Tamarack County (Cork O’Connor, 13), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781451645774) 2014,

Summary: A judge’s wife is missing, a dog is beheaded, and Stephen is nearly killed and Cork must connect the dots.

Evelyn Carter’s car has been found abandoned on a back road in the middle of a blizzard. She is the wife of a retired judge who is increasingly dependent upon her. As part of the county’s Search and Rescue volunteer team, Cork joins the search to look for her. But they find no trace.

Then, while Stephen is visiting his girlfriend Marlee, someone beheads the dog she and her mother are keeping for a relative in prison. Someone is stalking Marlee’s family, it appears. A guy in a green pickup followed her mom home from work until she eluded him. The same truck subsequently follows Marlee and Stephen, running them off the road.

While Marlee recovers in the hospital, Cork stays with her mother, ostensibly to offer protection. Rainy is away and told Cork he was free, although they keep in touch. You can probably guess what happens.

This isn’t Cork’s only problem. Annie is home. She has left the religious order into which she had hoped to join as a nun. She won’t talk about it and the rest of the family gives her space. It is clear there is something troubling that she is trying to sort out.

But that’s not Cork’s only problem. Only when Stephen is nearly killed does it become apparent that the driver of the truck that ran Marlee and Stephen off the road was really after Stephen. Stephen lies between life and death when Henry Meloux comes to his hospital bed.

It is apparent to Cork and Sheriff Marsha Dross that there is a connection behind all these events and that he must find that connection before more harm comes to those he loves. And as so often in these stories, Cork’s own life is on the line in an edge-of-the seat climax.

This was probably less mystery than suspense-thriller with a dash of family drama. I’m not sure why Krueger threw in the plotline of Marlee’s mother and Cork. One could say it humanized him but it also diminished him for me. On the other hand, Stephen continues to emerge as a truly interesting character and we wonder if someday he will succeed Henry as a mide. For the time, Jenny is happy as a mom to her adopted son. We discover that Annie is far more complicated than we knew.

It will be interesting to see how Krueger develops Cork as the series progresses. He seems to be in a liminal space, even while he continues to be the one who interposes himself between others and danger. One senses he would choose a different life if he could. As he ages, one wonders if Krueger will find a way for that to happen for Cork and how that will take shape.

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