For what it’s worth

By Jim Studer

Often after school let out in June, I took a retreat to Northern Wisconsin through the gardened woodland around the cleansing waters of the lakes and streams. I wandered from Siren north to Hayward and Ashland and east toward Rhinelander. The highways and byways trailed through nature’s church which include two national forests: the Chequamegon and Nicolet National Forests serve as cloistered reserves of mediation. From bald eagles to deer and wolves, the sky and woods are a landscaper artist’s dream. The signs in the Chequamegon remind drivers to be aware of elk. I have seen most of the above and despite prayers no elk. The thousand lakes and streams are populated by anglers and hunters depending on the season. The streams beg for anyone who wishes to test skills with a fly rod in search of colorful trout.

I haven’t taken this trek in a few years. The discovery of Victoria Houston has allowed a more vicarious journey. Houston is a writer of mystery novels set in the Rhinelander area. She paints word pictures of the forests, lakes and streams. She blends in the colors of trout, sunfish, bass, walleye and the occasional muskie. Among the alder, aspen, birch, maple, oak and strands of pine, balsam, and spruce, she adds loping deer and brings to the ear the sudden whir of grouse wings taking off through grass, brush and out of trees. A wolf or an entire pack may lurk nearby.

Houston, much to my amazement based on the photo inside the back cover of her early novels features a tall blonde in her late twenties proudly presenting a 30-inch northern pike, is much older than the picture. My researcher Ran pointed out to me that the woman is a year younger than my 79. She was born and raised in the Rhinelander area, attended Bennington College in Vermont and worked for many years in Chicago and Kansas City. She then returned to the beauty surrounding Rhinelander. She celebrated the area through her writing. Her last book has a copyright date of 2024. Her first 19 books begin in the year 2000 and are a part of her Loon Lake Mystery series. Her three most recent books feature the Lew Ferris Mystery series.

To read more of For what it’s worth subscribe today.