With the hottest days of summer now arriving, you might want to stay indoors and read a good book. The following works were penned by Minnesotans or surround the events of our great state.

Michael Allan Mallory 'Death Roll'

Marilyn Victor 'Death Roll'

'Death Roll'
By Marilyn Victor and Michael Allan Mallory

Longtime friends, animal lovers and writers Marilyn Victor and Michael Allan Mallory joined forces recently to write "Death Roll," a whodunit whose murder victim ends up in a crocodile habitat at the fictional Minnesota Valley Zoo. As zookeeper Snake Jones and her husband Jeff struggle to find clues to the killer’s identity, they discover a sinister side to case.

Although Mallory had been published before "Death Roll," Victor wasn’t as fortunate. "I hadn’t finished anything," she explains, "although I was really good at starting."

Victor suggested they write a book together, and when Mallory agreed, Victor pitched her idea about a murder that took place in a zoo. "No one had ever done it in a zoo before," she says. An hour later, Mallory e-mailed her with the characters of Snake and Jeff. A series of mysteries was born.

The two are working on the second book in their series; this one will find Snake and Jeff at the International Wolf Center in Ely. A third book will center around a zoo in Florida in the wake of a hurricane.

Anne Frasier 'Garden of Darkness'

'Garden of Darkness'
By Anne Frasier

With the discovery of a skinned body in the first pages to the final line that will make readers shudder, the anticipated follow up to Anne Frasier's "Pale Immortal" draws readers into the increasingly creepy world of Tuonela, Wis.

In "Garden of Darkness," tourists and a film crew are converging on the town, drawn by the legend of a vampire known as the Pale Immortal, who has been exhumed and now lies on display in the town’s museum. As Evan loses his grip on reality, Rachel is caught between wanting to leave Tuonela forever or stay and help the tortured souls who need her most.

Despite the success of "Pale Immortal," Frasier — who now divides her time between St. Paul and a home in Wisconsin — says she felt very little pressure while writing its sequel. "I didn’t allow myself to think about expectations, and I just focused on writing the book I would want to read if I was the reader. I really tried to not think beyond that.

"I've gotten a lot of e-mails from people who want a third book," she adds, "and I've also gotten e-mails complaining about my switching from straight crime fiction (such as 'Before I Wake' and 'Hush') to paranormal crime fiction."

Unfortunately, a third trip to Tuonela is probably not in the cards.

"I submitted an outline for book three, but my publisher wasn't interested so that's basically the end of that," Frasier says. "I would have loved to have written a third book."

Currently, Frasier is working on a suspense novel with a working title, "American Gothic."

Todd Tucker 'The Great Starvation Experiment'

'The Great Starvation Experiment'
By Todd Tucker

In this fascinating true story, Todd Tucker documents the great emotional and physical toil taken on the 36 men who spent a year in a lab underneath the University of Minnesota football stadium during World War II. These men were willing to starve for their country.

The men, who were conscientious objectors, wanted to help their country but couldn’t fight because of their pacifist beliefs. So they volunteered for an experiment that would ideally show scientist Dr. Ancel Keys how to rehabilitate the people starving in Europe and the Far East as a result of the war. The men in the stadium were systematically starved, then slowly returned to a normal feeding schedule.

Tucker discovered in later correspondence with the experiment survivors and their families that some of the men suffered eating disorders the rest of their lives. Although the book was published four years ago (and recently published in paperback by the University of Minnesota press), Tucker says, "A week doesn’t go by where I don't get a letter or an e-mail from someone telling me they knew someone in the experiment and how it changed them."

In fact, Tucker's most recent correspondence came from a man whose dad was accused of cheating during the experiment. "His dad never talked about it," Tucker says.

'Minnesota 150'
By Kate Roberts

Several years ago, the Minnesota Historical Society asked the public to nominate the people, places, things or events that made Minnesota what it is today. They received nearly 3,000 nominations, and narrowing them down to 150 proved to be quite a task. Historians, educators and others met to pick the top 150, and according to the book’s preface, "We talked. We argued. We laughed. We cajoled, wheedled and whined. ... and in the end, we came up with The List.

"Together, they provide a glimpse into what was on the minds of Minnesota history-minded people in the years leading up to our state's sesquicentennial."

Julie Kramer 'Stalking Susan'

'Stalking Susan'
By Julie Kramer

If your name isn't Susan, you have nothing to worry about.

But if your name is Susan, you might be at the mercy of a serial killer.

That’s the premise behind author Julie Kramer’s first novel, "Stalking Susan," which received such solid advanced reviews that it was nearly impossible to find a copy in local bookstores.

Kramer has written a tight, edge-of-your-seat mystery involving unsolved murders of women named Susan, and one savvy reporter named Riley Spartz who thinks she can link together the murders.

Kramer herself was a longtime journalist for WCCO-TV, but when she decided to scale back to a part-time position, she took a job as a freelance news producer for NBC's Today Show, Nightly News and Dateline.

"I think all reporters think they have a novel inside of them, and finally the day comes where you have to put up or shut up," she says. "I didn’t tell anyone I was writing a book until I was done, and then only a handful of people. I didn't tell the extended family until after it was sold because I didn't want to be constantly asked, 'So what page are you on now?'"

Her book was inspired by the tragic deaths of St. Paul women Susan Ginger Petersen, who was strangled May 17, 1983, and Susan Jean Rheineck, asphyxiated May 17, 1985. Those cases remain unsolved.

Recently, Kramer finished the sequel to "Stalking Susan," and she will be writing a series of novels with Riley Spartz at the helm. In the meantime, more copies of "Stalking Susan" have been sent to local bookstores.