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Mysterious Tales of Old Minneapolis
OWNER DIES UNDER STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCES AT MINNEAPOLIS MILL!
HOTEL BELLMAN FOUND DEAD IN OSCAR WILDE’S ROOM!
$10,000 REWARD FOR DISCOVERING MY MURDERER!
These headlines are just the beginning as Larry Millett returns to the scene of the crime in three tales of intrigue and murder in historic Minneapolis. The mind that brought us the intrepid Shadwell Rafferty now introduces three unlikely but talented new detectives—in-laws Sophia Westerly and Annie Nichols, and the incomparable Oscar Wilde—who are thrown into murder investigations amid flour milling, literary culture, and labor organizing in the burgeoning city.
Murder at the Falls takes us to the Perfection Flour Mill at St. Anthony Falls when one owner turns up dead under grotesque circumstances and suspicion lands on the other, plunging the city into a frenzy of dark speculation.
In A Wilde Night at the Nicollet House, Oscar Wilde, in the midst of his 1882 North American tour and spouting witticisms as only he can, teams up with the long-time house detective at the Nicollet House Hotel to search for the murderer of the hotel bell captain found dead in his room.
In The Death Committee, a champion lawyer of the working class, convinced his own murder is imminent, arranges for three citizens to investigate his death, with a $10,000 reward going to the one who finds the killer.
Shining light on the colorful characters and curious corners of Twin Cities history, Mysterious Tales of Old Minneapolis brings the nineteenth-century city to vibrant life (and dastardly death) in the spellbinding style that Larry Millett’s legion of loyal listeners has come to love.
HOTEL BELLMAN FOUND DEAD IN OSCAR WILDE’S ROOM!
$10,000 REWARD FOR DISCOVERING MY MURDERER!
These headlines are just the beginning as Larry Millett returns to the scene of the crime in three tales of intrigue and murder in historic Minneapolis. The mind that brought us the intrepid Shadwell Rafferty now introduces three unlikely but talented new detectives—in-laws Sophia Westerly and Annie Nichols, and the incomparable Oscar Wilde—who are thrown into murder investigations amid flour milling, literary culture, and labor organizing in the burgeoning city.
Murder at the Falls takes us to the Perfection Flour Mill at St. Anthony Falls when one owner turns up dead under grotesque circumstances and suspicion lands on the other, plunging the city into a frenzy of dark speculation.
In A Wilde Night at the Nicollet House, Oscar Wilde, in the midst of his 1882 North American tour and spouting witticisms as only he can, teams up with the long-time house detective at the Nicollet House Hotel to search for the murderer of the hotel bell captain found dead in his room.
In The Death Committee, a champion lawyer of the working class, convinced his own murder is imminent, arranges for three citizens to investigate his death, with a $10,000 reward going to the one who finds the killer.
Shining light on the colorful characters and curious corners of Twin Cities history, Mysterious Tales of Old Minneapolis brings the nineteenth-century city to vibrant life (and dastardly death) in the spellbinding style that Larry Millett’s legion of loyal listeners has come to love.
296 pages, Hardcover
Published November 11, 2025
5 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Larry Millett
53 books81 followersLarry Millett has combined his interest in journalism, architectural history, and mystery fiction to create an unusual writing career. A native of Minneapolis, he attended school there and then went on to obtain a bachelor’s degrees in English from St. John’s University and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago.
He began working as a general assignment reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1972 and became the newspaper’s first architecture critic after a year of study on a fellowship to the University of Michigan.
Larry’s first book, The Curve of the Arch, appeared in 1985. Since then, he’s written eleven other works of nonfiction, including Lost Twin Cities, which has been in continuous print for more than twenty years.
Larry began writing mystery fiction in 1996 by bringing the world’s most famous consulting detective to Minnesota for The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon. He’s published six other novels featuring Holmes, Dr. Watson, and St. Paul saloonkeeper Shadwell Rafferty.
