William Kent Krueger Books in Order (Cork O’Connor)

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An award-winning author, William Kent Krueger is an American crime writer raised in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon who dreamt of becoming an author but had to “logged a bit of timber” and “worked a lot of construction” for a few years before he could start doing some serious writing.

Today, William Kent Krueger is mostly known for his popular crime novel series about Corcoran “Cork” O’Connor, the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota.

How to read William Kent Krueger’s Books in Order?

The Cork O’Connor Book Series in Order

Corcoran “Cork” O’Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota. Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Cork was once a cop on Chicago’s South Side, and after being the sheriff of Aurora, he became a private detective. Trouble always finds Cork in his personal and his professional life.

For more information about the way to read the Cork O’Connor books in order, go to the dedicated reading Guide.

  1. Iron Lake (1998)
  2. Boundary Waters (1999)
  3. Purgatory Ridge (2001)
  4. Blood Hollow (2004)
  5. Mercy Falls (2005)
  6. Copper River (2006)
  7. Thunder Bay (2007)
  8. Red Knife (2008)
  9. Heaven’s Keep (2009)
  10. Vermilion Drift (2010)
  11. Northwest Angle (2011)
  12. Trickster’s Point (2012)
  13. Tamarack County (2013)
  14. Windigo Island (2014)
  15. Manitou Canyon (2016)
  16. Sulfur Springs (2017)
  17. Desolation Mountain (2018)
  18. Lightning Strike (2021) – A prequel to the Cork O’Connor series–a book about fathers and sons, long-simmering tensions in a small Minnesota town, and young Cork’s coming of age in the summer of 1963.
  19. Fox Creek (2022)

The Stand-alone novels by William Kent Krueger

  • The Devil’s Bed (2003) – 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.
  • Ordinary Grace (2013) – New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson’s Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.
  • This Tender Land (2019) – In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota’s Gilead River, Odie O’Banion is an orphan confined to the Lincoln Indian Training School, a pitiless place where his lively nature earns him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee after committing a terrible crime, he and his brother, Albert, their best friend, Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.

  • The River We Remember (2023) – In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances. On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also to put to rest the demons from his past.

Is this guide to William Kent Krueger’s books and series useful to you? Don’t forget to bookmark it! If you like William Kent Krueger, you may also want to check out the work of C.J Box.

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2 Comments

  1. I just finished Tender Land and I did not want the book to end!! It was so good. I will be looking for more of Williams books to read!

    Amazing

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