New Releases by William Kent

Somewhere in the world, a murderer is poised to strike. Meet the men and women who can stop him before it’s too late. Introducing fifteen of the most clever and irresistible sleuths in world literature. SAMPLE EXCERPTS FROM: COLLECTING COOPER by Paul Cleave THE BURNING SOUL by John Connolly BURNED by Thomas Enger MIDWINTER BLOOD by Mons Kallentoft SHUNNING SARAH by Julie Kramer NORTHWEST ANGLE by William Kent Krueger LAST WILL by Liza Marklund DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS by Walter Mosley BLESSED ARE THE DEAD by Malla Nunn UNWANTED by Kristina Ohlsson DOG ON IT by Spencer Quinn THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES by M. J. Rose THE GOAT WOMAN OF LARGO BAY by Gillian Royes A DOUBLE DEATH ON THE BLACK ISLE by A. D. Scott SOUTH BY SOUTHEAST by Blair Underwood, Tananarive Due, and Steven Barnes

Discovering that he has been set up when Native American Governor-elect Jubal Little is murdered with one of Cork''s bow-hunting arrows, Cork O''Connor recalls his complex relationship with Jubal while struggling to clear his name and find the real killer.

William Kent Krueger’s gripping tale of suspense begins with a recurring nightmare, a gun, and a wound in the earth so deep and horrific that it has a name: Vermilion Drift. When the Department of Energy puts an underground iron mine on its short list of potential sites for storage of nuclear waste, a barrage of protest erupts in Tamarack County, Minnesota, and Cork is hired as a security consultant. Deep in the mine during his first day on the job, Cork stumbles across a secret room that contains the remains of six murder victims. Five appear to be nearly half a century old—connected to what the media once dubbed "The Vanishings," a series of unsolved disappearances in the summer of 1964, when Cork’s father was sheriff in Tamarack County. But the sixth has been dead less than a week. What’s worse, two of the bodies—including the most recent victim—were killed using Cork’s own gun, one handed down to him from his father. As Cork searches for answers, he must dig into his own past and that of his father, a well-respected man who harbored a ghastly truth. Time is running out, however. New threats surface, and unless Cork can unravel the tangled thread of clues quickly, more death is sure to come. Vermilion Drift is a powerful novel, filled with all the mystery and suspense for which Krueger has won so many awards. A poignant portrayal of the complexities of family life, it’s also a sobering reminder that even those closest to our hearts can house the darkest—and deadliest—of secrets.

When mayhem descends on a tiny logging town, former sheriff Cork O’Connor is called upon to investigate a murder in this “wonderful page-turner” (The Denver Post) that “prolongs suspense to the very end” (Publishers Weekly) by Edgar Award-winning author William Kent Krueger. 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 Lindstrom’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 are harboring their own resentment of the industrialist. And it soon becomes clear to Cork that danger, both at home and in Aurora, lurks around every corner…

Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. Intrepid hero Cork O''Connor faces the most harrowing mission of his life when a charter plane carrying his wife, Jo, goes missing in a snowstorm over the Wyoming Rockies. Months after the tragedy, two women show up on Cork''s doorstep with evidence that the pilot of Jo''s plane was not the man he claimed to be. It may not be definitive proof, but it''s a ray of light in the darkness. Agreeing to investigate, Cork travels to Wyoming, where he battles the interference of local law enforcement who may be on the take, the open hostility of the Northern Arapaho, who have much to lose if the truth is known, and the continuing attempts on his life by assassins who shadow his every move. At the center of all the danger and deception lies the possibility that Jo''s disappearance was not the end of her, that somewhere along the labyrinthine path of his search, maybe even in the broad shadow of Heaven''s Keep itself, Cork will find her alive and waiting for him.

Krueger''s hero is running from professional hit men and he stumbles upon a murderous conspiracy involving teenage runaways.

O''Connor is caught in the middle of a gang dispute between the Aurora Anglos and the Ojibwe Reservation Red Boyz, a situation that turns deadly when the Red Boyz leader and his wife are found murdered.

In William Kent Krueger’s “finest work” (Michael Connelly), detective Cork O’Connor unravels a mystery for his old friend Henry Meloux, only to get caught in the blistering crossfire of jealousy and revenge. The promise, as I remember it, happened this way. Happy and content in his hometown of Aurora, Minnesota, Cork O’Connor has left his badge behind and is ready for a life of relative peace, setting up shop as a private investigator. But his newfound state of calm is soon interrupted when Henry Meloux, an Ojibwe medicine man and Cork’s spiritual adviser, makes a request: Will Cork find the son that Henry fathered long ago? With little to go on, Cork uses his investigative skills to locate Henry Wellington, a wealthy and reclusive industrialist living in Thunder Bay, Ontario. When a murder attempt is made on old Meloux’s life, all clues point north across the border. But why would Wellington want his father dead? This question takes Cork on a journey through time as he unravels the story of Meloux’s 1920s adventure in the ore-rich wilderness of Canada, where his love for a beautiful woman, far outside his culture, led him into a trap of treachery, greed, and murder. The past and present collide along the rocky shores of Thunder Bay, where a father’s unconditional love is tested by a son’s deeply felt resentment, and where jealousy and revenge remain the code among men. As Cork hastens to uncover the truth and save his friend, he soon discovers that his own life is in danger and is reminded that the promises we keep—even for the best of friends—can sometimes place us in the hands of our worst enemies.

In this “smart and satisfying” (Booklist) award-winning mystery from William Kent Krueger’s stunning Cork O’Connor series, the charismatic detective faces his most dangerous case to date. 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’s 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.

When a high school student’s body is found and her boyfriend goes missing, tough-as-nails former sheriff Cork O’Connor is forced into the center of an eerie mystery with a shocking twist in this “vivid and realistic” (Booklist), Anthony Award-winning novel from New York Times bestselling author William Kent Krueger. When the body of a beautiful high school student is discovered on a hillside four months after her disappearance on New Year’s Eve, all evidence points to her boyfriend, local bad boy Solemn Winter Moon. Despite Solemn’s self-incriminating decision to go into hiding, Cork O’Connor isn’t about to hang the crime on a kid he’s convinced is innocent. In an uphill battle to clear Solemn’s name, Cork encounters no shortage of adversity. Some—like bigotry and bureaucracy—he knows all too well. What Cork isn’t prepared for is the emergence of a long-held resentment from his own childhood. And when Solemn reappears, claiming to have seen a vision of Jesus Christ in Blood Hollow, the mystery becomes thornier than Cork could ever have anticipated. And that''s when the miracles start happening.

From the creator of the critically acclaimed, award-winning Cork O''Connor mystery series comes a haunting, atmospheric, conspiracy thriller. When President Clay Dixon''s father-in-law—a former vice president—is injured in a farming accident, First Lady Kate Dixon returns to Minnesota to be at his side. Assigned to protect her, Secret Service agent Bo Thorsen soon falls under Kate''s spell. He also suspects the accident is part of a trap set for Kate by David Moses, an escaped mental patient who once loved her. What Bo and Moses don''t realize is that they''re caught in a web of deadly intrigue spun by a seemingly insignificant bureaucratic department within the federal government. Racing to find answers before an assassin''s bullet can kill Kate, Bo soon learns that when you lie down with the devil, there''s hell to pay.

This work represents an extension of the author''s notes and references collected during a series of investigations ... for the purpose of obtaining a clear insight into the functioning of the improved legal machinery sought to be adapted for securing greater municipal freedom and efficiency.