Larry lives in St. Paul’s historic West Seventh Street neighborhood with his wife and occasional writing partner, Jodie Ahern, who is also an accomplished painter and a freelance copy editor.
He began working as a general assignment reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1972 and became the newspaper’s first architecture critic after a year of study on a fellowship to the University of Michigan.
Larry’s first book, The Curve of the Arch, appeared in 1985. Since then, he’s written eleven other works of nonfiction, including Lost Twin Cities, which has been in continuous print for more than twenty years.
Larry began writing mystery fiction in 1996 by bringing the world’s most famous consulting detective to Minnesota for The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon. He’s published six other novels featuring Holmes, Dr. Watson, and St. Paul saloonkeeper Shadwell Rafferty.
Larry lives in St. Paul’s historic West Seventh Street neighborhood with his wife and occasional writing partner, Jodie Ahern, who is also an accomplished painter and a freelance copy editor.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 19, 2025
Being from Minnesota and actually never living in the Twin Cities (as a person with a memory we briefly lived in St. Paul when I was a baby eventually moving to Brooklyn Park) there was no way I could not read this. The thing is I know little to nothing about the formation of either city other than Fort Snelling having a bit to do with it and this being only because my grandfather is buried there and of course because of the reenactments, I don't believe anyone in Mn hasn't gone there at least once (take my advice go to Paul Bunyan land is way better). I certainly didn't know anything about it being founded by Flour Barons which while making complete sense seems silly to me. What wasn't silly though were these three murder mysteries following in part two women of one family who I found fascinating.
The first story, Murder at the Falls follows the tale of the gruesome murder of one such Flour Baron, Ransom Everleigh, who is found dead in the river underneath his own mill. Due to a falling out between himself and his partner Stoddard Chase the man who found his body, Peter Nichols immediately suspects Chase. After speaking with his mother, one of the richest women in Minneapolis at the time, Nichols is even more certain that Chase murdered his partner. As Nichols and his mother Sophia chase down leads they grow more suspicious that there may be more to this story that meets the eye.
Again, Flour Barons who knew? Well obviously, someone did, but I suppose the better question is how does one go about making Flour Barons interesting? Murder that's how. This first story was just a fun little mystery that seems like it's just about rich people killing other rich people at first but turns into a one-woman crusade to avenge her lover and ends with the oldest motivation for murder in history; greed. Sophia is an absolutely wonderful character whose life is something straight out of an old west story. While it certainly seems like she becomes the richest woman in Minneapolis by marrying often and marrying well, it is fairly obvious by the end it's because she is one smart freaking cookie and not afraid of anything or anyone for that matter. She is daring beyond belief for what we think of women during this timeframe, and she passes that along to her son who marries a woman much like her and who will play a role in the last story which I absolutely loved. Knowing this sets us up for the last story because there is just no way Peter married a woman not equal to his mom.
Story two entitled A Wilde Night at the Nicollet House follows Oscar Wilde and Dobsy the "Hotel Dick" for the Nicollet House, the hotel Wilde stays at while lecturing in Minneapolis, as they track down a killer before Wilde needs to leave for St. Paul in the morning. After his lecture Wilde comes back to the hotel to find the Bell Captain Jimmy Jones dead on the floor in his room. He immediately alerts the police and fearing that they will zero in on his valet due to him being black, which of course they do. Determined to ensure that his valet escapes Nicollet House and Minneapolis unscathed Wilde enlists Dobsy to do their own investigation vowing to have the crime solved by the next morning.
I mean it has Oscar Wilde, of course it was an amazing story! Okay that's not the only reason why but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Wilde very much comes across as a Sherlocke Holmes style character who seems to miss nothing whether it's threads under a couch or small mannerisms a person may make that seem like nothing but prove to be significant. What I loved about this one is the clues were all there. If you pay attention from the very beginning and I mean the very beginning you'll know who the killer is right off the bat, however, like I am sure he did in real life Wilde steals the narrative as soon as he is introduced and so I missed many of the clues that he uses to finally crack the case. Quite frankly I almost feel like he knew who the culprit was the entire time and was just having fun "investigating"! Dobsy is interesting as well, he gets along with Wilde so well from the very beginning, almost like he's known him for ages and is a long-suffering friend. I think I liked that the best as Wilde certainly needed someone in his corner even after his death.
