Milwaukee author Scott Christopher Beebe has taken self-publishing to an extreme if measured by the number of books cranked out under the imprint of his Sterling 23 Publications. The prolific Beebe has written and published stories, poems and novels. But for his 13th book, he shifts direction into a new genre: murder mystery. And it’s the beginning of a series, the Brew Town Mayhem Mysteries.
The first installment, Killing Time in East Town, concerns a murder in a real Milwaukee neighborhood in a real location, Scottfree Salon. “I’ve enjoyed murder mysteries and thought, ‘Why not write a series to celebrate different Milwaukee neighborhoods with murder,” Beebe says. “I asked Scott Yance if he would mind if I set the first murder in his salon—it will be a spectacular murder! He was awesome about it.”
Killing Time in East Town features many recognizable streets and venues from the district where Downtown meets the East Side including Elsa’s and the Knickerbocker. It also introduces the Brew Town Mayhem series’ ongoing character, Agnetha Xanthis, a striking 6-foot-plus young woman of Greek heritage who is the story’s private detective. “She’s not the kind of PI who blends in—she’s the pink elephant in the room,” Beebe says. She’s in the process of separating from her husband in a light-hearted bickering relationship of the kind that “people will recognize” from their own lives.
Next up for Beebe, a Brew Town Mayhem Mystery set in the Fifth Ward. He will discuss Killing Time in East Town from 6-7 p.m. on Friday, July 13 at Voyageur Book Shop, 2212 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
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