William Kent Krueger keeps asking what he can offer that he hasn’t before

The private investigator is not working to solve the mystery of who committed a crime in William Kent Krueger’s 22nd book in his Cork O’Connor series, “God’s Country.” Instead, O’Connor is trying to understand how beauty and grace can inhabit the same space as brutality and evil.

The story takes place in the surroundings of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, with Krueger describing the scenes with his usual attention to detail and his ability to make his readers feel as though they are a part of that vast and beautiful wilderness.

After writing so many stories about the half-Anishinaabe, half-Irish investigator, Krueger said he does see a lot of himself in the character. “Cork is a family man, I am a family man; Cork struggles with his spiritual path, I struggle with mine. He understands the importance of seeking justice, and so do I,” said Krueger, who resides in the Midway.

“Cork is in his 60s now, and I am well beyond that,” Krueger continued. “I really enjoy writing about Cork as an older man.”

Cork has not necessarily grown more spiritual as he has aged, according to Krueger, but he has become more aware of his attachment to the natural world. “He is still trying to figure out the Creator and rails against the Creator when he does not see the heart of the Creator involved in what happens. There is a lot of pain in Cork.”

Krueger said his character is trying to find a place not necessarily of forgiveness, but a sense of peace in himself and with the world itself.

Krueger said his latest book presents a struggle for Cork, particularly near the end. “Cork has to look at the brutality around him, and the part he has played in it.”

Dealing with the devil in God’s country
Krueger has focused on one of the main characters in the O’Connor series in past books, and a couple of times on Cork himself. “This is a much more intimate look at Cork,” he said.

”Any writer worth his salt is going to offer his readers something that is different,” Krueger continued, “and not the same old story in the same old way.”When I write an O’Connor book, I ask what can I offer the reader I haven’t before in a way I haven’t before.”

He said that is the reason the book is written in the first person, something he has only done before in “Sulfur Springs,” a book he wrote many years ago.

Krueger’s book reflects on how, in a world of such great beauty can so many things that are horrible and ugly exist side by side. “We are in God’s country, and we deal with the devil,” he added.
Krueger said that initially he was not going to write this book.

“I was going to take a year off, and step away from promoting for a year. I didn’t have a really good strong idea,” he said. Then his agent called him up and said, “Kent, you know if you don’t write a book, you won’t have one out in the fall. And you’re kind of expected to have one in the fall.”

Krueger said he proposed publishing some novellas he had written, but the publisher said no, they wanted a Cork book. Krueger then suggested writing a shorter Cork story and attaching a couple novellas. Again, the publisher said no, it needed to be a full Cork book.

“I was on the phone with my agent about this, and I came up with a way to enlarge on the Cork story, so I said okay, it will be a full Cork novel. And I started working on ‘God’s Country.’

“Since I didn’t have a lot of time, I launched into writing it without an outline. This is a very different process for me, and more like my stand-alone books. So writing ‘God’s Country’ has been an interesting experience in many ways.”

According to Krueger, his books do reflect the state of the world as he sees it. “This is a dark book,” he stated. “I sent it to my agent and told her I should write a forward to it, explaining to the readers they are in for a dark ride. She said no to the forward, and said I should make the story even darker. So I did.”

Krueger is known for his strong character development, and he said that in this book he tries to make the readers understand why some of the main characters are the way they are.

Although he usually goes into detail on physical descriptions, he said he has purposely never described Cork’s appearance. “His inner and outer strength is what is important about Cork, and what he is like inside.”

The Cork book series is currently being optioned for a television series, a process that takes a long time, according to Krueger. He said if a series is made, he hopes the actor playing Cork will not have any recognizable history with TV viewers.

Krueger currently has a stand-alone novel written and plans to do further research on it. “It is involved with music, and since I know nothing about music, I need to do a lot of research,” he noted. He is also working on another O’Connor book.

A book launch was held on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026 in Anoka.