Finally, we have the final story The Death Committee. This one is absolutely wild from the very beginning. A Mr. Pemberton is certain he will be killed in the next few weeks and knowing that his death will not be investigated, because as a union lawyer he has few friends in the police department, he enlists a Mr. Gozzard to assist with tracking down his killer after he dies. He does this by taking out a front page ad in the Minneapolis Tribune, stating that there will be a lottery that all working class citizens are allowed to throw their name in to make up a committee of three members who will work with Gozzard, Letcher (his accountant), Miranda (his daughter and sole heir), and Dixon (her fiancé) to find his killer and if they do within a month each of the three will receive $10,000. Thousands put their name in the lottery but the three people chosen are suspicious to those who know Pemberton right away; a Mr. Snook (worked under the table for Pemberton), Miss Reed (his kept woman), and finally Annie Nichols (wife of Peter Nichols and a man Pemberton once defended in court). Annie immediately realizes that this is all a set up and that she may be the only person in this committee who isn't a suspect. She also quickly realizes that this is a very serious game and Mr. Pemberton's murderer will stop at nothing to get what they want.
I love stories where everyone is a suspect, especially when everyone is a suspect because the victim is a douchebag and Pemberton definitely falls into that category. He cheats on his wife basically his whole marriage, treats his daughter like property, doesn't trust anyone he works with, I could go on. He's the type of victim that you don't feel like the world lost much when he passed away. It also becomes fairly obvious that Annie is chosen specifically because she is the smartest person in the damn room in every room she walks into. Like I said earlier Millett sets her up perfectly since we know she's Sophia's daughter in law, we already know that she's going to be a no nonsense incredibly intelligent woman, however, she exceeded my expectations! It's not just that she's smart, she has worked with the unions with her husband before he passed away, she's raising a teen daughter on her own, and she seems to be one of the least judgmental women of the entire 19th century. Okay well other than her mother-in-law. This was such a short story, but I truly loved her character, and I would read an entire series of her spending her widowhood tracking down killers amongst Minneapolis's elite. The mystery had a ton of twists and turns which it had to given how many suspects there are, and I loved the resolution. Although, I will give a small spoiler here and say that Miranda wasn't the killer which is kind of a shame because oh my gods she was a spoiled brat.
Highly recommend this, it was a really quick read whether you choose to read all three at once (I can't imagine anyone not this was a I am not putting this down till it's done kind of book) or just one at a time. The characters were lovable, the murders fueled by greed and love, and again Oscar Wilde.
As always thanks to NetGalley and University of Minnesota Press for the eArc!
The first story, Murder at the Falls follows the tale of the gruesome murder of one such Flour Baron, Ransom Everleigh, who is found dead in the river underneath his own mill. Due to a falling out between himself and his partner Stoddard Chase the man who found his body, Peter Nichols immediately suspects Chase. After speaking with his mother, one of the richest women in Minneapolis at the time, Nichols is even more certain that Chase murdered his partner. As Nichols and his mother Sophia chase down leads they grow more suspicious that there may be more to this story that meets the eye.
Again, Flour Barons who knew? Well obviously, someone did, but I suppose the better question is how does one go about making Flour Barons interesting? Murder that's how. This first story was just a fun little mystery that seems like it's just about rich people killing other rich people at first but turns into a one-woman crusade to avenge her lover and ends with the oldest motivation for murder in history; greed. Sophia is an absolutely wonderful character whose life is something straight out of an old west story. While it certainly seems like she becomes the richest woman in Minneapolis by marrying often and marrying well, it is fairly obvious by the end it's because she is one smart freaking cookie and not afraid of anything or anyone for that matter. She is daring beyond belief for what we think of women during this timeframe, and she passes that along to her son who marries a woman much like her and who will play a role in the last story which I absolutely loved. Knowing this sets us up for the last story because there is just no way Peter married a woman not equal to his mom.
