Two mysteries, life in a scary near-future America, and writing from people incarcerated in Minnesota jails. Could you ask for more eclectic reading?

“Incel” >> by Brian Lutterman (Oak Ridge Press, $18)

“And then he thought about Camryn Becket. While working on the case that had ended their respective careers — his in the FBI and hers in the CIA — they had connected when they had exposed wrongdoing by high officials. Both believed that their brief personal relationship had resulted from the intensity of that harrowing experience. And they had agreed that their tenuous existence since then, amplified by warnings from the FBI to stay away from each other, made it impractical to pursue anything further.” — from “Incel”

Read the first 10 pages of Lutterman’s “Incel” and you think you’ve figured out what’s going on in this new thriller. You would be wrong because his story has layers of surprises.

It starts with murders of high-profile, beautiful career women who are getting threats from a group of men calling themselves ‘incels,’ involuntary celibates who protagonist Kevin Arneson describes as “Resentful, hate-filled dweebs who’ve struck out with women. Sometimes identified with white supremacy.” Arneson and his former lover Camryn Becket investigate the murders after finding themselves at loose ends in Minneapolis. They’ve been fired by the CIA (Becket) and FBI (Arneson) because they uncovered dirty dealings at the highest levels of government. Afraid their secret will come out, their superiors let them leave their agencies with the understanding they will not see one another. Even though they are under constant surveillance by the FBI they get involved in the incels case because they have nothing to lose. Which is also why they resume their affair.

As Arenson and Becket try unsuccessfully try to figure out a connection between the dead and threatened women, readers are let into the minds of a perp. But that happens early in the book. So, there’s a lot more going on? Yes. There’s another murder, this time of a man. And suddenly the story goes into a whole new layer that is much more sinister.

Fast-paced and twisty, “Incel” keeps you guessing.

Lutterman, who also writes the Pen Wllkinson series, is a former trial and corporate attorney.

“Clouds Are the Mountains of the World” >> by Alan Davis (Woodhall Press, $19.95)

“Most Americans were no longer allowed to leave its borders. They carried too much disease. The rest of the world, except for the other failed states, is aghast at the recklessness, kinkiness, and complete irresponsibility of the millions of Americans whose prefrontal cortexes, the part of the brain that includes executive functions, including impulse control, had regressed. Many had the brains of irrepressible juvenile delinquents.” — from “Clouds Are the Mountains of the World”

Set in a ruined near-future America, this novel in 13 stories is about three generations of women in one family. It begins with Nana and 10-year-old Serena driving west from Fargo, seeing closed businesses, ruined buildings. They have to be careful because they could be attacked by outlaws. There are corrupt police s well as economic and political chaos. And yet, there is some civilization left. Nana finds an open gas station where Serena shoots a man who threatens them and she isn’t bothered at all about killing him.

Ava, estranged daughter of Nana and Serena’s mother, has been taken by a man to the BWCA where she puts up with abuse. In another story about abuse an Indian woman takes her child back to her tribe. In a particularly horrifying story a depressed woman kills her children. But the dark tales are balanced by humor in others. The funniest involves a high school athlete so handsome and perfect some girls literally faint as he strides to the cafeteria. So many girls are overcome by his beautifulness the coach assigns an ordinary boy to each girl so she can be tended when she drops. In another, an old radio-talker comes out of retirement for a live broadcast at the deteriorated arena in Fargo. It does not end well. Ava, the most inscrutable character, turns up later in a story about a man who is furious that his neighbor is cutting down a huge, old oak.

In the end (this is not a spoiler), Nana, Serena and Ava come together in Tulsa, Okla., the place Midwesterners are told is golden.

The author’s depiction of our future leaves us pondering whether our world can be put back together or whether these three women are among the last to know what America was once like. What saves them is their love for one another.

Alan Davis has published three award-winning story collections and co-edited “Visiting Bob: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Bob Dylan,” as well as 10 editions of “American Fiction: The Best Unpublished Short Stories by Emerging Writers.” Professor emeritus at Minnesota State University Moorhead, Davis and his colleague Wayne Gunderson were instrumental in providing a home for New Rivers Press after the death of founder Bill Truesdale, moving the not-for-profit literary publisher from the Twin Cities to Moorhead, where it became part of the curriculum. (That program is now on hold at the university.) Davis served as New Rivers editor from 2001 to 2016.

“Death Upon the Wicked Stage” >> by Judith Johnson (Kismet Mysteries,$15)

“She groped for the wall switch just inside the door and then felt a dusty costume being suddenly pulled over her head and wrapped tightly around her neck and shoulders! ‘Auugh!’ she screamed as she fell back against the wall, her panic-stricken cry muffled in layers of nylon net.” — from “Death Upon the Wicked Stage”

Ruth Carson and her friend Angie are looking forward to their 18th year together in the Como Park Pavilion Players, performed every summer on the big stage of St. Paul’s Como Lakes Pavilion. This year’s production will be “Show Boat,” but things get off to a bad start when a member of the company is killed. Then, it seems a serial killer is stalking the cast. It is up to Ruth to find the perp who wants to destroy the production.

This is leisurely storytelling, offering a peek behind the scenes of a theatrical production. (The book’s title comes from a song in “Show Boat.”) But at 371 well-written pages it needed a tough editor to cut back on some of the theater details to keep the focus on the murders.

Readers who enjoy sense-of-place will like mentions of sites in St. Paul and Minneapolis in this mystery by an 82-year-old author who lives in rural Stillwater. Her book was inspired by her years performing in summer musicals at St. Paul’s Como Lakeside Pavilion. She says it was “written out of love for the directors, actors, musicians, and helpers who, every summer at the pavilion, say with gusto, ‘break a leg!’”

“Mindful Writing from the County Jail: A FreeWriters Collection” >> curated by Dennis Kelly ($19.95)

Could it be that I’ve

learned how to pray?

That I could be forgiven?

Received another chance

in life?

In court?

For my children?

To be released February 9th?

This micro-short story is one of more than 100 in this anthology of writing by men and women being held in county jails across Minnesota, including photos from inside the jails, illustrations from current and former incarcerated artists Some of the writing is in typed format, some are scrawled in their original form on torn sheets of paper. Reading the raw thoughts, hopes, dreams, and memories of these writers is often heartbreaking for the reader as we learn their back stories of poverty, untreated addiction, mental illness, limited educational opportunities, and bad parenting. They miss their families. Some hope for forgiveness, some vow to do better.

These writings were facilitated by the non-profit organization FreeWriters, founded in 2019 to provide pre-trial county jail inmates with mindful writing opportunities that improve mental health, inspire hope, and reduce recidivism. Volunteer instructors host weekly journaling classes that humanize jail inmates by providing a vehicle for self-refection through artistic and emotional expression.

Dennis Kelly, editor and curator of “Mindful Writing from the County Jail” is a novelist and mindful writing teacher. He writes: “The mission of FreeWriters is to reach jailed detainees at a crucial time as they await court dates. Suicide rates among jailed detainees are three times higher than those in the prison population. For many, these guided writing classes are the only form of therapy available to them.”