riot* They're underemployed. Underpaid. And trying to survive the end of the world while trapped inside an office complex. Who knew temp work could be this dangerous? Jacob Elliot doesn't want a temporary job in the mailroom at Delphi...
The cartographer of no man's land
Duffy, P. S.
Paper Book
In the tradition of Robert Goolrick's A Reliable Wife and Karl Marlantes's Matterhorn, P. S. Duffy's astonishing debut showcases a rare and instinctive talent emerging in midlife. Her novel leaps across the Atlantic, between a father at war and a son coming of age at home without him. ...
Stars over Clear Lake
Ellsworth, Loretta
Paper Book
Mesmerizing and romantic, Stars Over Clear Lake transports readers to the Surf Ballroom, where musical acts became legends in the 1940s and which holds the key to one woman's deepest secret. Lorraine Kindred's most cherished memories are of the Surf Ballroom, the place...
I cheerfully refuse : a novel
Enger, Leif
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A BARNES & NOBLE BOOK CLUB PICK * A career defining tour-de-force from New York Times bestselling, award-winning and "formidably gifted" (Chicago Tribune) author of Peace Like a River Leif Enger. "A rare, remarkable book to be kept and...
Love medicine
Erdrich, Louise.
Paper Book
The first book in Erdrich's Native American tetralogy that includes The Beet Queen, Tracks, and The Bingo Palace is an authentic and emotionally powerful glimpse into the Native American experience--now resequenced and expanded to include never-before-published chapters.
The quiet librarian
Eskens, Allen
Paper Book
After the murder of her best friend, a librarian's search for answers leads back to her own dark secrets in this "searing and timely" novel about a woman transformed by war, family, vengeance, and love, from the author of the beloved bestseller The Life We Bury (Kristin Harmel, author...
American magic : a thriller
Fehst, Zach
Paper Book
In this fast-paced, international thriller, chaos erupts after a shadowy figure with ties to an elite and ancient society posts incantations on the dark web that allow people to perform real magic. When an enigmatic message uploaded to the dark web turns out to contain an ancient...
The great Gatsby
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Paper Book
The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald's family and from his lifelong publisher. This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author's own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book...
Chocolate chip cookie murder : a Hannah Swensen mystery
Fluke, Joanne
Paper Book
With allusions to the movie Fargo, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder stars a red-haired cook called Hannah Swensen and a very eccentric assortment of Minnesota locals whose lives are disturbed by a killer in their midst.
Big in Sweden : a novel
Franson, Sally
Paper Book
"Sally Franson is a world class entertainer. She can finesse a serio-comic moment in a way that leaves you catching your breath. Deft and delicious, this book is a flat out delight machine. A heart opener, a page turner, and a true 'originell!' I laughed out loud, I ugly cried...
The Ursulina
Freeman, Brian 1963-
Paper Book
In this gripping prequel to his Edgar Award finalist and New York Times bestseller The Deep, Deep Snow, Brian Freeman takes us on Rebecca's dark journey to reveal the truth about the Ursulina ... a journey that ultimately leads to an excruciating choice that will change her life forever. ...
Brotherless night : a novel
Ganeshananthan, V. V.
Paper Book
New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * A courageous young Sri Lankan woman tries to protect her dream of becoming a doctor in this "heartbreaking exploration of a family fractured by civil war" (Brit Bennett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half)....
The ski jumpers : a novel
Geye, Peter
Paper Book
Now in paperback: a writer and former ski jumper facing a terminal diagnosis takes one more leap--into a past of soaring flights and broken family bonds A brilliant ski jumper has to be fearless--Jon Bargaard remembers this well. His memories of daring leaps and risks might be the...
The women could fly : a novel
Giddings, Megan
Paper Book
Reminiscent of the works of Margaret Atwood, Shirley Jackson, and Octavia Butler, a biting social commentary from the acclaimed author of Lakewood that speaks to our times--a piercing dystopian novel about the unbreakable bond between a young woman and her mysterious mother, set in a world in...
The blackout book club : a novel
Green, Amy Lynn
Paper Book
"The Blackout Book Club is a fabulous novel that will warm the hearts of readers everywhere. Amy Lynn Green gives us a poignant look at life on the home front during WWII and how comfort and camaraderie can be found in the shared love of books. This will be a wonderful book...
