Fox Creek by William Kent Krueger

 

"It is a great web that the Creator spins, and within it, we are all connected. Dreams are sometimes the threads of that connection. In dreams, Ma'iingan [Wolf], I have seen you, too."

                -Henry Meloux, from the novel

The completion of this novel, #19 in the Cork O'Connor series, was bittersweet. I have LOVED them all and this, as far as I knew was the final installment. Then I saw a #20 mentioned and I was thrilled until I saw it wouldn't be released until August, 2024! Oh, the anticipation!

A woman named Dolores Morriseau comes to Henry Meloux, the Ojibwe healer, (and my favorite character to quote) for help with a marital problem. As it turns out, there are hired killers out to find her and it falls to Henry who is close to 100 years old to get her and his great-niece Rainy, also Cork's wife, and himself to a safe place. 

Of course, Cork immediately involves himself in the search along with the brother-in-law of Dolores. It is a difficult endeavor, especially with uncooperative weather. Cork's son, Steven, is assigned the task of finding out more about the husband of Dolores, who as it turned out, is the one the mercenaries actually seek. Steven is paired with the Morriseau sister-in-law in the search for information. (Could they be romantically involved in the next book?)

The format of the novel is interesting and unique to the series with the POVs alternating between Cork, Rainy, Steven and Wolf, the tracker for the "bad guys."

I give Fox Creek a 5 and I look forward to next August. In the meantime, there are two stand-alone novels of Krueger's I haven't read: The Levee and The Devil's Bed.