New novel set on northern Minnesota Indian reservation

Jim Proebstle
Jim Proebstle's first novel "In the Absence of Honor," is set on an Indian reservation in northern Minnesota. The story involves tribal casino corruption, conspiracy and murder.
MPR Photo/Tom Robertson

There's a new novel in bookstores that's set on a northern Minnesota Indian reservation. The book is called "In the Absence of Honor."

Book cover
Jim Proebstle's new novel is set on a Minnesota Indian reservation. The author has family ties to the region that go back to the 1920s and he's spent summers in northern Minnesota since he was a boy.
MPR Photo/Tom Robertson

First-time novelist Jim Proebstle is a summer resident of the Leech Lake area. His family ties to the region go back to the 1920s, when his grandfather was a switchman for the Great Northern Railway in Cass Lake.

Proebstle, a management consultant in Deer Park, Ill., weaves a story that includes tribal casino corruption, conspiracy and murder.

Proebstle told Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Robertson he's been fascinated by the history and culture of reservation life since he was a kid. But he said it was a challenge to write about a culture he's only seen from the outside.

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