Stillwater
Helget, Nicole Lea
Paper Book
Clement and Angel are fraternal twinsnbsp;separated at birth; they grow up in the same small, frontier loggingnbsp;town of Stillwater, Minnesota. Clement was left at the orphanage. Angel was adopted by the town's richest couple, but is marked and threatened by her mother's mental illness. They...
A hard ticket home
Housewright, David 1955-
Paper Book
Ex-St. Paul cop Rushmore McKenzie has more time, and more money, than he knows what to do with. In fact, when he's willing to admit it to himself (and he usually isn't), Mac is downright bored. Until he decides to do a favor for a friend facing a family tragedy: Nine-year-old Stacy Carlson has...
Black leopard, red wolf
James, Marlon
Paper Book
One of TIME's 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time Winner of the L.A. Times Ray Bradbury Prize Finalist for the 2019 National Book Award The New York Times Bestseller Named a Best Book of 2019 by The Wall Street...
Just for the summer
Jimenez, Abby
Paper Book
Instant #1 New York Times bestseller and a Good Morning America Book Club Pick! This witty, slow-burn rom-com is the "ideal beach read." --Elle Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates...
The Barrens : a novel of love and death in the Canadian Arctic
Johnson, Kurt
Paper Book
Winner of the Minnesota Book Award and a 2022 Great Group Reads Selection "The Barrens grabbed me from the opening pages and never let go."--Michael Punke, author of The Revenant Two young women attending college decide to have a summer...
Lake Wobegon days
Keillor, Garrison.
Paper Book
Garrison Keillor is the consummate storyteller, gifted with the rare ability--both in print and in performance--to hold an audience spellbound with his tales of ordinary people whose lives contain extraordinary moments of humor, tenderness, and grace. This exclusive recording of Garrison Keillor...
The sisters of Sea View
Klassen, Julie
Paper Book
Some guests have come for a holiday, others for hidden reasons of their own . . .When their father's death leaves them impoverished, Sarah Summers and her genteel sisters fear they will be forced to sell the house and separate to earn livelihoods as governesses or companions....
Liberty's daughter
Kritzer, Naomi
Paper Book
Beck Garrison lives on a seastead - an archipelago of constructed platforms and old cruise ships, assembled by libertarian separatists a generation ago. She's grown up comfortable and sheltered, but starts doing odd jobs for pocket money.To her surprise, she finds that she's the only detective that...
The river we remember : a novel
Krueger, William Kent
Paper Book
AN EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by a shocking murder, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling novel, an instant New York Times bestseller and "a work of art" (The Denver Post). On Memorial Day...
Patty Jane's House of Curl : a novel
Landvik, Lorna
Paper Book
Quality Paperback Book Club selection, UK, German Spanish, audio editions.
Swede Hollow
Larsmo, Ola
Paper Book
A riveting family saga immersed in the gritty, dark side of Swedish immigrant life in America in the early twentieth century When Gustaf and Anna Klar and their three children leave Sweden for New York in 1897, they take with them a terrible secret and a longing for a...
Babbitt
Lewis, Sinclair
Paper Book
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The quarry girls : a thriller
Lourey, Jess
Paper Book
Killers hiding in plain sight. Small-town secrets. A girl who knows too much. From the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things and Bloodline comes a nerve-twisting novel inspired by a shocking true crime. Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit...
After Francesco
Malloy, Brian
Paper Book
"Like Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers, author-activist Malloy's newest novel is a heartrending portrayal of the realities of healing." -Oprah Daily, Best LGBTQ Books of 2021 Acclaimed author Brian Malloy brings insight, humor, and the authenticity of his...
The gimmicks : a novel
McCormick, Chris
Paper Book
"The Gimmicks is a gorgeous epic that astounds with its scope and beauty. With empathy and humor, McCormick unravels the ties between brotherhood and betrayal, love and abandonment, and the fictions we create to live with the pain of the past. This novel will blow you away." --Brit...
