John Galligan

John Galligan grounds his crime novels and writing instruction in rural Wisconsin. Bad Moon Rising is the third novel in the Bad Axe County sequence, following Bad Axe County and Dead Man Dancing and continuing Sheriff Heidi Kick's work amid local violence and political tension. Galligan previously wrote four mysteries featuring a wandering fly fisherman, beginning with The Nail Knot and continuing through The Blood Knot, The Clinch Knot, and The Wind Knot. His debut, Red Sky, Red Dragonfly, drew on time spent living and teaching in Japan. A Madison native, he completed degrees in environmental policy and English literature at Wisconsin-Madison and later taught writing at Madison College. He has also worked in journalism, film writing, and several practical jobs that supplied varied social settings for his fiction. Across both mystery series, Galligan combines crime plots with close attention to landscape, occupation, and communities where private histories complicate official investigations.