A trio of local literati will visit bookstores across the city this week. Valerie Laken, author of Dream House, moved to Milwaukee in 2006 and served two years as the writer in residence at Carthage College before joining the creative writing faculty at UW-Milwaukee. Dream House, Laken’s first novel, offers compelling insights into the complicated meanings of home, shelter and love. Loosely based on Laken’s own experience in a decrepit house with a bloody past, Dream House is a dynamic story that charts how one terrible act can impact the lives of many characters. The New York Times Book Review calls this debut the “perfect haunted house story for these unnerving times.” Laken will speak at People’s Books Co-op on March 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Author Danielle Trussoni is a born and bred Wisconsinite. Trussoni’s newest book, Angelology, her second publication and first work of fiction, is a beautiful tale driven by descendants of angels and a secret history that stretches back a thousand years. This smart and entertaining narrative follows Sister Evangeline in a story that ranges from Nazi-occupied Paris to present-day New York City in the struggle to defeat an ancient evil. Trussoni, a native of La Crosse, Wis., graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and later received an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Trussoni will discuss Angelology at Next Chapter Bookshop on March 14 at 2 p.m.

Local writers Glen Jeansonne and Dave Luhrssen are no strangers to collaboration. The duo previously joined forces on the book A Time of Paradox: America Since 1890 and now teams up for Changing Times, a biography of President Barack Obama. Following our nation’s leader on his historic journey to the White House, Changing Times is a frank look at Obama’s formative years. As a professor of history at UW-Milwaukee, Jeansonne focuses his research on 20th-century U.S. history and politics. Luhrssen is the arts and entertainment editor for the Shepherd Express. Both men will appear at Boswell Book Co. on March 18 at 7 p.m.