Author Event Oct. 19th, 2025-- PREORDER: Toni Halleen Discussing THE GOOD SAMARITAN (Signed Books!)

Event date: Sunday, October 19, 2025

Time: TBD

Where: Wiens Cellars

This is an IN-PERSON EVENT AT WIENS CELLARS with author Toni Halleen. The event will consist of a conversation with Spine & Vine owner, Melissa, and Toni Halleen about The Good Samaritan as well as Halleen’s other books, followed by a Q&A with the audience, and finally a book signing!

Tickets: Your preordered book through The Spine & Vine is your ticket to the author event. We highly recommend ordering books in advance of the event, as there's always a chance we will sell out of books by the event day. Purchasing your books through Spine & Vine allows us to continue to host author events, so we thank you in advance for your support!

How to Order a Signed/Personalized Book if you Are Attending the Event:

1. Add this book ticket to your cart.
2. At checkout in the "order comments" box write "attending event." In the event you don't make it, we recommend you also put in the comments whether or not you'd like your book "signed only," or to whom your book(s) should be personalized (i.e. "To: Ms. Spine & Vine"). Requests for anything beyond a name, like a note or quote, are up to the author's discretion and are not guaranteed. Orders must be placed by 12pm PST by October 12^th if you want personalization. Please email thespineandvine@gmail.com if you wish to purchase a book, or add/alter personalization to an existing order, after this time.
3. Select “In-Store Pickup” at checkout to pick your book up at the event.

How to Order a Signed/Personalized Book if you Are Not Attending the Event:

1. Add the desired book(s) to your cart.
2. At checkout in the "order comments" box write "signed only" or to whom your book(s) should be personalized (i.e. "To: Ms. Spine & Vine"). Requests for anything beyond a name, like a note or quote, are up to the author's discretion and are not guaranteed. Orders must be placed by 12pm PST a week before the event (October 12th). Please email thespineandvine@gmail.com if you wish to purchase a book, or add/alter personalization to an existing order, after this time.
3. Insert shipping address and pay the shipping fee. Book will be mailed out after event.

About the Author:

Toni Halleen worked for many years as an employment law attorney. She was born and raised in the Midwest and earned a B.A. in women's studies from Mount Holyoke College, and a JD from the University of Minnesota. Toni won a Mentor Prize in fiction from the Loft Literary Center, and her writing has appeared in Wigleaf, Structo, Gravel, the Star Tribune, and elsewhere. She lives in Minneapolis with her family.

About The GOOD SAMARITAN

A college professor is offered a chance at redemption—if he can figure out the right thing to do in this thoughtful psychological thriller from the author of The Surrogate.

Sociology professor Matthew Larkin is barely holding on. After the death of his toddler son, his wife divorced him, his teenage daughter abandoned him, and he lost a job he loved. Landing a rare tenure track position at a small college in southern Minnesota, he’s trying to cope with the disaster his life has become.

While driving down an empty highway in the middle of nowhere one gloomy Sunday evening, Matthew gets caught in a hailstorm. Pulling off the road to find shelter, he spies a disturbing sight. Caught in the car’s headlights is a child curled up beneath a plastic tarp. The boy is alive but unconscious, soaked to the bone and possibly hypothermic. Knowing an ambulance would take too long to reach them, Matthew impulsively puts the boy in his car, intending to get medical help.

On the way, the boy awakens and becomes agitated, begging Matthew not to take him to a hospital or to call the police. Matthew sympathizes with the panicked boy, who looks to be the same age his son would have been. Overcome by longing, grief, and a need to make sense of everything that’s happened to him, Matthew makes a dangerous choice—risking everything for a chance to face his past, move on from the pain, and forgive both his family and himself. 

Other Works by Toni Halleen include The Surrogate. Limited amount of signed copies of The Surrogate are, available, here.