Story two entitled A Wilde Night at the Nicollet House follows Oscar Wilde and Dobsy the "Hotel Dick" for the Nicollet House, the hotel Wilde stays at while lecturing in Minneapolis, as they track down a killer before Wilde needs to leave for St. Paul in the morning. After his lecture Wilde comes back to the hotel to find the Bell Captain Jimmy Jones dead on the floor in his room. He immediately alerts the police and fearing that they will zero in on his valet due to him being black, which of course they do. Determined to ensure that his valet escapes Nicollet House and Minneapolis unscathed Wilde enlists Dobsy to do their own investigation vowing to have the crime solved by the next morning.
I mean it has Oscar Wilde, of course it was an amazing story! Okay that's not the only reason why but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Wilde very much comes across as a Sherlocke Holmes style character who seems to miss nothing whether it's threads under a couch or small mannerisms a person may make that seem like nothing but prove to be significant. What I loved about this one is the clues were all there. If you pay attention from the very beginning and I mean the very beginning you'll know who the killer is right off the bat, however, like I am sure he did in real life Wilde steals the narrative as soon as he is introduced and so I missed many of the clues that he uses to finally crack the case. Quite frankly I almost feel like he knew who the culprit was the entire time and was just having fun "investigating"! Dobsy is interesting as well, he gets along with Wilde so well from the very beginning, almost like he's known him for ages and is a long-suffering friend. I think I liked that the best as Wilde certainly needed someone in his corner even after his death.
Finally, we have the final story The Death Committee. This one is absolutely wild from the very beginning. A Mr. Pemberton is certain he will be killed in the next few weeks and knowing that his death will not be investigated, because as a union lawyer he has few friends in the police department, he enlists a Mr. Gozzard to assist with tracking down his killer after he dies. He does this by taking out a front page ad in the Minneapolis Tribune, stating that there will be a lottery that all working class citizens are allowed to throw their name in to make up a committee of three members who will work with Gozzard, Letcher (his accountant), Miranda (his daughter and sole heir), and Dixon (her fiancé) to find his killer and if they do within a month each of the three will receive $10,000. Thousands put their name in the lottery but the three people chosen are suspicious to those who know Pemberton right away; a Mr. Snook (worked under the table for Pemberton), Miss Reed (his kept woman), and finally Annie Nichols (wife of Peter Nichols and a man Pemberton once defended in court). Annie immediately realizes that this is all a set up and that she may be the only person in this committee who isn't a suspect. She also quickly realizes that this is a very serious game and Mr. Pemberton's murderer will stop at nothing to get what they want.
I love stories where everyone is a suspect, especially when everyone is a suspect because the victim is a douchebag and Pemberton definitely falls into that category. He cheats on his wife basically his whole marriage, treats his daughter like property, doesn't trust anyone he works with, I could go on. He's the type of victim that you don't feel like the world lost much when he passed away. It also becomes fairly obvious that Annie is chosen specifically because she is the smartest person in the damn room in every room she walks into. Like I said earlier Millett sets her up perfectly since we know she's Sophia's daughter in law, we already know that she's going to be a no nonsense incredibly intelligent woman, however, she exceeded my expectations! It's not just that she's smart, she has worked with the unions with her husband before he passed away, she's raising a teen daughter on her own, and she seems to be one of the least judgmental women of the entire 19th century. Okay well other than her mother-in-law. This was such a short story, but I truly loved her character, and I would read an entire series of her spending her widowhood tracking down killers amongst Minneapolis's elite. The mystery had a ton of twists and turns which it had to given how many suspects there are, and I loved the resolution. Although, I will give a small spoiler here and say that Miranda wasn't the killer which is kind of a shame because oh my gods she was a spoiled brat.
Highly recommend this, it was a really quick read whether you choose to read all three at once (I can't imagine anyone not this was a I am not putting this down till it's done kind of book) or just one at a time. The characters were lovable, the murders fueled by greed and love, and again Oscar Wilde.
