Only about ten people knew about “Undermined in Laredo” before it was published in November 2020 — Larry TeBockhorst wrote his first novel in near secrecy, keeping the project from friends and family. His wife and children knew, and a couple cousins, but he didn’t tell his mother, who was able to hear some of the novel for the first time at TeBockhorst’s reading at the Kalona Public Library on June 19.

“Not many people knew about this book that was going on. It took four years to write this and get it published. It was hard keeping it from my family and friends because whenever we would have a get together and somebody would ask ‘What’s going on, how are you doing?’ I wanted to tell them, but I also wanted it to be a surprise.”

The reading, part of the Kalona Days festivities, was the first in-person event held by the Kalona Public Library since before the pandemic began. Library Director Trevor Sherping said he was delighted to welcome TeBockhorst, a local author, to kick off the return of in-person events to the library.

TeBockhorst never thought he’d be a novelist, but once he started writing his ideas down, “Undermined in Laredo” started to bloom.

“Several years back, I dabbled in some certain things. I was trying to figure out what I could be good at. I’m not very good at fixing things or anything like that. I tried some real estate and I had some rental properties and that was fine, I made a little money but it wasn’t fulfilling,” TeBockhorst said. “I just kept searching and trying to find out what my niche might be. All of a sudden it came to me, that I had some ideas and I thought, ‘Hmm, I’m going to start writing them down on paper.’”

“Undermined in Laredo” tells the story of high school graduate Anna, who heads to the Rio Grande region of Texas to nanny for the Falcone family. Anna, who comes from a typical Iowa family, doesn’t understand what she’s gotten herself into until she’s woven into the criminal network.

TeBockhorst said that people who enjoyed TV shows such as “Blue Bloods,” “Chicago P.D.,” “FBI,” and “SWAT” would find something to love in “Undermined in Laredo”.

TeBockhorst opted to self-publish his novel, forging a traditional publisher.

“When I was getting closer to finishing, I started searching traditional publishers… I checked a bunch out and I checked people’s reviews and I wasn’t getting very far. I finally found a company in Indiana that I thought that I was going to give a try,” TeBockhorst said. “I almost signed a contract with them… but I Googled and self-publishing came up. I explored that a little bit. Publishing with a company, you really kind of sign yourself over; they take control of the rights of the book, so I thought I wanted to keep control of my own work. I started searching Amazon and Kindle publishing and they make it very easy to self-publish.”

TeBockhorst self-published with Amazon and his book is currently available in paperback from Amazon and as an e-book from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.