Download a printable list of Kent's books, in order, to take to the library or bookstore.
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RED KNIFE Caught in a battle between a gang of Ojibwe youths called the Red Boyz, and angry whites led by a man bent on revenge, Cork O’Connor fights desperately to restore peace to Tamarack County. But drawn into committing the darkest of deeds himself, Cork is forced to confront an awful truth: Violence is a hunger in every human heart... Read an excerpt! Praise for Red Knife: "Cork O'Connor... is one of those hometown heroes you rarely see... anymore—someone so decent and true, he might restore his town's battered faith in the old values." "Racial tensions fuel Krueger's outstanding ninth Cork O'Connor mystery, which delivers everything its predecessors like Thunder Bay have promised—and more." "The Cork O'Connor mysteries are known for their rich characterizations and their complex stories with deep moral and emotional cores. This one is no exception... If you don’t know Cork O'Connor, get to know him now." Award Nominations: |
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THUNDER BAY The promise, as I remember it, happened this way. With these words, Cork O'Connor begins the story of a promise he will always regret. Happy and content in his hometown of Aurora, Minnesota, he has left his badge behind and is ready for a life of relative peace, setting up shop as a private investigator. But his newfound state of calm is soon interrupted when Henry Meloux, the Ojibwe medicine man and Cork's spiritual adviser, makes a request: Will Cork find the son that Henry fathered long ago? With little to go on, Cork uses his investigative skills to locate Henry Wellington, a wealthy and reclusive industrialist living in Thunder Bay, Ontario. When a murder attempt is made on old Meloux's life, all clues point north across the border. But why would Wellington want his father dead? This question takes Cork on a journey through time as he unravels the story of Meloux's 1920s adventures in the ore-rich wilderness of Canada, where his love for a beautiful woman, far outside his culture, led him into a trap of treachery, greed, and murder... Read an excerpt! Praise for Thunder Bay: "The deftly plotted seventh Cork O'Connor novel represents a return to top form... [T]he action builds to a violent and satisfying denouement." "Thunder Bay has everything that William Kent Krueger's longtime fans have come to expect in this lovely series—and everything it needs to entice new readers into the fold. Steeped in place, sweetly melancholic in tone, it braids together multiple stories about love, loss and family. The result is a wholly satisfying novel that is over almost too soon." Award Nominations: |
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COPPER RIVER Copper River finds Cork O'Connor running for his life from professional hit men who have already put a bullet through his leg. Desperate, he finds sanctuary outside a small town called Bodine on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in an old resort owned by his cousin, Jewell DuBois. Though Jewell, a bitter widow whose husband may have been killed by cops, keeps Cork at arm's length, her fourteen-year-old son, Ren, is looking for a friend. But being a father figure to Ren will prove more difficult than Cork could possibly imagine... Read an excerpt! Praise for Copper River: "Copper River, like each of the previous entries in the Cork O'Connor series, is a riveting thriller rich in character, incident, insight, textured plotting, and evocative prose that captures the lore and rhythms of life—and the pain and sadness of death—in America's heartland. It's a novel to be savored, and one that makes the reader eager for the next installment. William Kent Krueger may just be the best pure suspense novelist working today." "This series gets darker and more elegantly written with every book. Minnesota has a become a hotbed of hard-boiled crime fiction, and the Cork O'Connor novels are among the best." "The locale of the story is as much of a character in the plot as the people. The beauty of the uninhabited woods and the lake—they are all part of the mysterious aura surrounding the novel. As in his previous novels, the author deftly presents the reader with wonderfully drawn, intensely believable characters. We care about them and about what happens to them... Krueger writes most extraordinary books." Award Nominations: |
