Sulphur Springs

Sulphur Springs (Cork O’Connor, 16), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781501147432) 2018.

Summary: A garbled message from Rainy’s son Peter about trouble sends Cork and Rainy to Arizona to help, threatening their own lives.

The phone in Cork and Rainy’s bedroom went to voicemail before Rainy could answer it. It was her son, Peter. in a garbled message, Peter said he was in trouble and something about murdering someone named Rodriquez. It was clear that they needed to go to Arizona, where Peter was living. But this is hard for Rainy. Peter wasn’t the only Bisonette who’d killed a man.

Peter was Rainy’s son by her first marriage. After time in the military, he grew addicted to drugs. After a stay at a re-hab program, he was clean. Or so they believed. The last they’d heard, he was working with the program. But when they arrive, they learn he hasn’t worked there in a year. He’d also gone missing from his current work at a vineyard. A visit to Sulphur Springs, where Peter gets his mail turns up nothing. No one seems to know him. But they get the distinct impression people are lying.

Early on, someone warns them to trust no one. And the advice seems warranted. Even after the bit of poking around they did, the rented Jeep they were driving exploded when, on a cold morning, Corked used the remote ignition fob to warm it up. The only one who would help them was the Methodist minister whose church Peter attended. She loaned them her truck and the use of the parsonage.

As they try to piece together what is going on, they discover the Rodriquez name is tied to a ruthless drug cartel, that Peter has been part of a secretive group assisting border refugees called the Desert Angels, and there is another group, White Horse, opposed to any efforts to assist immigrants. In addition, there are people on the inside who are compromised. It could be anyone.

At one point someone kidnaps Rainy. Cork is captured and “sweated.” And a name out of the past turns up to rescue them. Mondragon. Rainy’s first husband. He’d bankrolled Peter’s treatment. Then the question of trust becomes more personal. Rainy stays hidden with Mondragon while Cork tracks Peter. And Cork wonders if he can trust Rainy’s love. Mondragon is rich and powerful. And Cork is learning Rainy has secrets.

Trust and betrayal. As in many cases, large sums of money play a part. As the young man risks his life to save immigrants on a kind of “Underground Railroad,” Cork is not the only one hunting him. Who will prevail? And will trust prevail over betrayal?

Manitou Canyon

Manitou Canyon (Cork O’Connor, 15), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781476749273) 2017.

Summary: A man disappears during a camping trip and the grandchildren hire Cork to find him days before Jenny’s wedding.

Cork O’Connor would disagree with T.S., Eliot. For him, November, not April, is the cruelest month. His father, wife, and Sam Winter Moon, his best friend all died in November. And his daughter Jenny is planning a November wedding to Daniel English, Rainy’s nephew. Waaboo would have a father. It seems an auspicious event to change the character of November for Cork. But he still has his fears.

They deepen when two young people, grandchildren of John Harris come to see him. John left Aurora years ago and eventually headed up an enormously successful construction firm. However, in October, he returned to the areas to go on a camping trip in the Boundary Waters with Lindsay and Trevor, his two grandchildren. One afternoon, he went missing while the three of them were separated. Cork was part of the Search and Rescue team. But they could find no trace of him, and eventually the search was called off.

Now, Trevor and Lindsay want to hire him to resume the search. Just two weeks before Jenny’s wedding. What persuades him is a dream Trevor recounts, in which Cork’s son Stephen comes to him and speaks of “mounterths under the bed,” a family memory. Cork agrees to make a three day trip to Raspberry Lake, where Harris went missing. A friend with a float plane would fly them Cork and Lindsay in and out. Sheriff Dross would lend him a sat phone to keep in contact. What could go wrong?

What couldn’t? They land on Raspberry Island. Overnight, they spot a light on a nearby lookout. In the morning Cork goes to explore, climbing a cliff too difficult for Lindsay. When he comes down, she is missing, only her “where’s Waldo” stocking cap left behind. He pursues, to where the others might have landed and is attacked by a man with a knife. In the struggle, the man dies by his own knife. Then Cork is knocked out. When he comes to, an enraged woman wants to kill him. The leader prevents this. There’s also a young man, a sharpshooter. Except he gashes a knee during a portage, which becomes badly infected.