To catch a storm : a novel
Mejia, Mindy
Paper Book
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER! In this brand new series from national bestseller Mindy Mejia, a physicist and a psychic reluctantly team up to solve two missing persons cases during an ice storm in Iowa. When her husband's car is found abandoned and on fire--in the...
The emigrants
Moberg, Vilhelm
Paper Book
Considered one of Sweden's greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg created the characters Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson to portray the joys and tragedies of daily life for early Swedish immigrants in America. His consistently faithful depiction of these humble people's lives is a major...
And there he kept her
Moehling, Joshua
Paper Book
They thought he was a helpless old man. They were wrong. When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he's been keeping in his basement for more...
How high we go in the dark : a novel
Nagamatsu, Sequoia
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE * ROXANE GAY'S AUDACIOUS BOOK CLUB PICK * FINALIST FOR THE URSULA K. LE GUIN PRIZE "Moving and thought-provoking . . . offering psychological insights in lyrical prose while seriously exploring speculative conceits." --...
The things they carried
O'Brien, Tim
Paper Book
Depicting the men of Alpha Company, The Things They Carried opened our eyes to the nature of war in a way we will never forget. It is a life-changing meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. In the decades since its publication it has never failed to...
Four weekends and a funeral : a novel
Palmer, Ellie
Paper Book
The right guy at the dead wrong time. When thirty-year-old post-double-mastectomy BRCA 1 carrier and reluctant thrill-seeker Alison Mullally arrives at her ex-boyfriend Sam's funeral to find that no one knows he dumped her, she agrees to play the grieving girlfriend for the sake of the family and...
The ninth metal
Percy, Benjamin
Paper Book
"[In THE NINTH METAL] debris from a comet drops a fabulously valuable new metal on Northfall, MN., turning it into a bloody, brawling boomtown. Great characters, fine writing, totally engrossing." --Stephen King "Take one part dystopia, one part sci-fi, two...
Laura's shadow
Pittman, Allison
Paper Book
Family Secrets Spill One Conversation at a Time   Visit historic American landmarks through the Doors to the Past series. History and today collide in stories full of mystery, intrigue, faith, and romance. De Smet,...
Brood : a novel
Polzin, Jackie
Paper Book
An exquisite new literary voice--wryly funny, nakedly honest, beautifully observational, in the vein of Jenny Offill and Elizabeth Strout--depicts one woman's attempt to keep her four chickens alive while reflecting on a recent loss.   "Full of nuance and humor and strangeness......
A council of dolls : a novel
Power, Susan
Paper Book
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEE The long-awaited, profoundly moving, and unforgettable new novel from PEN Award-winning Native American author Mona Susan Power, spanning three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women from the 19th century to the present day. From the...
Where they last saw her : a novel
Rendon, Marcie R.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From the award-winning author of the Cash Blackbear series comes a compelling mystery of a Native American woman who learns of the disappearance of one of her own and decides enough is enough. "Rendon shows how harm done to a marginalized community can...
Giants in the earth : a saga of the prairie
Rølvaag, O. E.
Paper Book
The classic story of a Norwegian pioneer family's struggles with the land and the elements of the Dakota Territory as they try to make a new life in America. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Rules of prey
Sandford, John
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestselling author John Sandford's "haunting, unforgettable, ice-blooded thriller"* that introduced Lucas Davenport...   The killer was mad but brilliant.   He left notes with every woman he killed. Rules of murder: Never have a...
The listening house
Seeley, Mabel
Paper Book
Down and out in the Depression, Gwynne Dacres moves into a seedy and sinister boarding house, where she exposes deadly secrets in this classic mystery by Mabel Seeley After losing her copywriting job, young Gwynne Dacres seeks a place to live when she stumbles upon Mrs. Garr's old...
I am crying all inside and other stories : the complete short fiction of Clifford D. Simak. Volume one
Simak, Clifford D.
Paper Book
From the Nebula Award-winning author of Way Station: Ten stories--including one never before published--of mystery and imagination in a world that cannot be. People work; folk play. That is how it has been in this country for as long as Sam can remember. He is...
