Kevin Kluesner isn’t just a College of Communication alumnus; he is a local author that incorporated unique Marquette and Milwaukee characteristics into “The Killer” series.
Kluesner began his three-part series in 2021 with “The Killer Sermon,” followed by “The Killer Speech” in 2023 and, most recently, “The Killers’ Terms” this October.
The Wire had the opportunity to sit down with Kluesner to learn more about his time at Marquette, the process of creating the three-part series and why he chose to incorporate Marquette into the books.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Tell us about your time at Marquette.
I have two degrees from Marquette, Undergrad in Journalism and a Masters in Business Administration — which came 14 years later. I was out in the world and decided, ‘I’m going to get my masters,’ and ended up coming back to Marquette. But I’ve always thought of myself as a writer; however, I got married within a month after graduating from school, went to La Crosse, because my wife had a year of school left up there, and all of a sudden, jobs were scarce.
How did you get into writing?
There was only one daily newspaper in La Crosse — and I wanted to be a newspaper reporter at the time. I was lucky enough to talk my way into a PR job at Viterbo College, and then, almost 14 years later, I kind of walked across the street and started working for the hospital there. Now, 40 plus years later, my career has been in healthcare, but I’ve always thought of myself as a writer.
When I was just out of school, I wrote a young adult novel, but I didn’t know what I was doing. I wrote this story, I thought it was pretty good and I sent it off to five publishers. One that responded was Bantam Books. They said, ‘We really like it. Our schedule is kind of full right now, but do you care if we hold on to it?’ I wrote them back, ‘That’d be great.’
Then life goes on. We had three kids, my career continued, but like I said, I said I always thought of myself as a writer.
So really my first novel took me over 30 years to write.
What is this series about?
This story was begging me to write it.
The series is about two people on different sides of reproductive health issues who have to set aside their differences in order to catch a killer.
The challenge for me as a writer was, ‘Can I show both sides of the issue?’But, at the end of the day, I wanted people to understand that their words matter, and I wanted people to really think that we should be able to have differences of opinion and still like each other. You don’t always have to agree. But that’s how this started.
My main protagonist, Cole, is an FBI agent — actually the Special Agent in charge of the Milwaukee Field Office. Cole had to work with Michelle, a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Those two have to come together as a team, and a little bit as a couple.
In “The Killers’ Terms,” Michelle is violently attacked and the readers have to figure out, along with Cole, who did this, why did they do it and how does he stop it?
Why did you decide to weave Marquette and Milwaukee into your stories?
Most of the major cities have thriller series that take place there. So I’m like, ‘Milwaukee and Wisconsin should have that too, right?’
I have so much fun when I’m writing my stories and get to weave in different Milwaukee landmarks like The Calatrava, the Milwaukee Public Library and Summerfest; but, I also have a ton of hidden gems, like La Finca Coffeehouse in St. Francis and. Sherman Park.
In this current book — “The Killers’ Terms” — I have a scene that’s set in “Sherman Kirk” which is a little coffee shop in Sherman Park. I don’t know if you’d call them Easter Eggs, but a lot of people do know these places — or tell me they discovered them later on.
“The Killers’ Terms” has the cover being St. Joan of Arc Chapel. The reason for that is, Cole has a little bit of a crisis of faith, and maybe of conscience, when he finds his way back there 20 years after he graduated.
The connection is, that used to be a place for me when I would be having some issues during my time at Marquette. That was just such a peaceful place for me to go and try to find myself, if I felt a little bit lost. I’ve always, and still do, believe you should always write what you know.
To learn more about Kevin, and purchase his books, visit his website here.
This story was written by Sophie Goldstein. She can be reached at [email protected].