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MERCY FALLS In the fifth installment of the multi-award-winning Cork O'Connor series, Sheriff Corcoran O'Connor of Tamarack County, Minnesota finds himself stalked by an unknown assailant bent on putting a bullet through his heart. At the same time, he's trying to solve the high-profile death of a wealthy Chicago businessman found brutally murdered above the turbulent waters of Mercy Falls. When a powerful man with a mysterious attachment to O'Connor's wife arrives in town, Cork's personal life is suddenly in the crosshairs as well. Fighting for his life and for the life of his family, Cork struggles desperately to understand before it's too late how all the pieces of this deadly puzzle fit together... Read an excerpt! Praise for Mercy Falls: "Fast-paced action and William Kent Krueger's ability to weave multiple plot threads without a tangle make his new novel, Mercy Falls, a page-turner. Crime and complex family dynamics combine to create a novel that will keep the reader guessing through the final pages of the tale." "Cork, the sharp-witted small-town sheriff, continues to be an engaging and sympathetic series anchor; likewise, Krueger's depiction of rural America and the cultural differences among its residents remains compassionate and authentic. Not just for fans of the series, the novel is a smart and satisfying mystery on its own." "This is a bold and inspired addition to the series, which will have readers clamoring for the next one, and frustrated with the wait." "His life and his marriage in peril, Cork tries to save both as the plot twists and turns to a sad and calamitous resolution on Chicago's affluent North Shore. Krueger manages all this with aplomb, creating sympathetic characters, building the suspense and making it believable." "[S]olid, action-packed procedural… another dynamic entry in this popular series." Award Nominations: |
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BLOOD HOLLOW When the corpse of a teenage girl is discovered on a hillside three months after her disappearance on New Year's Eve, all evidence points to her boyfriend, Solemn Winter Moon. Despite Solemn's self-incriminating decision to go into hiding, Cork O'Connor, Aurora's part-Irish, part-Ojibwe former sheriff, isn't about to hang the crime on the kid, whom O'Connor is convinced is innocent. In an uphill battle to clear Solemn's name, Cork encounters no shortage of adversity. Some he knows all too well—small-town bigotry and bureaucracy foremost among them. What Cork isn't prepared for is the emergence of a long-held resentment hailing from his own childhood. And when Solemn reappears, claiming to have seen a vision of Jesus Christ in Blood Hollow, the mystery becomes thornier than Cork could ever have anticipated. And that's when the miracles start happening... Read an excerpt! Praise for Blood Hollow: "Writing as a naturalist, Krueger draws on Indian legends to communicate the mystery of the north woods; writing as a humanist, he looks to the spirits of the ancients to heal all wounds." "The prose in Blood Hollow is so good and the plotting so deft that readers will be hard put to stop reading once they begin. Krueger has moved to the head of the crime fiction class with this one." "[A] chilling story with a warm heart... Krueger skillfully crafts enough plot twists to keep everybody guessing through the bloody climax to the thrilling end." "The Corcoran O'Connor series deserves a larger audience... Krueger's dead-on depiction of a rural American town is as vivid and realistic as any in the genre." "Krueger is at the top of his form." Award Nominations: |
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THE DEVIL'S BED An escaped mental patient targets the First Lady of the United States for assassination. Although he doesn't realize it, he will be aided in his murderous plan by some of the most powerful people in the federal government. The only thing that stands between the First Lady and certain death is the Secret Service agent who loves her... Read an excerpt! Praise for The Devil's Bed: "William Kent Krueger's fast and furious debut thriller appears headed for bestseller stardom. Impressive characterizations and a tricky plot with many twists and turns make this another winner... Highly recommended." "Readers of Krueger's Cork O'Connor mystery series will have to postpone the pleasures of the much-anticipated fourth volume, but the wait will be well spent with this fast-paced stand-alone political thriller... Nonstop action, abundant romantic complications and a wealth of mayhem keep Krueger's plot speeding toward its suspenseful, blood-soaked climax." |
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PURGATORY RIDGE An explosion at a lumber mill rips the heart right out of a beautiful summer morning and kills the traditional chief of the Iron Lake Ojibwe. Cork O'Connor, former sheriff of Tamarack County, Minnesota, finds himself caught once again in a battle between the two cultures of his heritage-White and Indian. Although a rogue environmentalist known as Eco-Warrior claims responsibility for the bombing, Cork isn't so sure, and he can't help investigating. Many in Tamarack County blame the Ojibwe who are trying to save a stand of sacred white pines from being logged. The Ojibwe blame the greed of Karl Lindstrom, the man who owns the mill. But is there a more brutal darkness behind these events, one that Cork can't possibly imagine, a hunger for revenge that threatens more than just the peace of a small town? As