Patricia Skalka

×

Expand

B.E. Pinkham

Patricia Skalka

Patricia Skalka was vacationing in Door County when she thought that it would be a perfect place to set a murder mystery. Seven “Dave Cubiak” mysteries later, Skalka will be at Mystery to Me bookstore in conversation with Doug Moe, to discuss the seventh and final installment in the series, Death Casts a Shadow. All the novels follow Dave Cubiak, a former Chicago homicide detective racked by grief and guilt after his wife and daughter are killed by a drunk driver. He relocates to Door County, finds work as a park ranger and eventually is elected sheriff. Free, but audience members will need a ticket; find info at mysterytomebooks.com.

media release: With Door County caught in the grip of a fierce winter storm, Sheriff Dave Cubiak agrees to do a simple favor for a friend of his wife: he stops by to check in on an affluent widow with a questionable new suitor. His initial disquiet is easily dismissed—until she is found dead the next morning in her home. Lying at the bottom of a flight of stairs, clutching a valuable bronze sculpture, she points her outstretched hand in the direction of a nearby, nondescript ring.

The scene bears all the characteristics of an accidental fall, not unheard of for a person of her age, but something is not adding up. Later that week, an explosion in an ice fishing shack on the frozen bay leads to the discovery of another body, burned beyond recognition. Was this the widow’s missing handyman? Could the two deaths be related? With what has become a hallmark for books in the series, past and present collide as Cubiak’s search for answers uncovers the sad legacy of loneliness and the disquieting links between wealth and poverty on the peninsula.

Patricia Skalka is the author of the award-winning Dave Cubiak Door County Mysteries. Currently there are six books in the series: Death Stalks Door County, Death at Gills Rock, Death in Cold Water, Death Rides the Ferry, Death by the Bay, and Death Washes Ashore. 

Skalka turned to fiction following a successful career in nonfiction. Her many credits include: Staff Writer for Reader’s Digest, freelancer, ghost writer, writing instructor, and book reviewer.

Skalka is past-president of the Sisters in Crime Chicagoland Chapter and a member of several professional organizations, including The Authors Guild of America, Mystery Writers of America, and Society of Midland Authors. She lives in Milwaukee and Door County.