It’s a good day for readers. We’ve got Kent Krueger’s much-anticipated new Cork O’Connor mystery and the second installment of an intriguing series by Mindy Mejia that pairs two unlikely and (at first) unwilling partners. Don’t start either of these late at night; you won’t get much sleep.
“Spirit Crossing”: by William Kent Krueger (Atria Books, $28.99)
Daniel watched the old man and the boy cross the meadow. His heart was heavy because he knew Jenny was right. He’d put their son in harm’s way, and for what? Fawn Blacksmith and Olivia Hamilton were dead. Sacrificing his son in an attempt to discover who was responsible for the crimes wouldn’t bring them back. — from “Spirit Crossing”
When we first met Cork O’Connor in 1998 in “Iron lake,” he was despondent, smoking too much and drinking too much coffee because he was separated from his wife and children. Now, in the 20th book in Kent Krueger’s popular series about the former sheriff in the far northern town of Aurora, Cork’s life has expanded to cross three generations.
“Spirit Crossing” begins with the O’Connor family gathered for the wedding of Cork’s son, Stephen, to Belle. His daughter, Annie, is home from Guatemala with her Mayan lover, Maria. Annie had wanted to become a nun but instead went to live in a barrio to help the poor. The family senses there is something distant about Annie, as though she has a secret she wants to reveal but cannot. Cork’s other daughter, Jenny, is mother to 7-year-old Waaboo (little rabbit in Ojibwe), whom she found under a rock as a newborn and adopted. She’s married to Daniel English.
Its fun to meet Cork’s kids as adults, when we remember them as teens in previous books working at Sam’s Place, Cork’s hamburger shack where he trains young people for what is usually their first job.
Cork’s first wife died, much to the consternation of some readers, and he is married to Rainy, great-niece of Ojibwe elder Henry Meloux, spiritual guide to Cork and Stephen and wise counselor to the O’Connor family, especially young Waaboo. Meloux, who may be 100, lives at Crow Point, a secluded cabin in the woods, watched over and protected by Prophet, who in a previous book led a gang that wanted to kill the old man. Cork, who is part Ojibwe, has always considered Crow Point a place of peace and harmony.
On a beautiful summer day the O’Connor men are blueberry picking in a secret place. The fun turns ugly when Waaboo has a vision of a dead girl whose spirit is “lost and sad,” the boy explains. They do find a woman’s body in a shallow grave, leading them to think it might be the missing daughter of an important town politician. Everybody’s focused on the rich white girl, but only Stephen is angry that nobody is investigating the disappearance of two young Native women.
Over Jenny’s protests, Waaboo is led to an old cabin where he senses evil. That bad feeling comes to fruition when the boy and his aunt Annie are shot at near Henry’s home. Waaboo’s mother Jenny, fiercely protective as a mother bear, fears for Waaboo’s mental health although the boy doesn’t seem frightened by his ability to communicate with the dead. Henry counsels them to let the boy’s spirit contacts lead them.
Adding to complications, Stephen and Belle are participating in a protest at Spirit Crossing, a place sacred to the Anishinaabe that is threatened by a pipeline that would carry contaminants into the water. And local newspaper reporters, hearing about a boy who “sees ghosts,” are parked in front of the O’Connor home.
Who is shooting at the family? Who doesn’t want any more graves found.? And what happened to the girls before they died?
“Spirit Crossing” has everything we expect from Krueger — a vivid northern Minnesota sense of place, just enough dialogue to move the story, compassion for all humanity as explained by Henry Meloux, tender love between Annie and Maria, and graceful handling of a shocking event that will have a lasting impact on the O’Connor family.
After 20 Cork O’Connor books, this one feels like a this-is-where-they-are-now story that will remind Krueger’s fans about everything that has happened to this good man who wants to do the right thing. There are certainly thrills in this adventure, but the underlying message is the importance of love of family, no matter the cost.
Krueger, who lives in St. Paul, has won almost every writing honor, including five Minnesota Book Awards by 2014. He stretches his writing muscles with stand-alone novels that have been widely praised by critics and loved by readers, including “This Tender Land” and “Ordinary Grace.”
Here are Krueger’s appearance dates: 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, Once Upon a Crime, 604 W. 26th St., Mpls.; 9:30 a.m. Aug. 23, Lake Country Booksellers, 4766 Washington Square, White Bear Lake; 7 pm. Aug. 28, Barnes & Noble, 2100 N. Snelling Ave., Roseville; 7 p.m. Sept. 3, Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, Excelsior, presented by Excelsior Bay Books; 4:30 p.m. Sept. 4, Totally Criminal Cocktail Hour, Stillwater, presented by Valley Bookseller; 7 p.m. Sept. 4, SubText Books, 6 W. Fifth St., St. Paul; 6 p.m. Sept. 16, Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul.
“A World of Hurt”: by Mindy Mejia (Atlantic Monthly Press, $27)
I kept hitting him, scissoring my arm quicker and harder, past the point where anyone else would get tired or feel their own joints and muscles scream in protest. I’d never heard that scream. My body didn’t have a voice of destruction, nothing to cradle tight, to clench around. The doctors called it CIP Disorder. It meant I only knew pain by what it looked like on other people. — From “A World of Hurt”
Kara and Max are opposites. Kara suffers from a disorder that keeps her from feeling pain. Iowa police officer Max has been shot twice in the last year and lives in constant pain. In the second book in Mejia’s Iowa Mysteries series (after “To Catch a Storm”), former drug trafficker Kara and Max, who wants to get back into law enforcement, are assigned to work together by the DEA. Tough, street-wise Kara always thought she would die young. Maybe that’s why she draws half-dead birds. She’s told she can go to prison or turn informant to lure out the last of the drug-trafficking ring that murdered the friend who gave her life to save Kara’s. Feeling guilty, lost and miserable, Kara agrees to partner with Max, who is not happy about babysitting a drug dealer. Add to the mix Max’s friend Jonah, a psychic introduced in “To Catch a Storm,” and a sympathetic veterinarian who patches Kara together when she’s badly injured but can’t go to a hospital for fear of getting arrested. The vet doesn’t even know Kara’s name, referring to her only as Fluffy.
Max knows Kara, who trusts no one, is keeping secrets. But as they work to put the drug dealers in jail, they slowly begin to understand one another. What’s interesting about this story is there is an age gap between Kara and Max, who is married, so no sexual attraction to one another. It’s all about keeping themselves alive against drug kingpins who kill without mercy.
“A World of Hurt” got a starred review from Publishers Weekly that said: “Mejia maintains breathless suspense as she fleshes out the combative dynamic between her captivating leads. For crime fiction fans, this is a must-read.”
Mejia and Minnesota mystery writer Matt Goldman, whose latest is “Still Waters,” will be guest authors at Totally Criminal Cocktail Hour at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2, at Lowell Inn, 102 Second St. N., Stillwater. $10. Go to valleybookseller.com.
