The Real Places Behind Sister Lost

In a previous blog post I talked about the real-life story that inspired my haunted house mystery, Sister Lost. In this post I'll walk you through some of the real-life places that inspired the setting of this fan-favorite tale based primarily in north Minneapolis.

Lexie's house

I'll be honest - when I need a house, the first place I go to find inspiration is the real estate website Zillow. When I started writing Sister Lost in 2020, I went there looking for the type of old Gothic mansions one usually associates with a haunted house. Instead I found this adorable bungalow in the nearby community of Robbinsdale. Seems like a perfect house for a young lady just starting to build a life of her own, doesn't it?

Ryan's house

Ryan Laughlin, Lexie's next-door neighbor, is partially based on a guy I dated briefly not too long before I started writing the book. Ryan's house is 100% based on that guy's bright blue St. Paul bungalow. He bought this house for pennies on the dollar and spent two years renovating it himself (just like Ryan), with the intention of selling it for a profit. I never did find out why on earth he chose to paint the exterior stucco that crazy shade of blue. 

Cuppa/Updo/The Apothecary

The urban neighborhoods of Minneapolis all have tiny little strip malls, and the Victory neighborhood on the north side is no exception. In the book, The Apothecary is a small independent pharmacy that had moved into a former pizza and pasta restaurant. There once was such a restaurant, called Papa's, in a tiny strip mall on the corner of 42nd Avenue North and Thomas Avenue North. It's long gone now, replaced by I'm not sure what, but I always thought a neighborhood pharmacy would be cute here. You can see where coffee shop Cuppa and hair salon Updo would be as well.

St. Austin's Catholic Church

In the book, Cuppa is frequented by parishioners from nearby St. Austin's Catholic Church, and that's where little Melissa Ann Gilmartin's family worshipped. St. Austin is a real church, and it is just a couple blocks away from the tiny strip mall. Well, it was a real church - the congregation merged with nearby St. Bridget's and the building was closed in 2019. That was a bittersweet moment in my family; this was my dad's church growing up. My devoutly Catholic grandmother attended church here, my dad and his siblings attended school here through the eighth grade, and this building hosted several family and friends' funerals over the years. In fact, part of the reason I chose to set Sister Lost in this neighborhood was because of my family's connection to this church and this neighborhood. My dad grew up a mile or two away in Robbinsdale.

Lexie's workplace

The hospital where Lexie works as an operating room nurse is a real place - North Memorial Health Hospital, also located in Robbinsdale. Are you seeing a pattern yet?

Fun fact:

My dad was born here when it was called Victory Hospital and looked like this:

My brother and I were born here after it had grown substantially, the name had changed to North Memorial Hospital, and it looked more like this:

And my son was born on the mammoth campus shown in the first photo.

Family roots sure run deep, don't they?

Haven't read Sister Lost yet? Order it here, and happy reading!