Every week writers for City Pages and our parent company, Village Voice Media, produce elegant magazine-style feature writing -- a gritty portion of which comes in the form of true-crime stories. Now VVM has collected some of its best recent true-crime yarns into an ebook: Seven Sins: A True Crime Anthology from Village Voice Media. Available on Amazon and iTunes, the book features seven stories, including the incredible tale of a young American Muslim woman "honor-killed" by her own father; the odd story of a young San Francisco woman so enamored of serial killers that she became known as America's most prominent "murder groupie"; and a historic murder case in Colorado in which the golden age of tabloid journalism collided with Erle Stanley Gardner, the larger-than-life creator of the Perry Mason mysteries.

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Photo by Tatiana Craine

Since childhood, local legend and radio icon Garrison Keillor longed to have his own bookstore. Common Good Books is his dream come true. For the last six years, the store was located underneath Nina's Café in St. Paul, but during that time it eventually outgrew the small basement space.

Last week, Common Good Books celebrated its move to a new location on the corner of Grand and Snelling Avenues. While the store has technically been up and running for several weeks, it kicked off the month of May with a special three-day grand opening.

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Roxana Saberi authored a book about her captivity in Iran

Roxana Saberi has led an interesting life: she was chosen as Miss North Dakota in 1997, and ended up in the top 10 for Miss America the following year. After college, Saberi moved to Iran as a correspondent for Feature Story News. There, she was arrested in January 2009 for alleged espionage. That May, she was released.

Saberi, whose father is Iranian and whose mother is Japanese, wrote a book about her experiences, Between Two Worlds. She took a moment to talk with us this morning about empowering the voiceless and rising above hate.More >>

'Value' (Charcoal and beads, stitched canvas and 19th Century Ledger Paper) by Dyani White Hawk

​One of the most wonderful little corners in Minneapolis exists on 21st Street and Penn Avenue, just west of Lake of the Isles. While it's possible that you have never passed by the area because it's tucked away in the Kenwood neighborhood, now would be a good time to make a little trek over there to check out Dyani White Hawk's debut solo show at Bockley Gallery and to pick up a copy of Heid E. Erdrich's Cell Traffic: New and Selected Poems at Birchbark Books.  More >>

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​Want to buy a business? True Colors Bookstore is for sale. This weekend, the current owners sent out the announcement via their events email list that the shop is low on funds. However, the business/space is well maintained and has potential (and is rich in local history as well).

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Photo by Claudia Danielson

​Common Good Books, the quaint St. Paul bookstore located at Selby and Western, owned by local luminary Garrison Keillor, has announced plans to open a new shop at Macalester College. The campus addition is surely a welcome one for students and neighbors as the area hasn't had an independent bookstore since Ruminator Books [at one point named the Hungry Mind] closed about seven years ago.

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Photo by Lin Pernille Photography

​With zombie pub crawls and midnight showings of The Human Centipede occurring year-round these days, it's difficult to deny that the month of October is finding itself hard pressed to contain all the scares and joys that Halloween has to offer. But does the fact that the holiday spirit exists year-round weaken the excitement of the 31st? Probably not. Regardless, now's an excellent time to delve into a near-forgotten tool of fear: the book!

This Saturday, the Loft is hosting its annual Dead Writers Party at Kieran's Irish Pub. Guests are encouraged to attend dressed as their favorite deceased wordsmith, and read from one of their works. So whether you're planning on attending the event, looking for an esoteric costume with which to woo your clever crush, or just desiring something terrifying to read under the sheets with nothing but a flashlight to keep you company, here are some truly terrifying tales to help celebrate the dark holiday. Read on... if you dare.

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Duff McKagan visit the Mall of America

​Duff McKagan, former bassist for Guns N' Roses, knows that his rock 'n' roll lifestyle almost killed him. At the pinnacle of the band's success, McKagan's drug and alcohol problem began to spiral out of control. In 1994, his pancreas burst as a result of substance abuse. Doctors told him that if he didn't get clean, he would die.

"Nobody dreams of being in a band, writing great songs, and being addicted," he says. "You never hear of anyone say, 'Yeah, I want to be in a band and I want to be strung out.' But there I was."

McKagan's book, It's so Easy (and other lies), chronicles that journey, from a difficult childhood, to the formation of Guns N' Roses, to his struggle with drugs and alcohol, to his decision to get clean. Today, McKagan is sober, happily married to supermodel Susan Holmes McKagan, and is the proud father of two girls, Grace (14) and Mae (11). He also went back to school to study business at Seattle University, and currently writes for Seattle Weekly and ESPN.com.

McKagan's book tour took him to Mall of America this weekend, where he hosted a Q&A with fans, signed autographs, and talked with City Pages.

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​After gaining popularity as the sporty, fun-loving girlfriend of Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner on the E! reality show The Girls Next Door, Kendra Wilkinson moved out of the mansion to pursue other projects. Following her departure, she married NFL football player Hank Baskett and gave birth to her son, Hank Jr.

Around this time she was also offered a new reality TV show, Kendra. The program debuted in 2007, and is now in its fourth season. Her 2010 memoir, Sliding into Home, was a bestseller, and inspired her to pen a second book, Being Kendra: Cribs, Cocktails, and Getting My Sexy Back. Wilkinson's latest takes an intimate look at her struggle to balance motherhood, marriage, and a career. In it, she shares details about her private battle with undiagnosed postpartum depression, her public struggle to lose weight post-baby, and her fight to keep her marriage together as Hank's stressful football career became a source of friction.

Wilkinson's book tour brought her back to Minnesota Sunday (she also spent a brief period of time in our state after Baskett signed with the Vikings last year), and hundreds of fans lined up at the Mall of America for autographs and photos with her.

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