Local Author Brings Mystery to Minneapolis

Whoever knew the Twin Cities were so full of mystery, mayhem, and murder?

Local author Judith Yates Borger, for one.

A former Pioneer Press reporter, Borger traded in her notebook to chronicle the trials and tribulations of a fictional reporter named Skeeter, whose occupation, among other things, draws parallels to the author's own life. Now, she's out with a follow-on to her successful first novel, Where's Billie?

Think "Nancy Drew for grownups" or maybe "Sue Grafton with an edge," with the story set in Minneapolis, and characters frequenting local favorites like Lakes Harriet and Calhoun, Sebastian Joe’s and Roberts Bird Sanctuary. 

“I decided (in 2003) it was time to get a new gig, so I wrote Where’s Billie? which has a very good car firebombing scene in it — highly accurate, well researched,” Borger said. 

Borger's departure from the news business was partly due to her own car being torched.

Borger wrote that first novel from the , near her former home of 30 years on Linden Hills Boulevard (she now lives downtown), and self-published the book on Amazon.com. After collecting positive reviews and sales, Where’s Billie? was picked up by Minnesota publisher Nodin Press, publisher of Borger’s first short fiction piece. 

Publisher’s Weekly gave the book positive reviews, saying "readers will want to hear more."

Readers now have their chance. Borger’s second book, Whose Hand? A Skeeter Hughes Mystery, in which a hand is pulled from Lake Harriet by an unreliable fisherman and it’s up to reporter Skeeter Hughes to match the hand to a body, is now being offered by Nodin Press as well. Both books are also available for purchase online.  

Mary Koppel, who knows Borger from the Linden Hills neighborhood, read Borger’s books with her local book club.  

“Judy's a true Linden Hills native, and her books are set in Minneapolis. We read them because we were intrigued to meet characters that were somewhat familiar, living as they do in our hometown,” Koppel said.  

If you think you recognize yourself in one of Borger's books, you just might be right, especially if you’ve spent any time at the Linden Hills Dunn Bros in recent years.

“I remember one day I was sitting over there, it was winter and I was just writing the part about somebody who had sort of a walk on. I looked up and a guy walked in wearing a Vikings jacket. He was all wintered up and the jacket was big, it was purple and white, and so I put him in. Suddenly he was this walk on character; he bought a coffee and left,” Borger said.  

Borger is currently at work on her third novel, another in the Skeeter Hughes series, set among the Somali community in Cedar-Riverside. Borger said Minnesota provides plenty of inspiration for her writing, including an increasingly diverse population and, of course, the infamous weather.

“There’s a whole lot to work with here because we have the good grace of winter, which gives you a million plot turns,” Borger said. “You can always count on an icy road to take care of whatever needs to be taken care of.” 

You can meet Judith Yates Borger at the launch party for Whose Hand? at Once Upon a Crime on August 24 at 7:00PM.