tensions mount, and Cork desperately tears at layers of deceit, he begins to understand that the real prey may be the people loves most and that their greatest enemy is time. Praise for Purgatory Ridge: "Suspense abounds... And all of it is written so beautifully and carried off with such integrity that there is nothing more this reader could ask from a very talented author who improves even beyond expectation with each new title." "Suspenseful, compelling, and highly readable." "A wonderful page-turner. It's built on a believable plot that develops carefully and comes together unexpectedly... The kind of work that is all too rare in the suspense genre, a book that combines a first-class plot with excellent writing." "Twists, turns, surprises await... I really don't think William Kent Krueger would mind one bit if I called him 'the Michael Connelly of the Midwest.'" "Krueger's page-turner opens with a bang... The plot comes full circle as credibly flawed central characters find resolution... Krueger prolongs suspense to the very end." "The end of this masterfully plotted novel was such a surprise that I'm still trying to figure out how Krueger did it." Awards: |
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BOUNDARY WATERS The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: more than two million acres of forest, white-water rapids, and uncharted islands along the American/Canadian border. Somewhere in the heart of this unforgiving territory, a young woman named Shiloh, a country-western singer at the height of her career, has disappeared. Her father arrives in Aurora, Minnesota to hire former sheriff Cork O'Connor to find her. Cork joins a search party that includes an ex-con, two FBI agents, and a ten-year-old boy. But there are others on Shiloh's trail as well, men hired not just to find her, but to kill her. As the expedition ventures deeper in the wilderness, winter falls hard, and Cork's team of searchers loses contact with civilization. Like the brutal winds of a Minnesota blizzard, death—violent and sudden—stalks them. Praise for Boundary Waters: "Krueger's writing, strong and bold yet with the mature mark of restraint, pulls this exciting search-and-rescue through with a hard yank." "In Boundary Waters, Krueger has created a fearful and scary novel of flight, hunting and betrayal, told within the framework of human compassion... It is one of those rare novels that leaves you fearful to turn the pages and yet has moments of humor that have you chuckling out loud." "A wonderful wilderness mystery." "Cork remains a sprightly, intriguing hero in a world of wolves, portages, heavy weather, and worrisome humans..." "Krueger's... a writer to watch. He has characters with depth, a style that combines realism with resonance, a great eye for setting, and he can churn out a fine plot." "Page turning... Any reader with an affection for the Northwoods will appreciate Krueger's vivid imagery, which blends Indian culture and lore, backwoods adventuring, fish-out-of-water outsiders, and hearty local whose yokel quotient is kept refreshingly in check." Award Nominations: |
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IRON LAKE Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota (population 3,752). Embittered over losing his job as a cop and over the marital meltdown that has separated him from his wife and children, Cork gets by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago's South Side, there's not much that can shock him. But when a powerful local politician is brutally murdered the same night a young Indian boy goes missing, Cork takes on a harrowing case of corruption, conspiracy, and scandal. As a blizzard buries Aurora and an old medicine man warns of the arrival of a blood-thirsty mythic beast called the Windigo, Cork must dig for answers hard and fast before more people, among them those he loves, will die. Praise for Iron Lake: "Krueger's debut offers wonderful characters and makes the woods and waters vivid, wild and menacing... [A] fast pace, punctuated with humor and surprise in a book that is sure to appeal to fans of Nevada Barr and Tony Hillerman. This is mystery as allegory..." "Iron Lake is an explosive brew: one part James Ellroy, one part Stephen King, one part Jack London, and all parts terrific... A truly remarkable first novel." "A fresh take... Krueger makes Cork a real person—and the author's eye for the details of everyday life brings the town and its peculiar problems to vivid life." "I can't remember reading a better first novel than this one." "A wildly intelligent, all-Minnesota novel." "An excellent debut... Krueger knows how to write. If you have not yet read this one, grab a weekend and see for yourself." "Minnesotan Krueger has a sense of place he's plainly honed firsthand in below-zero prairie. His characters, too, sport charm and dimension... This first-timer's stamina and self-assurance suggest that O'Connor's got staying power." Awards: |
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