When hoping for the most successful book launch, publishers rely on givens including the time of year. Set the publication date for summer's start, when readers are searching for a vacation tome. Or print just as winter nears, so stacks of a new title might be grabbed for holiday gifting. Fortunate is the author whose book is pegged for either of those pages on the calendar. Not so lucky is the one whose work emerges during a time when readers have other things on their minds, like a worldwide pandemic. But that's exactly when The Blondes of Wisconsin landed in my hands, and even without cracking the cover I knew it had arrived at the perfect moment. That's because Anthony Bukoski never fails to deliver the characters and situations we need to be reminded of, or introduced to, or held to our faces like the mirrors that shine in many...

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