Author of 'Windchill' to sign books in Twin Cities

Six years ago, during a lengthy cold snap, a starving colt was found frozen in a northern Wisconsin pasture. The nine-month-old horse was near death and was rescued by a local rancher and a horse trainer, who brought the colt home.

With the help and donations of volunteers, the rancher and horse trainer nursed the colt, but it was too badly hurt and three weeks later its heart gave out.

The story of the horse, named Windchill, became news, covered by local media and reported on the rancher's blog. The colt's death led to a nonprofit foundation set up to educate the public about issues of animal abuse and neglect.

The rancher, Jeffrey Tucker, will sign his book, "Warmed by Windchill: A Tiny Colt's Fight for Life," published last fall by Terrace Books, an imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press, at two events in the Twin Cities area this week. He'll be at Barnes & Noble, HarMar Mall, Roseville, at 2 p.m. Feb. 15, and at Valley Bookseller in Stillwater at 2 p.m. Feb. 22.

Also …

• Laura Childs' latest tea shop mystery, "Steeped in Evil," will be published in March by Berkley. Childs, who lives in Plymouth under her real name, Gerry Schmitt, is the New York Times bestselling author of three mystery series — soon to expand to five series. In addition to the tea-shop, scrapbook and Cackleberry Club books, this year she will add the Hummingbird Inn series (set in Carmel, Calif.) and a Twin Cities-based series that has a harder edge. But first things first: She'll launch her new tea-shop book at noon March 8 at Once Upon a Crime Bookstore, 604 W. 26th St., Mpls.

• Ray Gonzalez's poem "One El Paso, Two El Paso" has been selected for inclusion in Best American Poetry 2014, to be published in September by Simon & Schuster. The poem originally appeared in the literary journal Barrow Street. Gonzalez is a professor in the MFA Creative Writing Program at the University of Minnesota.

• St. Cloud writer Jess Lourey's ninth murder-by-the-month mystery, "January Thaw," has been published by Midnight Ink of Woodbury.

• Michael Hall, the Minnesota Book Award-winning children's author, has a new picture book out from Greenwillow. "It's an Orange Aardvark!" has die-cut pages so that the story's carpenter ants can peek outside their nest to find out what's making all that noise.