William Kent Kruger

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Paul Dinndorf

A person standing in front of a wall.

William Kent Kruger

The author of 19 Cork O’Connor mysteries returns to Madison to celebrate the publication of The River We Remember — a stand-alone novel set in 1958 in tiny Jewel, Minnesota, where residents are rocked when the body of a wealthy and powerful citizen is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. William Kent Krueger’s work has racked up countless awards and been called “as big-hearted as they come.” When you think of accomplished Midwestern novelists, the St. Paul-based writer should be near the top of the list. This in-person event is sold out, but it also will be livestreamed via Crowdcast.

media release: Live @ MTM: William Kent Krueger

Where: Mystery to Me (seats are limited, Get Tickets)

Livestream: Crowdcast (RSVP)

About the book: In the wake of two wars—World War II and Korea—the peace of a small Minnesota town is shattered when the body of its leading citizen is found nearly naked and floating in the Alabaster River, killed by a shotgun blast. Although the story is a murder mystery in every sense, at heart, it explores the question of how we manage to heal the great wounds that war delivers to both those who march off in uniform and the loved ones they leave behind.

Raised in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, William Kent Krueger ( he goes by Kent) briefly attended Stanford University—before being kicked out for radical activities. After that, he logged timber, worked construction, tried his hand at free-lance journalism, and eventually ended up researching child development at the University of Minnesota. He makes his home in St. Paul, a city he dearly loves.

Krueger writes the New York Times bestselling Cork O’Connor mystery series, which is set in the north woods of Minnesota. His protagonist, Corcoran O’Connor, is the former sheriff of the fictional Tamarack County, and also a man of mixed heritage—part Irish-American and part Ojibwe.  Krueger’s work has received a number of awards, including the Edgar Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, and the Friends of American Writers Prize.  He does all his writing in a couple of wonderfully funky St. Paul coffee shops.

This Tender Land, the companion novel to his Edgar Award-winning Ordinary Grace, spent six months among the top ten on the New York Times bestseller list. His stand alone mystery novel The River We Remember is scheduled for release in September 2023.