“Sigrid Brown” is a pen name that represents the part of me who stays up too late watching mysteries and has read every Harry Potter novel twelve or thirteen times. Read “Sigrid’s” thoughts about books and the performing arts on her blog as well as on Facebook and Goodreads. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @sigridbrown005.
The Girl in Duluth is a literary mystery in the vein of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones and Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train. When 18-year-old June Bergeron’s mother goes missing, June fears the disappearance could be connected to the unsolved murders of several women found in the woods near Duluth, Minnesota. As she starts to ask questions, she is pulled into an ugly and dangerous world of exploitation and abuse, and she discovers that everyone around her has been keeping secrets.
Set in a remote area of Minnesota on the Canadian border, The Girl in Duluth tells the story of not only one family’s troubled history, but of a shrinking rural community reckoning with issues of gender, class, and race. Candid and elegant, June’s voice also simmers with the uneasiness of a young woman who has suddenly become aware she can no longer be sure of anything.
Publishers Weekly calls The Girl in Duluth an “affecting debut …. Brown easily creates engagement with [her main character] June, and poetic prose is a plus …. Fans of thoughtful crime fiction will hope for more from Brown.” You can see the full text of this review and more reviews here.
Learn more about the book, read the first page, and get a book-club discussion guide on “Sigrid’s” website. You can also read a longer excerpt on Sigrid’s Booklife page.
You can support independent creators and bookstores by buying The Girl in Duluth as either an ebook or a paperback on Lulu.com or by picking it up or ordering it online at Eat My Words Bookstore in Minneapolis or Zenith Bookstore in Duluth. I’m also in the process of recording an audiobook.
Watch a video of me reading from The Girl in Duluth at Eat My Words Bookstore in September of 2022!