But when he returns to the cabin, everyone is gone, and it is clear from all the footprints others have been there. Cork leaves to organize an investigation into who the man actually is and why he is looking for Dolores. When Cork goes to Henry’s cabin, he finds Henry, Rainy, and Dolores, and also discovers that the man who came to see him is an imposter. Cork has been married to Henry’s niece Rainy Bisonette for two years, and recently Rainy has been out at Crow Point helping Henry while his usual helper is visiting family. Henry, ancient (“a hundred and five years old – at least”) and revered, is an Anishinaabe Mide, or spiritual guide. He tells Cork his wife Dolores went off a week ago to find Henry Meloux and never returned, and he wants Cork’s help to find her. While no longer formally serving in law enforcement, Cork is now a private investigator.Īt the outset of this story, Cork is approached by a man claiming (falsely, it soon is revealed) to be Lou Morriseau. Maren Longbella is a Star Tribune copy editor.This is the 19th book in the series involving Cork O’Connor, the part-Irish, part-Anishinaabe Indian ex-sheriff of the small town of Aurora, Minnesota. Maybe he should start calling himself an alchemist, because he has the formula down to an art. But from 'Iron Lake' - the first in the Cork O'Connor series - to 'Fox Creek,' Krueger has exhibited a mastery and control that can't be denied.

The author has consistently called himself a storyteller, not a writer, as if the one was somehow lesser than the other. Krueger wastes no time plunging into the action, using present tense to maintain immediacy and ratcheting up the tension through interspersed points of view in short, taut chapters. Cork is hesitant to put much stock in it (his relationship with the spiritual returns again and again throughout the series), but there's no doubt that Henry is in trouble. Cork is hard on their heels as he tries to unravel who the woman really is, why these men are looking for her and who hired them.Īdding to the urgency is the vision of Henry's death that has visited the healer. Three guns-for-hire have come looking for a woman who has taken refuge with Henry Meloux, forcing the ancient Anishinaabe healer (and recurring character, if you're not in the know) to escape into the wilderness with the woman and Cork's wife. That's a lot of mayhem, even for a fictional place, and former sheriff Cork O'Connor is hip-deep in it in 'Fox Creek,' the latest addition to William Kent Krueger's mystery series. Trouble has returned - for the 19th time! - to the northern Minnesota town of Aurora, population 3,700.

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