Decorah author Robert Felde releases his latest book, "Death on the Dean's List."

Robert Felde worked as a student affairs administrator for over 30 years, including stints at DePauw University, Kansas State University and Luther College before leaving higher education. During that time Felde claims to have seen enough villains, victims and heroes to feed his college-based fiction. Since leaving higher education, he has worked as a barista, teacher and news reporter in Decorah.

Felde has now published his second book, "Death on the Dean's List." The mystery novel is about Bert Rawlings, who is an interim dean of students at a dysfunctional college in the woods of Northern Wisconsin. Rawlings views his new gig as an adventure. If he gets through winter, spring fishing would be great. Reluctantly he takes on some "extra credit" sleuthing for the new college president. Then came "Hallowtween," the rebellious faculty and staff party--and a body in the nearby marsh.

Felde thought it would be fun to write a novel in the context of a college dean of students. He started writing it over 8 years ago, starting with a chapter. A few years ago he cranked out the rest of the story in a version from a third person point of view. Deciding it would be better written in a first person's point of view, he went through and made the changes.

"Writing from a first person's point of view helped take away my blind spots. You can get on tangents and get off subject. The story became more realistic when I wrote it from a first person's point of view," shared Felde.

Felde chose the setting, a college in the woods of Northern Wisconsin, because of his interest in the Midwest. "An author once told me to provide a sense of place when writing," said Felde, "and higher education was an obvious setting for me."

When decorahnews.com asked Felde what his writing process is, he said, "I had the idea first and then the plotline, and characters evolved over time." Character development and relationships are some of Felde's favorite parts when writing. "Death on the Dean's List" also tells a story of opportunities lost--students who could have made it, but didn't for a variety of reasons.

Felde's book is available at Dragonfly Books, Luther Book Shop and via Kindle. He has pledged the first three months of royalties to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a leading organization in fighting hate groups such as neo-Nazis and the KKK.