While Lindsay and Cork’s captors press north toward Canada, a search begins when Cork fails to report in or show up to be picked up. A search of the island shows where they camped, and where the man bled out. Meanwhile, Stephen, deeply worried for his father with a sense of heaviness, returns from a pilgrimage out west. Henry also speaks of a great darkness over Cork, a battle he must fight.

To make matters more interesting, Rainy’s Aunt Leah shows up uninvited for the wedding. Half a century ago, Henry rejected her affections, and she’d never forgotten, or apparently, forgiven it. But the rest of the O’Connor clan does their thing. Jenny gets on the internet while Daniel pursues contacts in law enforcement to figure out Trevor’s winning ways at the casino. Meanwhile, Rose cooks, and prays.

A question hovers over the disappearance. How did the captors know that Cork and Lindsay were coming? It’s a question both Cork and the folks back in Aurora figure out about the same time. It turns out there is far more than kidnappings involved. An underground network involved in a number of “disruptions” wants to blow up a dam in Manitou Canyon. Rainy has dreamt of a flood deluging thousands.

I’ll leave it to you to figure out how all this connects and what happens. Will Cork make it back for the wedding? Or will November remain the cruelest month? Needless to say, Krueger sets up another thrilling finish!

Windigo Island, (Cork O’Connor, 14), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781476749242) 2025.

Summary: Cork, Jenny, and Henry join in a search for a missing Ojibwe girl when her friend’s body washes up on a sinister island.

It began as a daring prank of a teenage boy trying to impress a girl. Windigo Island was a rocky outcropping in the middle of Lake Superior. If you’ve been reading the series, you know that nothing good comes from a windigo, a cannibal beast. To hear a windigo call your name is to hear oneself targeted for death. And so the island had a reputation for being haunted.. It also had a rock face that was visible from shore, perfect for spray-painted messages. Bravado wins out over fear until a weird wind comes up and a terrible something is washed up on the rocks.

That “something” was the body of a fourteen-year old Chippewa girl, Carrie Verga. She, and her friend, Mariah Arceneaux, had disappeared a year before. Mariah’s family, related to Henry Meloux and Rainy, reach out to Cork for help in finding Mariah. Because of the way Rainy contacted Cork, Jenny decides to come along. And when she hears the story of the missing Mariah, she decides that she must be part of the search, which Cork reluctantly accepts. Because of the family connection, Henry insists on joining the search as well, even though he is nearly one hundred.

As it turns out, they are all needed–Jenny’s research, Cork’s investigative skills, and Henry’s quiet but courageous wisdom. For they are facing far more than a missing girl. Rather, they are facing a formidable enemy, a windigo, who even uses that name. He heads up a trafficking operation of underage girls servicing the needs of the men on lake freighters out of Duluth, male executives on yachts, and ultimately, North Dakota oil rig workers. Despite warnings, and despite both Cork and Jenny hearing their names from the windigo, the team persists, convinced that Mariah is in thrall to Windigo.

An Arceneaux family member, Daniel English, a game warden, also joins them. In an interesting subplot, Daniel and Jenny show a developing interest in each other. All of them make their way to North Dakota. To hear one’s name by a windigo marks one for death. But Cork and Henry have faced this before. Confronting a windigo means both facing down one’s fears, and becoming something of a windigo oneself. The question is, is Jenny up to this? The climax will have you on the edge of your seat.

As is already obvious, Jenny plays a big part in this book and Krueger develops her character further. Krueger also continues to explore the cost to Cork of standing between evil and those he cares about. This does not come without dangers to his soul. He needs Henry, though he does not always realize it.

