Raised in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, William Kent Krueger briefly attended Stanford University—before being kicked out for radical activities. After that, he logged timber, worked construction, tried his hand at freelance journalism, and eventually ended up researching child development at the University of Minnesota. He currently makes his living as a full-time author. He’s been married for over 40 years to a marvelous woman who is an attorney. He makes his home in St. Paul, a city he dearly loves.
Krueger writes a mystery series set in the north woods of Minnesota. His protagonist is Cork O’Connor, the former sheriff of Tamarack County and a man of mixed heritage—part Irish and part Ojibwe. His work has received several awards, including the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, and the Friends of American Writers Prize. His last five novels were all New York Times bestsellers.
“Ordinary Grace,” his stand-alone novel published in 2013, received the Edgar Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition for the best novel published in that year. “Windigo Island,” number fourteen in his Cork O’Connor series, was released in August 2014.
Books in order of publication:
Cork O’Connor
Iron Lake (1998)
Boundary Waters (1999)
Purgatory Ridge (2001)
Blood Hollow (2004)
Mercy Falls (2005)
Copper River (2006)
Thunder Bay (2007)
Red Knife (2008)
Heaven’s Keep (2009)
Vermilion Drift (2010)
Northwest Angle (2011)
Trickster’s Point (2012)
Tamarack County (2013)
Windigo Island (2014)
Manitou Canyon (2016)
Sulphur Springs (2017)
Desolation Mountain (2018)
Lightning Strike (2021)
Fox Creek (2022)
Stand-alone novels
The Devil’s Bed (2003)
Ordinary Grace (2013)
This Tender Land (2019)
Anthologies
“Hixton” in Crimes By Moonlight, Berkley Publishing (ebook, 2010)
“Bums” in USA Noir, Akashic Books (soft cover, 2013)
Oak Lawn Library Friends 