Romantic comedy : a novel
Sittenfeld, Curtis
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * A comedy writer thinks she's sworn off love, until a dreamy pop star flips the script on all her assumptions--a "smart, sophisticated, and fun" (Oprah Daily) novel from the author of Eligible, Rodham, and Prep....
Small town girl
Spencer, LaVyrle.
Paper Book
The glass magician
Stevermer, Caroline
Paper Book
Reminiscent of The Golem and the Jinni, The Glass Magician by Caroline Stevermer is a magical and romantic tale set in New York's Gilded Age. New York 1905--The Vanderbilts. The Astors. The Morgans. They are the cream of society--and they own the nation on the...
Saturday night at the Lakeside Supper club : a novel
Stradal, J. Ryan
Paper Book
"Stradal serves up another saga of food and family, hurt and healing, pitched between cliff-hanger moments. . . that make the pages fly." --People From the New York Times bestselling author J. Ryan Stradal, a story of a couple from two very different restaurant families...
Ruby & Roland : a novel
Sullivan, Faith
Paper Book
From the author of Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse and The Cape Ann comes a new tale of resilient womanhood in Harvester, Minnesota. Growing up in early twentieth-century Illinois, Ruby Drake is a happy child. But one winter's night, her beloved parents perish in an accident--and suddenly Ruby...
Deep into the dark
Tracy, P. J.
Paper Book
"Tracy seems to have found her literary sweet spot." --Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review New York Times bestseller P. J. Tracy returns with Deep into the Dark, a brand new series set in LA and featuring up-and-coming LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan...
French braid
Tyler, Anne
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Spool of Blue Thread--a funny, joyful, brilliantly perceptive journey deep into one Baltimore family's foibles, from a boyfriend with a red Chevy in the 1950s up to a longed-for reunion with a grandchild...
Ink blood sister scribe : a novel
Törzs, Emma
Paper Book
NAMED A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR & ONE OF THE BEST FANTASY NOVELS OF THE YEAR  "Astonishing and pristine, the kind of debut I love to be devastated by, already so assured and sophisticated that it's difficult to imagine where the author can go from here. . . ....
Sharks in the time of saviors
Washburn, Kawai Strong
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2020 PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT NOVEL. One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020. A finalist for the 2020 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. Named one of the Best Books of 2020 by the New York Times (#30), the Guardian, the Boston Globe, Oprah<...
A gravestone made of wheat : stories
Weaver, Will.
Paper Book
The haunting of Brynn Wilder : a novel
Webb, Wendy
Paper Book
From the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of Daughters of the Lake comes an enthralling spellbinder of love, death, and a woman on the edge. After a devastating loss, Brynn Wilder escapes to Wharton, a tourist town on Lake Superior, to reset. Checking into a quaint...
Home or away
West, Kathleen
Paper Book
"A gloriously entertaining plunge into the ultra-competitive world of youth sports and the lengths we go to for the kids and game we love."--New York Times bestselling author KJ Dell'Antonia Two friends, one Olympic dream, and the choice that stood in the way. ...
The seed keeper : a novel
Wilson, Diane
Paper Book
A 2025 National Endowment for the Arts Big Reads Selection Winner of the Minnesota Book Award A haunting novel spanning several generations, The Seed Keeper follows a Dakhóta family's struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters...
The secret lives of dentists : a novel
Winter, W. A.
Paper Book
Violent, carnal, and profane. Not how you'd expect pretty, peaceful Minneapolis to be portrayed during Eisenhower's somnambulant 1950s. But the City of Lakes was also the 'anti-Semitism capital of America. ' Sexual predators, pornographers, and backstreet Romeos were on the prowl, and ill-tempered...
The Mesmerist : a novel
Woods, Caroline
Paper Book
AN NPR BOOK OF THE YEAR . A tightly plotted page-turner ripped from the headlines of history, as three very different women must work together to stop a killer and save the truest home they've ever known. Before hypnotism, there was Mesmerism. And in 1894 Minneapolis, in the wake...
Till the wheels fall off
Zellar, Brad
Paper Book
From roller rinks and record players to coin-operated condom dispensers and small-town mobsters, Till the Wheels Fall Off is a novel about an unconventional childhood among the pleasures and privations of the pre-digital era. It's the late 1980s, and...
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