As always thanks to NetGalley and University of Minnesota Press for the eArc!
October 30, 2025
Larry Millett is a Minnesota treasure, a writer able to capture the energy of bygone eras with accuracy and cleanness of style. Reading fun mysteries with accurate settings and local history is a pleasure.
This collection of interconnected mysteries captures the rambunctious spirit of Minneapolis during its boom years as an industrial city on the Mississippi River. Millett, an experienced journalist, portrays the voice and tone of newspapers written during the 1890s.
The first story starts with a horrible death at a flour mill. A high-society woman seeks justice. She battles a corrupt tycoon who routinely eliminates his business partners.
The second story stars Oscar Wilde as he helps the hotel detective solve the murder of a porter found in his own suite.
The third story reads like a penny dreadful. A widow, who is also a successful union organizer, wins a lottery to serve on the death committee of a wealthy business owner. In her investigation, she canvases the city, asking reporters, committee members, servants, and employees to get to the truth.
Each story echoes the daily newspapers written in the 19th century. Millett’s journalism experience gives him the skill to capture an array of characters: from flour barons, socialites, lawyers, gamblers, teamsters, crooks, prostitutes, to hotel managers. An experienced author of local historic architecture and mysteries, the descriptions of Minneapolis’ finest buildings and saloons bring the era to life.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Univ. Of Minnesota Press for a copy of this book. Check out Larry’s awesome website filled with historic resources!
This collection of interconnected mysteries captures the rambunctious spirit of Minneapolis during its boom years as an industrial city on the Mississippi River. Millett, an experienced journalist, portrays the voice and tone of newspapers written during the 1890s.
The first story starts with a horrible death at a flour mill. A high-society woman seeks justice. She battles a corrupt tycoon who routinely eliminates his business partners.
The second story stars Oscar Wilde as he helps the hotel detective solve the murder of a porter found in his own suite.
The third story reads like a penny dreadful. A widow, who is also a successful union organizer, wins a lottery to serve on the death committee of a wealthy business owner. In her investigation, she canvases the city, asking reporters, committee members, servants, and employees to get to the truth.
Each story echoes the daily newspapers written in the 19th century. Millett’s journalism experience gives him the skill to capture an array of characters: from flour barons, socialites, lawyers, gamblers, teamsters, crooks, prostitutes, to hotel managers. An experienced author of local historic architecture and mysteries, the descriptions of Minneapolis’ finest buildings and saloons bring the era to life.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Univ. Of Minnesota Press for a copy of this book. Check out Larry’s awesome website filled with historic resources!
October 7, 2025
This book contains three Novelas set in Minneapolis in the late 1800s. The first story involves a dead mail owner. The second story has Oscar Wilde, helping to solve murder in a hotel. The last story involves a dead man putting together a committee to figure out who murdered him.
These stories are very well written. They are a little dense, even though they are Novelas. Sometimes the talking was a little more involved that I hoped, but the mysteries were good and I enjoyed figuring out the different killers.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Univ. Of Minnesota Press for a copy of this book.
These stories are very well written. They are a little dense, even though they are Novelas. Sometimes the talking was a little more involved that I hoped, but the mysteries were good and I enjoyed figuring out the different killers.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Univ. Of Minnesota Press for a copy of this book.
January 14, 2026
A fun read, especially for someone familiar with Minneapolis and its history. The first and third novellas drag but still provide enough entertainment to keep going. The second novella, starring Oscar Wilde, is the most interesting mystery, though, Wilde's pithy comments grow old after a while. And I think he's brilliant.
August 26, 2025
This book was an interesting read and was glad I read it will need to go back and read it again and give it even more time it deserves but we'll written and nothing like local stories to listen too!
January 4, 2026
Three mysteries based in the city of Minneapolis. Well written and intriguing. One has Oscar Wilde helping with the solving of the mystery…fun!
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January 14, 2026i thought this book was non fiction when i bought it
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews