Minnesota Mystery Night

Midwest Mystery Works is a consortium of five Minnesota mystery authors, formed in 2022 to develop cooperative marketing strategies.  They were the original impetus behind Minnesota Mystery Night. In 2024 the MMW authors embarked on a unique writing endeavor, to take a character from each of their individual works and join them in a single book. The result is The Kill Code Collective, a medical thriller that will be released on Minnesota Mystery Night on May 18, 2026.

Two deaths from unexplained cardiac device failure. One victim, threatened before her death. The family of the other, taunted afterwards. Negligence? Coincidence? Or something far worse? The devices’ Minnesota-based manufacturer, Voyageur Cardiac Systems (VCS), is blind-sided by the mysterious calamity, as it also faces a leak of patient data, mounting financial losses, and a blackmail threat against CEO Stephen Hartsburg.

A collective of five extraordinary individuals join forces to investigate the VCS disaster, including confident, no-nonsense aircraft mechanic Sierra Bauer and her partner, Detective Quinn Moore, and Matt Lanier, a classical musician and action guy. Both have witnessed device-related deaths. Joining them are Pen Wilkinson, a sassy, whip-smart paraplegic attorney, along with Louise (“Weezy”) Napolitani, computer guru and hacker extraordinaire, both hired by CEO Hartsburg but wary of their employer’s secrets. Complicating the group’s efforts is charming, slippery attorney Henri Hawke, an international fixer secretly hired by Hartsburg. The collective presses ahead against violent opposition, racing against time to thwart a plot to take over VCS, weaponize its products, and settle some scores.