| Details | | Publication Date: | 1998-09-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 330 pages | | Height: | 9.8 in | | Width: | 6.8 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 19.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota - population 3,752. Embittered by his "former" status, and the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, Cork gets by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago's South Side, he's found that there's not much left in life that can shock him. But when the town's judge, Robert Parrant, is brutally murdered, and Eagle Scout Paul LeBeau is reported missing, Cork takes on a mind-jolting case of conspiracy, corruption and scandal.
Rare is the author whose sheer mastery of detail, character, and storytelling succeeds in evoking the underlying essence of a place -- Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles...Tony Hillerman's Southwest...Carl Hiassen's Florida. Now, in a dazzling debut, William Kent Krueger joins them, taking us into the lake country of northern Minnesota to reveal the dark side of its snow-covered landscape. Part Irish, part Anishanaabe Indian, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota -- population 3,752. Embittered by his "former" status, and the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, Cork gets by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago's South Side, he's found that there's not much left in life that can shock him. But when the town's judge, Robert Parrant, is brutally murdered, and Eagle Scout Paul LeBeau is reported missing, Cork takes on a mind-jolting case of conspiracy, corruption and scandal. Asked by LeBeau's panicked mother to find her son, Cork's investigation grows icier, and more treacherous, than a frozen lake at midnight. The coroner declares Judge Parrant's death a suicide and quickly cremates the corpse. The current sheriff throws critical evidence in the incinerator. And a right-wing paramilitary group makes it violently clear that Cork would be better off letting dead dogs lie. To top it all off, Cork discovers a small-town secret with the big-time implications that hits painfully close to home. With bodies and questions piling up faster than the Minnesota snow, Cork's the only one stubborn enough to uncover the truth -- a truth he can't ignore, a truth he's determined to face...even if it kills him.
Industry Reviews
Short-story specialist Krueger brings a fresh take on some familiar elements and a strong sense of atmosphere to his first mystery. Chicago cop Cork O'Connor and his wife, Jo, a lawyer, moved back to his northern Minnesota hometown of Aurora to improve their quality of life, but it didn't work. Cork became the sheriff but lost an election after a disagreement between local Indians and whites over fishing rights turned deadly. Then his marriage broke up, with Jo becoming a successful advocate for tribal rights and Cork reduced to running a scruffy restaurant and gift shop. As the book starts, Cork, feeling guilty about sleeping with a warmhearted waitress, is still hoping to get back with Jo and their three children. Drawn into the disappearance of an Indian newsboy, which coincides with the apparent suicide of a former judge, Cork quickly clashes with some well-connected foes: a newly elected senator (who also happens to be the judge's son and Jo's lover); the town's new sheriff; and some tribal leaders getting rich on gambling concessions. When an old Indian tells Cork that a Windigo (a malign spirit) is fueling events, it becomes an occasion for Krueger to draw some nifty connections between the monsters of the heart and the monsters of myth. Krueger makes Cork a real person beneath his genre garments, mostly by showing him dealing with the needs of his two very different teenage daughters. And the author's deft eye for the details of everyday life brings the town and its peculiar problems to vivid life. (Aug.)
Lopate
In Krueger's first mystery after a spate of short stories, former sheriff Cork O'Connor deals with a missing boy, a dead judge, and a Minnesota blizzard. Some very strong prepublication reviews (e.g., "the author's deft eye...brings the town and its problem to vivid life," Publishers Weekly) sent this book spinning, and it won some praise from the consumer press as well. It also popped up a few times on LJ's "1999 Adult Book-Buying Survey Among Librarians" as a local title that circulated especially well.
Dirda
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