Finally, William Kent Krueger exposes the evil of child sex trafficking. Whether servicing men in remote settings or the billionaire set, we see how perpetrators groom them and how men use them and discard them like trash. However, we also see the courageous work of those who seek to rescue women and work with survivors. Sadly the reality of the need for such work is no fiction.

Trickster’s Point (Cork O’Connor, 12), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781451645712) 2013.

Summary: When Jubal Little, candidate for governor is killed by an arrow while bowhunting with Cork, Cork becomes a murder suspect.

Three hours. That’s how long it took Jubal Little to die. He had an arrow through his heart. By the fledge pattern, it appears to be one of Cork’s arrows. Cork is with him. He wants to get help. But Little insists he stay. Perhaps he knows he is dying and doesn’t want to be left alone. They are at Trickster’s Point, a rock formation that carries memories for both of them.

All this makes Cork prime suspect. Why didn’t he get help? How else can his arrow fledge pattern, distinct among bowhunters, be explained? And whoever did it hunted in an old Ojibwe hunting way–one Cork used. While local officials choose not to believe it is him, this is not so for an FBI investigator.

All this takes Cork back to his youth. Jubal was a Montana Blackfoot who had moved to Aurora. They became fast friends. They played football together. Jubal was always faster, stronger, better. They were rivals for the affections of Winona Crane. Cork lost that one, especially after Jubal defended Winona from assault by Donner Bigby. In fact, it was conflict with Donner Bigby that connected Cork and Jubal to Trickster’s Point. Bigby climbed the formation to get away from Jubal. Jubal went after him while Cork waited below. Bigby plummeted from the top, killing him. But did he fall, as both Jubal and Cork told the authorities. or was he pushed?

The two had drifted apart after that. Jubal married into a powerful Minnesota family. Cork had gone to Chicago, met Jo, then returned home. They reconnected and occasionally went hunting when Jubal was in town. Jubal’s visits also signified that he’d never given up Winona. Now, he appeared to be a shoo-in for Minnesota governor, perhaps a stepstone to higher office. He and Cork differed on some political positions, which would hurt the Ojibwe and the natural beauty of the region. Of course, Cork wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

Cork finds evidence that he wasn’t the only one at Trickster’s Point. One is in the form of a dead body, shot through the eye by another of corks arrows. But there were also footprints and tire tracks of another. It confirms it was someone else who hunted in the native way. But how had they gotten his arrows, or ones like them? There are multiple suspects, including Donner Bigby’s brother and Winona Crane herself, who had learned to hunt in the old way. There are even political enemies to consider.

He also tries to make sense of Jubal’s dying word: Rhiannon. A few inquiries lead to threats against Cork’s family. Winona is in hiding. Only Winona’s brother Willie is in touch with her. He’s a nature photographer, who, despite cerebral palsy, is able to capture shots amazing enough that National Geographic purchases them

The question is, will Cork be able to find the real killer and make sense of his childhood friend’s murder before he becomes more than a “person of interest”?

Krueger continues to develop characters we’ve previously met. Stephen is growing in learning the ways of the healer in native tradition. Rainy and Cork are a couple. Jenny has embraced her calling as Waboo’s mom and he is flourishing. Cork also continues to wrestle with his own calling, which seems to be to stand in the way of trouble. Even though he’s shed the badge, trouble seems to have a way of seeking him out. It’s an uncomfortable reality we see both him and those he loves struggling to accept.

Finally, thanks for visiting Bob on Books. People aren’t reading blogs like they used to, so I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]

Northwest Angle (Cork O’Connor, 11), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781439153963) 2012.

Summary: A family vacation is disrupted by a derecho, casting Jenny onto a remote island where she rescues an infant sought by killers.

Cork O’Connor comes home to an empty house every night. It’s summer, and he decides to bring the family together on a vacation to Lake of the Woods. They are in the Northwest Angle, a portion of Minnesota north of the 49th parallel and separate from the rest of Minnesota, but connected to Canada. He’s feeling distant from his children, especially Jenny.

