You can't get more local than Bart Schneider's latest novel, The Man in the Blizzard. Turn to any page and you'll find references to the Twin Cities both obvious and obscure. It was released last summer, on the cusp of the Republican National Convention, and the RNC features prominently in the book's plot. The protagonist, Augie Boyer, is a defeated man. He misses his ex-wife, who has left him for another man. His testosterone levels are so low he must apply hormones with gel. His career as a private investigator is going nowhere, and he self-medicates with weed. Throw in pro-life protesters, mind control, and conspiracy theories, and you have yourself a novel worthy of an afternoon spent with a mug of tea by a rainy window.