Детективный роман Джеймса Арлена Андерсона «Буря по соседству» вышел в продажу

MANKATO — James Arlen Anderson has been a journalist, children’s book writer and poet. Now, the 2000 Minnesota State University graduate has published his first novel, “The Storm Next Door.” The story is set in south-central Minnesota, which is also where Anderson grew up. He describes the book this way: It’s a “slow burn rural crime thriller set in the fictional town of Hayford, Minnesota. When a convicted sex offender moves into a quiet Minnesota county, Sheriff Darrell Halvorson braces for trouble. But nothing can prepare him for the storm that follows. “A tornado rips through a trailer park, and by the time the winds die down, two people are missing: Ray Albee, the ex-con everyone fears, and 14-year-old Luciana Rodriguez, the girl next door.” “The Storm Next Door” came out in paperback and e-book within the last week, and the hard-cover version will be released Tuesday. The hard cover is $29.95 and available for purchase at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, on Amazon and by order at your local bookstore. Anderson can be found in his home office writing as early as 5:30 a.m. and is already at work on the sequel to “The Storm Next Door,” which will also feature Sheriff Halvorson. “I love getting to know the characters and walking them through life and finding out what’s going to happen to them next,” he said, “and how that’s going to affect the characters around them.” “The Storm Next Door” gave Anderson the opportunity to, he said, “tell a story that brings to light the small-town sense, I guess, that everyone knows each other, but do they really know each other as well as they think they do? And are the lives in a small town going to turn out the way everyone predicts?” In a presser for the book, Anderson quotes Joshua Moehling, USA Today bestselling author of “And There He Kept Her” and “A Long Time Gone,” as saying, “The Storm Next Door has everything I look for in a good crime novel — a troubled hero, real characters I care about and a rising tension that keeps the pages turning. Anderson is a first-rate storyteller. This is a fantastic debut.” Thomas Maltman, author of “Ashes to Ashes,” and a 2026 Minnesota Book Award winner, is quoted as saying, “The Storm Next Door gathers force and energy on the page before unleashing the whirlwind. A harrowing work of small-town suspense about the darkness that brews in unexpected places and people, this thrilling novel had me turning the pages well past midnight.” Anderson is currently editor-in-chief at GRAPHICS PRO Magazine, which is a trade magazine for graphic design professionals. In the past, he’s worked as a journalist at the Owatonna Peoples Press, the Post-Bulletin in Rochester and the Waseca County News. “The Storm Next Door” was published by Chaska-based Skywater Publishing Cooperative. He said he got serious about writing as a teenager and majored in English, with a focus on creative writing, while at MSU. Anderson grew up in Gaylord and now resides in Burnsville. “I’m fortunate enough to have a library/home office,” he said. “When I’m on a good clip, I typically get up early in the morning and start writing when it’s dark out and finish up when it’s time to switch into day job mode.” To learn more about Anderson, go to jamesarlenanderson.com.