A trip to a remote island that Cork thinks will bring them closer fails when he presses too hard. Then disaster strikes in the form of a derecho with winds up to 100 m.p.h. They make for the shelter of an island but the storm hits first. Cork falls overboard. Jenny somehow makes it to shore. Exploring, she comes upon a cabin and finds a girl–dead. But it wasn’t the storm that took her but a killer, who had first tortured her. Looking around outside, Jenny finds a child, hidden away. Fearful that a killer may still be about, she takes supplies and finds a place to hide. The next day,her father finds her, but they also discover the killer is in pursuit. Help in the form of a search party comes just in time.

Reunited with the rest of the family, they have to figure out how to protect the child. One thing has become clear, however. Jenny wants to keep him, even though he has a hare lip. But it won’t be easy. The killer continues to pursue. Cork tries to turn the tables, sending Jenny and her fiance to stay with Henry Meloux, while they search for the killer of the young woman who is seeking the child.

They believe the killer is her brother, who may have been involved in an incestuous relationship. Before she hid away on the island to have her child, she lived on inherited land on an island run by a religious group, the Church of the Seven Trumpets. When Cork and the local sheriff go to investigate to see if they know of the brother’s whereabouts, a heavily armed welcome party meets them, which sends up a red flag.

Cork makes another mistake. He thinks the child and Jenny safe with Henry. Not so, thanks to a GPS device hidden by a secret ally of the killer. All this sets up a climactic confrontation at Henry’s cabin.

A religious element runs through the story. Rose keeps believing for Cork who wants to but cannot. Stephen, mentored by Henry is on the path to become a mide while Anne pursues a religious vocation. But it is Jenny who hears a call, that Providence, or whatever has given her this child. But she finds she must choose between the child and her fiance, who also faces choices. One bright spot is that we get a hint that Cork, a widower for two years has met someone.

This one was filled with suspense that never let up. Even so, Krueger finds the space to explore the mystery of the ties that bind families, even amid the strains of change and divergent personalities. There is also a theme of sacrifice, beginning with a girl who dies to protect her child. It will mean more than one death, but each will save others. Most of all, we see characters who grow and blossom, including each of the O’Connor children. But I found myself left with wondering, will Cork grow, and will he find his lost faith?

Copper River (Cork O’Connor Number 6), William Kent Krueger. Atria Paperback (ISBN: 9781439157817) 2009

Summary: Cork hides at a cousin’s from hit men who have wounded him only to be drawn into a search for killers preying on runaways.

They had done unspeakable things to her. She knew she was going to die. A young girl who had not yet had her first period. A runaway who had embarked on a path to a better life. She had escaped but her captor was after her. In his clutches on a cliff edge, she wrests free only to fall into the waters of the Copper River far below.

This was the same river running near an old resort where Jewell Dubois and her fourteen year old son Ren live. Then her cousin, who once had arrested her now deceased husband, turns up with a leg wound and a shot-up car. Jewell is a veterinarian and dresses his wound and gives him one of the old resort cabins for a place to hide out. That cousin is Cork O’Connor, still on the run from hit men from a Chicago family, even while a potential murder rap hangs over his head. Hopefully, some police friends can exonerate him.

Ren is good friends with Charlie Miller, an edgy friend with a rough home situation and “Stash,” whose nickname reflects his penchant to stash weed in a variety of hiding places including a shelter near the river. They go to the shelter one night and Stash sees what he thinks is a body floating by. Ren and Charlie return to the river, only to spot a boat with two men looking for something. Charlie moons them and taunts them about the body and the men give chase. Thinking they’ve eluded the men, they go to the shelter and pull out Stash’s box (with his name on it) to roll a joint. But the men are still in pursuit. However, Charlie and Ren know the woods and get away.

By this time Dina Willner has hunted Cork down. A private “security consultant” and former FBI agent, she had saved Cork’s life recently from the hitmen still seeking his life. Ren goes to pick up food for them, stopping by Charlie’s on the way and finds her father dead, his skull bashed in by Charlie’s baseball bat. But Charlie is nowhere to be seen. As Ren reports the murder, another body is found washed up in the town harbor. But not Charlie. Then Stash, a skateboarder, is nearly killed by a hit and run driver.

