Search Results: William Kent Krueger from The Mystery Bookshop

Desperately avoiding the clutches of professional hit men who have already put a bullet in his leg, Cork finds sanctuary outside the small Michigan town of Bodine. But while he's hiding out in an old resort owned by his cousin Jewell DuBois, a bitter widow with a fourteen-year-old son named Ren, the body of a young girl surfaces along the banks of the Copper River -- and then another teenager vanishes. Instead of thwarting his assassins, Cork focuses on tracking a ring of killers who prey on innocent children -- before anyone else falls victim. But as his deadly followers close in, Cork realizes he's made an error any good man might make -- and it may be his last.

ATRIA, SOFTCOVER, 2006

THIS IS A BRAND NEW BOOK.

Discover the novel that launched William Kent Krueger's bestselling Cork O'Connor mystery series.

Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota. Embittered by his "former" status, and the marital meltdown that has separated him from his 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 the town's judge is brutally murdered, and a young Eagle Scout is reported missing, Cork takes on a mind-jolting case of conspiracy, corruption, and scandal.

As a lakeside blizzard buries Aurora, Cork must dig out the truth among town officials who seem dead-set on stopping his investigation in its tracks. But even Cork freezes up when faced with the harshest enemy of all: a small-town secret that hits painfully close to home.

Back in the saddle as sheriff of Tamarack County, Cork O'Connor is lured to the nearby Ojibwe reservation on what appears to be a routine call, only to become the target of sniper fire. Soon after, he's called to investigate a mutilated body found perched above the raging waters of Mercy Falls. The victim is Eddie Jacoby, a Chicago businessman negotiating an unpopular contract between his management firm and the local Indian casino.

Sparks fly when the wealthy Jacoby family hires a beautiful private investigator to consult on the case. But once Cork discovers an old and passionate tie between one of the Jacoby sons and his own wife, Jo, he begins to suspect that dark, personal motives lurk behind recent events. Murder, greed, sex, and jealousy hide around every corner in this maze of danger. But somewhere beneath the turbulent Mercy Falls lies the truth, and Cork is determined to find it.

Not far from Aurora, Minnesota (population 3,752), lies an ancient expanse of great white pines sacred to the Anishinaabe tribe. When an explosion kills the night watchman at wealthy industrialist Karl Lindstom's nearby lumber mill, it's obvious where suspicion will fall. Former sheriff Cork O'Connor agrees to help investigate, but he has mixed feelings about the case. For one thing, he is part Anishinaabe. For another, his wife, a lawyer, represents the tribe.

Meanwhile, near Lindstrom's lakeside home, a reclusive shipwreck survivor and his sidekick have their own reasons to resent the industrialist. And it soon becomes clear to Cork that harmony, both at home and in Aurora, will be a distant memory for some time.

When the drug-related death of a powerful businessman's daughter is followed by the execution-style murder of the head of an Ojibwe gang known as the Red Boyz, the citizens of Tamarack County brace themselves for war. Former sheriff Cork O'Connor, a man of mixed heritage, tries to mediate the feud -- but finds himself involved in the darkest of deeds. While the unspeakable unfolds in the remote and beautiful place he calls home, Cork must confront a horrific truth: violence is a beast that cannot be contained.

Red Knife is about the secrets we keep from even those closest to us and the destructive nature of all that is left unsaid between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, friends and lovers.

ATRIA BOOKS, SOFTCOVER, 2008

THIS IS A BRAND NEW BOOK.

When a murder attempt is made on the life of Henry Meloux -- the old Ojibwe medicine man who is private detective Cork O'Connor's spiritual adviser -- it's clear that the brutal assault has to be connected to Henry's recent search for the son he fathered many years before. But who is prepared to kill to keep the truth hidden? The question takes Cork back to the 1920s, when Meloux's love for a beautiful woman far outside his culture led him into a trap of treachery, greed, and murder. And as Cork hastens to save his friend, he is reminded that the promises we keep -- even for the best of friends -- can sometimes place us in the hands of our worst enemies.

ATRIA BOOKS, SOFTCOVER, 2007

THIS IS A BRAND NEW BOOK.