LIGHTNING STRIKE

This moving, evocative new novel - a prequel to the author’s popular Cork O’Connor mystery series - centers on Cork as a 12-year-old boy in 1963, as he discovers the body of Big John Manydeeds, a man he knows and respects, hanging from a tree. While suicide is suspected, matters are complicated by this small Minnesota town’s resentments between the locals and Big John’s Ojibwe tribe that has lived there for generations. Cork is privy to the ongoing investigation through his sheriff father, but he also sets out with his friends to gather clues and solve the mystery on his own.

I deeply admire the way Krueger writes about this period in history, honoring what is worthy of nostalgia but never shying away from the troubling parts, specifically our country’s treatment of Native communities. Reading this book, I was reminded of a recent article about the advent of “earnest TV” - and wondered whether we all might be due for a similar movement in books? I love this author's straightforward yet gently beautiful writing style, always connected to the setting and its natural elements. Krueger is adept at the precise kind of novel I’d been searching for: a coming-of-age story about a boy, for me to buddy read with my own teens. And even though there are quite a lot of characters to keep track of, there is a great deal to enjoy in this satisfying and emotional mystery, particularly the tender relationship between father and son. I especially recommend it for fans of The Firekeeper’s Daughter who would like to learn a bit more about the Ojibwe people documented in that book.

Cork is on the precipice of manhood but he still enjoys collecting blueberries from a nearby bog with his grandmother, who makes them into blueberry cobbler. How could I resist doing the same? I decided to autumn it up with some pears and cinnamon too. Have you been doing any fall baking?