The Black Bag of Dr. Wiltse: Murder on The Prairie

Betty Brandt Passick

United States2 Books

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Crime Fiction Historical Mystery Mystery Historical Romance Historical Fiction Poetry Biographies & Memoirs

BIOGRAPHY
BETTY BRANDT PASSICK Betty Brandt Passick is an independent author, inspirational speaker, and teacher. She grew up in the small town of Fairbank, Iowa (population 1,000), where few people would expect the idea for a gangster series, yet this is where she has drawn inspiration for her historical crime novels. Gangster in Our Midst, Bookkeeper, Lieutenant, and Sometimes Hitman for Al Capone (2017) tells the neglected fact-based story of an Italian-American man who came to her hometown (called “Oxbow” in the series) in the 1920s, where he remained off and on for the next sixty years. During the pandemic, she returned to Oxbow to write The Black Bag of Dr. Wiltse, Murder on the Prairie (2021), which tells an earlier piece of northeast Iowa’s gangster story – the backstory of the family who built Hotel Wiltse, a prominent setting in Gangster in Our Midst. Dr. Wiltse, who is attracted to murder investigations, finds his black bag allows him into places where others may not go and soon finds himself at the center of horrific murders. Betty uses a unique cross-genre that utilizes elements of fiction and nonfiction to tell her stories. Both novels have won Indie Book awards. Book #3 in the series will follow in mid-2025. She was the recipient of the 2025 Editor’s Choice Award of Literary Excellence from Reader’s House magazine, UK.