Every author has one of those places where it all began.
What is now Beagle and Wolf books in Park Rapids, Minnesota, is that place for me.
Beagle and Wolf was originally two stores — Beagle Books in the small town of Park Rapids and Sister Wolf books in the even smaller town of Dorset, Minnesota. Both are destination spots in the resort area on the western edge of the lakes and pines country of northwest Minnesota.
Park Rapids is a sweet little lakes and woods town of 4000 that serves as an escape valve for North Dakotans who get tired of their parched reality and scoot over to Park Rapids to race around on jet skis and otherwise live the lake life that their home geography has denied them.
Dorset, population 22, pulled off the promotional gimmick of having a three-year-old mayor, who succeeded his six-year-old brother in the job, creating a political dynasty that for all I know continues to this day. That's a story unto itself, and worthy of the knowing, but now is not the time to tell it.
Lots of vacationers and cabin owners visit Dorset for an evening meal at one of the four restaurants that exist on its single main street and are its claim to fame as the self described "restaurant capital of Minnesota". Where the people come from who staff and operate these restaurants is anybody's guess — probably Park Rapids.