Dean Klinkenberg, the Mississippi Valley Traveler, explores the backroads and backwaters of the Mississippi River Valley, a place with an abundance of stories to tell, big characters, epic struggles, do-gooders, and evil-doers. Some of those stories inspire the Frank Dodge mysteries; others you'll find in his non-fiction books, including the Mississippi Valley Traveler guidebooks. He lives in St. Louis with his husband John and a parrot called Ra.