Set in Northern Minnesota, author William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor mystery series is a well written mix of plot twists, a sensitive handling of issues, good character development, and a spot-on depiction of rural small town America. Like Louise Penny (Inspector Gamache) and Robert Galbraith (Cormoran Strike) the writing leans more towards the literary than many mysteries do.
Even though at the beginning of this instalment O’Connor is no longer sheriff, he somehow gets into the middle of a case involving the murder of a high school student. The police think they have it all tied up early on, but there are some unsettling details that don’t make sense and have Cork wondering and investigating for himself. I do enjoy the Indigenous mystical aspects of this series, and in this one he tackles fanatical Catholic faith as well.
If I’m honest, I didn’t find this one as compelling as #2 and #3 which had me more on the edge of my seat, but I am loving this series and still committed to it. It’ll be awhile, there are 17 of them so far! I have several series on the go and as always, I enjoy interspersing my general reading with series instalments so I can relax into settings and characters already familiar (that is, when I’m not binging on them–that happens sometimes too).
If you have read the whole series, Krueger has a new prequel called Lightning Strike coming out in August, which is a book about fathers and sons, long-simmering conflicts in a small Minnesota town, and the kind of events that echo through our youth and shape our lives forever.
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