In this series, we’ll pick some of our favorite things about Minnesota and share some related book suggestions. (We’re open to your suggestions! Comment below or email us and tell us some of your favorite MN things!)
This week library people from all over the state celebrated Minnesota Library Legislative Day by heading to St. Paul and meeting with legislators at the State Capitol.
So in order to help keep library advocacy fresh in your mind, our books this week all take place in St. Paul!
Our Minnesota State Capitol: From Groundbreaking Through Restoration by Denis Gardner
“The Minnesota State Capitol is both an architectural masterpiece and a revered public building. This beautiful Renaissance Revival structure is the heart of the state’s civic life, a place for celebrations, demonstrations, arguments, and accomplishments. It’s where history happens.”
Minnesota’s State Capitol: The Art and Politics of a Public Building by
Neil B. Thompson
“Tells the story of how private citizens, professional tradesmen, and public officials formed a coalition that got Minnesota’s statehouse designed and built. Drawing on extensive research, Neil B. Thompson relates how several governors, a decade of hard work, and four million dollars contributed toward creating this magnificent testament to the sovereignty of the state, opened to the public for the first time in January 1905.”
If you’re interested in learning more about the Capitol, the Minnesota Historical Society has this PDF which gives an overview of all the fine art in the building! The document has pictures, locations, and descriptions of the works of art.
The St. Paul Conspiracy by Roger Stellj
“The morning after Halloween the city of St. Paul awakens to find that a serial killer terrorizing the blue-collar working women of University Avenue has struck for the fifth time. The citizens of St. Paul are on edge.
The fans of John Sandford, David Baldacci and Vince Flynn will enjoy this fast-moving story of murder, greed, and treason, the cast of colorful characters, and its setting in and around historic St. Paul, Minnesota.”
A Grand Murder by Stacy Verdick Case
” A Grand Murder is the first book in the Catherine O’Brien mystery series. When a prominent local businessman and friend of the chief of police is murdered on the front steps of his posh Grand Avenue Hill home, Saint Paul homicide detective Catherine O’Brien a pithy, vertically challenged, St. Paul, Minnesota, homicide detective with a monstrous coffee habit and her partner Louise are given two days to find his killer. “