Many many long moons ago, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle not only created Sherlock Holmes, he created the concept of “a single character running through a series” a.k.a., the series detective. While of course the stories themselves are wonderful, the creation of this series character has had perhaps the longest shadow over detective fiction, and, I would argue, the most enduring. Series detectives are not just appreciated, they are beloved. After a certain point in a series, the point is not really the story, the point is what is happening to the character. They have their own lives, something which, I imagine, might be irritating for their creators (I know it was for Conan Doyle and Christie). They can hardly be killed off, Sherlock Holmes being the most outstanding example as pastiches featuring Holmes outnumber Conan Doyle’s actual work.
As girls many of us started this romance with the series detective in the form of titian haired, clever Nancy Drew, who solved mysterious happenings and had a group of helpful friends. For myself, the romance continued in middle school with my inhalation and discovery of Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. In college, it was the suave Lord Peter that caught my attention, and after college, thanks to a father in law in the book of the month club, I discovered V.I. Warshawski, Kinsey Milhone, and Joe Leaphorn. I loved V.I. so much she inspired me, a few years later, to want to open a bookstore specializing in detective fiction.
And through the years there have been so many more (I’m sure you have your own list) – Nero Wolfe, Spenser, Adam Dalgleish, Harry Bosch, Maud Silver, Roderick Allyn, Elvis Cole, Armand Gamache, Alex McKnight, Tess Monaghan, Inspector Lynley and Ruth Galloway – just to call out a few. With brings me to William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor, who has, I think, achieved the status of a detective you want to check in on, no matter what the story. Of course all of these writers also write wonderful stories, but it’s the detective, I think, that brings you back every time.
I started thinking about what the commonalities were between these characters. Intelligence is, I think, the major factor. The detective should be a little bit ahead of the reader. Other than that, things aren’t so clear – there’s humor (Spenser, Elvis Cole, Ruth Galloway), there’s humanity (Gamache, Marple, Leaphorn, O’Connor), there’s a network of “chums” like Nancy Drew had. In every case there’s at the very least a sidekick, and here again, Cork O’Connor fits in, as his family and community are his “chums.”
In Krueger’s nineteenth Cork O’Connor novel, Fox Creek, the revered (and extremely elderly) Henry Meloux has vanished, most unfortunately, with Cork’s wife, Rainy. Many of Krueger’s novels are chase novels centered in the Minnesota wilderness, and this novel is one of those, as Henry, Rainy and another woman are tracked by an expert known as LaLoup, and followed in turn by Cork and a native cop, the brother in law of the other missing woman. The narratives alternate between Cork, Rainy, and LeLoup, but the overriding theme of this novel might be (as in several other Cork O’Connor novels): do not underestimate Henry Meloux, even if he is, as in this novel, almost 100 years old.
Krueger’s gifts, along with a skill at delineating character, include a narrative drive that does not let up. Beautifully written these books may be, but they are also non stop stories, hard to put down. As the book progresses, the reader is drawn into the thought processes of Henry and LaLoup, and to a lesser extent, Cork and Rainy. The way all of the characters think and react determine the story. This story truly belongs to Henry which is a delight, because Henry brings clarity of thought and reaction to everything he does. He makes things seems simple, and of course the simplest actions and reactions are often the most difficult.
I loved being back in the company of these characters and taking a trip through the Minnesota wilderness, even if danger filled. As in every Krueger novel, there’s also a thoughtful social commentary integrated into the plot. Not sure how Krueger manages this in an action novel, but he does. Thank heavens for the series detective, and most especially for Cork O’Connor and his gifted creator.
