Mystery lovers looking for spooky fall vibes should check in with local author Frank Anthony Polito. “Haunted to Death: A Domestic Partners in Crime Mystery,” is out now and set during the Halloween season.

“Domestic Partners in Crime” is a cozy mystery series about a queer, millennial couple who renovate old houses in metro Detroit on their hit reality TV show and continue to stumble onto dead bodies along the way.

Book three in the series finds our heroes, JP and PJ, working on a house that, legend has it, is haunted by the ghost of a beautiful heiress who fell from the third-floor balcony on Halloween night 25 years ago. Seemingly supernatural encounters, locked rooms and secret passageways tease the question of whether the house is truly haunted, or whether the long-ago death was actually a murder.

Polito, a Lambda Literary Award winner, based the lead characters on himself and his partner, Craig. Like the protagonists, the two are also an author and actor who lived in New York City before appearing on HGTV’s “House Hunters,” where they bought a 1920s Craftsman house in a historic Detroit suburb and began renovating it themselves.

Polito says “Haunted” may be the last book in his series.

“The first book, ‘Renovated to Death,’ did really well,” he said. “There was a lot of publicity and a lot of push by the publisher to get it all over Instagram and send out review copies and set up interviews. And then the second book, ‘Rehearsed to Death,’ came out a year later and … not so much of a push for it.

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“When I recently got in touch with my editor to tell him that I had finished writing book four, he informed me that sales for book two were not as good as they hoped they would be, and that if the sales for book three did not increase comparatively, then they wouldn’t be able to offer me the contract. They’re not willing to take a chance.”

Polito says he’s now “in limbo” to see how “Haunted” performs.

“It’s a little disheartening,” he confessed, “because (book four) is already written and I feel like I have these characters that I’ve been developing over the course of three books and I’m finally just really getting to know them, and getting to know the town, and coming up with all these other ideas for stories.”

Still, he says there are possibilities with other outlets.

“What’s really great about this cozy mystery community is that it’s very supportive,” he said. “I see messages and emails from other writers, wishing me luck and saying, ‘If it doesn’t end up getting published through Kensington, you should try this publisher or this editor because this has happened to other authors who were able to continue their series.”

“Haunted to Death” can be purchased at amazon.com and wherever books are sold. For more on Frank Anthony Polito, visit facebook.com/frankanthonypolito.

MILWAUKEE – Paulina Gutiérrez, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, fielded questions from the media on Thursday, Oct. 31 – just five days ahead of election day. 

Updated reports from the state show as of Thursday afternoon, more than 105,000 people have cast in-person absentee ballots in Milwaukee County – with more than 180,000 ballots have been returned. 

As for the state, more than 1.2 million ballots have been returned – and of those, more than 705,000 have been in-person absentee. 

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This is a developing story.

A group of Minneapolis city leaders are calling for an independent review of a recent neighbor dispute that ended with one man hospitalized after being shot and another man in custody.

As reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS last week, Davis Moturi says he repeatedly called police about threats made by his neighbor, 54-year-old John Sawchak.

Many city council members are saying a separate review is necessary in this case. Prosecutors say Sawchak shot Moturi after a months-long dispute. Video shows Moturi pruning a tree near the property line and then a pop is heard before he falls to the ground.

However, it took days for officers to arrest Sawchak after prosecutors charged him with the shooting and after city council members called for police to take action.

Moturi also says for nearly a year, he had been reaching out for help from Minneapolis police regarding harassment and threats from Sawchak. On Sunday, Police Chief Brian O’Hara also apologized, saying the department “failed” Moturi.

During Thursday’s meeting, council members called for an independent review of the case in addition to the internal review.

“Seeing another Black man not be delivered the justice that they deserved and to see our police department or leadership initially blame said victim for the cause of their near-death experience — it was disheartening to hear that our actions to bring attention to eight months of inaction was labeled as political,” Ward 2 Council Member Robin Wonsley said.

Early Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey issued the following statement regarding an independent review into the shooting:

“Mayor Frey fully supports an independent review of this incident. The mayor and City are committed to always doing better, and this means closely examining past actions and finding where there may be ways to improve and grow.

“The mayor extends his condolences to Davis Moturi, his wife, Caroline, and their family and friends. The safety of our residents is a top priority and any form of violence or hate speech is completely unacceptable and does not align with who we are as a community.

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Brian O’Hara will continue to be the Minneapolis Police Chief.”