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.