Wisecracking Kate Sullivan and her loving husband Bill stumble into mysterious goings-on while vacationing at the Great Lakes Lodges resort on the shore of Lake Superior. But what starts out as intriguing gossip soon becomes no laughing matter . . .  and maybe Kate’s first attempt at amateur sleuthing will be her last.

“Out of the Jacuzzi, Into the Sauna” was originally published in Resort to Murder, edited by Carl Brookins, Ellen Hart, and William Kent Krueger. The theme of the anthology called for each story to be set in a real-life resort in Minnesota; the story itself would use a fictional name (no lawsuits, please!), but you had to tell the editors the real name so that they could make sure there wasn’t duplication. I loved the idea, because my wife and I had stayed at a resort in northern Minnesota where many little things had gone wrong and we got horrible customer service, and I thought that would make a funny backdrop for a mystery story. Kate is named after Katherine Hepburn, because she’s the kind of fast-talking dame that Hepburn played in classic screwball romantic comedies like Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story. Kate returns in “Of Murder and Minidonuts.” The excerpt below is the opening of the story.

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