This former Menasha librarian, UWO alum writes mysteries set in Door County
Lit Wisconsin is a sporadic series of stories in which we highlight the work of writers of Wisconsin or those with ties to the state.
Today we learn about Kathy Buchen, a retired librarian from Menasha who primarily writes cozy mystery stories set in Door County.
About the author, Kathy Buchen
Buchen has been writing stories since she was in elementary school and has been penning full-length novels for 30 years. She grew up in Appleton and graduated from Xavier High School and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. She earned her master's degree in library science and worked at libraries in Appleton and Waupaca before retiring from the Menasha Public Library in 2021.
She's written eight Rhiannon Nolan novels set in Door County. The heroine Rhiannon is named after an "elusive, changeable and magical woman" of Celtic mythology, Buchen wrote on her website, and she gets into all kinds of mischief while solving murders across Door County. Now Buchen continues the series with Rhiannon's daughter, Tabby, and Tabby's punk rocker friend, Krystal, doing the investigating.
Cozy mystery stories stir up Buchen's storytelling impulses. "I feel faintly guilty having such rollicking fun writing my mysteries when others struggle with writer's block," she said in an email interview. "When I was working at the library and raising my family, who have given me a lot of material for my books, I sometimes woke up at two in the morning with my head on the (keyboard) because the next chapter was burning in my brain, begging to get onto the page."
Buchen self-publishes her books. "It is discouraging to get a publisher," she said. "In the past, I got so many rejections I couldn't count them, so I decided, along with most writers of cozy mysteries, to self-publish."
Self-publishing gives her the freedom to write what she wants. She said she has tried to write romances and thrillers, genres that tend to have commercial appeal, and it just didn't work.
"I decided to stick with what I'm good at, which is light, feel-good cozy mysteries with a lot of humor and no angst."
Related: Appleton author, UWO alum releases epic fantasy novel set in parallel 1800s
Related: Green Bay author pens a series of novels set on Mackinac Island
About the book, 'Game of Scones'
In "Game of Scones," Tabby and Krystal, the second generation of Door County sleuths, get caught up in murder. The two punk rockers are also nurses, and the mystery they are called to untangle has a medical twist.
The story gets started when Tabby suspects that a death at the Cana Island Lighthouse, deemed an accident by authorities, is a murder. She drags Krystal into a labyrinthine mystery of seedy Door County life, having to interrogate a long list of "meddlers, villains, criminals, manipulators and murderers" along the way.
Along the way, readers get some Door County recipes for scones, cherry pies and other baked goods.
How to buy 'Game of Scones'
"Game of Scones" and many of Buchen's other books are available at libraries in and around Door County. Readers can buy paperback copies for $15 on Amazon.com and members of Kindle Unlimited can download them for free. Her books also are for sale at Novel Bay Booksellers in Sturgeon Bay.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Former Menasha librarian Kathy Buchen writes Door County mysteries