Charlie is the “person of interest” in her father’s death though Ren is certain she wouldn’t do it. He and Cork, Jewell, and Dina, (and eventually Charlie) try to piece together what’s going on. Charlie knows the girl in the river, found in the harbor. They spent time together at a runaway shelter. A lot of runaways have just disappeared from there, like the girl found dead. Who is preying upon them?

Meanwhile, there are other predators to reckon with. A cougar has been leaving tracks around the resort. And the hit is still out on Cork. How long will he remain hidden. Can Dina protect him, and those he has taken shelter with?

There is lots of suspense on these pages. Meanwhile, the relationship between Cork and Dina develops. And we wonder if this is the last we will see of Jewell, Ren, and Charlie. Plenty to keep one turning the pages!

Blood Hollow (Cork O’Connor Number Four), William Kent Krueger. Atria Paperback (ISBN: 9781439157794), 2009.

Summary: A murder is pinned on Solemn Winter Moon, but Cork thinks otherwise, confronting resistance and wounds from the past.

Fletcher Kane’s daughter Charlotte is missing after taking off on a snowmobile during a New Year’s Eve party. Aurora turns out to search but no trace. Cork persists as a blizzard approaches. Crossing a lake, he falls off his snowmobile and can’t find it. Then a wraith-like something guides him and he finds the snowmobile and makes it to shore.

Four months later, some hikers come across her body. Evidence at the scene, including a beer bottle and a wrench used to murder the girl, connects back to Solemn Winter Moon, nephew of Sam, whose hamburger place Cork and his daughters run since Sam’s tragic death. Chillingly, the murderer ate and drank while waiting for Charlotte to die. Sheriff Arne Soderberg, a political climber, is shaken to confront such a murder, but he is sure Moon has done it. But Moon is nowhere to be found. Cork finds him at Sam’s cabin hideaway and he and Jo persuade him to turn himself in. But when the sheriff ambushes him with the evidence, he bolts.

None of this looks good for Moon, who has been in and out of trouble since his youth. It turns out he fled to Henry Meloux, a sage who has guided Cork many times. Solemn returns from a vision quest as Cork goes to Henry and tells a strange story. He saw and talked to Jesus, dressed in north woods gear. Understandably, Cork has no idea what to think. But something has transformed Solemn. He is ready to face arrest and whatever follows.

But he is not the only one who faces a hard road. Solemn asks Jo to represent him. In turn, she needs a good investigator, and who better than Cork. But Cork faces challenges from his past. Fletcher Kane, Charlotte’s father is one. Fletcher’s father committed suicide when Cork’s father investigated sexual irregularities with one of his patients. And Charlotte’s school counselor intimates that Charlotte showed signs of sexual abuse by a family member. No love lost there. And then Arne Soderberg isn’t happy with the former sheriff investigating his case.

Solemn, who had broken up with Charlotte disavows the murder, or the sex that had preceded it. Slowly, evidence accumulates to point to someone else in this tight knit community, someone people would never think capable of murder. Cork must suspect people who are friends…or not, like someone wearing the badge.

Cork revisits two decisions in his life. When turned out of office after Sam Moon’s death, he made his peace with running Sam’s business with Jen and Anne. But the search for Charlotte’s murderer calls out all in which Cork excels as a lawman. And Solemn’s claims to have talked to Jesus and subsequent events challenge him to reconsider the faith he had turned from. Can he believe again?

In addition to Charlotte’s death, which has more twists than I can reveal here, Krueger develops the slowly healing relationship between Cork and Jo and the evolving relationship he has with two teenage daughters and his son. His connection with Henry Meloux is a high point in every story. And there is a subplot with Rose, pointing to the development her character. This makes me want to read further, not only for thrilling mysteries but also growing characters and evolving relationships.