Book Club + Author Signing: Oct. 19th, 2025- Toni Halleen will join our book club to discuss and sign The Good Samaritan!

Event date: Sunday, October 19, 2025

Time: TBD

Where: Wiens Cellars (This event is open to everyone.)

This is an IN-PERSON TICKETED BOOK CLUB AND AUTHOR SIGNING EVENT AT WIENS CELLARS with author Toni Halleen. The event will consist of a guided BOOK CLUB discussion about The Good Samaritan, followed by a Q&A with Toni Halleen and finally a book signing! 

Tickets: Your preordered book through The Spine & Vine is your ticket to the author event. There will also be a food and beverage cost for non-members.  Pickups will be available at Wiens Cellars. We highly recommend ordering books in advance, as there's always a chance we will sell out of books. Purchasing your books through Spine & Vine allows us to continue to host book clubs and author events, so we thank you in advance for your support!

How to Order & Participate:

1. Add this book ticket to your cart.
2. At checkout in the "order comments" box write "attending event."
3. Orders must be placed by 12pm PST by September 30th, but have a high chance of selling out before the cutoff. 
4. Select “In-Store Pickup” at checkout to pick your book up at Wiens Cellars.
5. Shipping is also an option at checkout.
6. Please arrive to this event with the book already read, so that you can take part in our conversation about the book and with the author.  

How to Order a Signed/Personalized Book if you Are NOT Attending the Event but still want a signed copy:

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 by September 30th. 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, so that author can sign.

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.