I worked for a company headquartered in Milwaukee for several years, and I fell in love with the city, even (especially?) in the winter. Although this is a work of fiction, many elements are based in the history and geography of Milwaukee.
While there is no Anne Askew Chapel and no Kilbourn Tech University, there is a fifteenth-century church—the St. Joan of Arc Chapel—that was transported stone by stone to Milwaukee from France. Today, it’s situated on the Marquette University campus (and there is a stone in the wall that’s colder than everything around it, too). Anne Askew was a real Protestant martyr during the reign of Henry VIII, and the chants used in the anchor ceremony are taken directly from her writings.
Likewise, Milwaukee houses one of the top freshwater science labs in the world. It’s part of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
Sea lampreys are an invasive species that almost killed the fishing industry in the Great Lakes, and TFM is the real lampricide that has kept the problem at bay for the last seventy years.
Spotted Cow is a real (and delicious) beer that is illegal to distribute outside Wisconsin.
For background on these items and other details of my research, check out my blog at www.