GROUP B BOOKS 2023-2024: 10 Nominated books. Vote for no more than 5.

B8 Type: Literary Mystery The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger, Sep 2023 / MVLC: A LOT - TBD

Basics · Protagonist: Sheriff Brody Dern, a WW2 hero, must solve the murder of Jimmy Quinn, a wealthy land owner found floating in the river. · Briefly: But the case has stirred the passions and suspicions of many others in town, as well as anxieties that their own dark secrets might unravel during the investigation. Will there be resolution and healing? · Setting: In 1958, in the fictional small town of Jewel, northwest of Minneapolis. · Context: This is the third standalone Krueger has written. His first, Ordinary Grace, had one of the highest MBC average scores in the history of the group. Krueger is also the author of the 19 book series featuring Sheriff Cork O'Connor in northern Minnesota. We read Book #1 of that series, Iron Lake, last August ('22) which yielded a group average score of 90. These considerations all contributed to my nominating this literary mystery for next year. –Dick Long Form In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling standalone novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the “expansive, atmospheric American saga” (Entertainment Weekly) This Tender Land. On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past. Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose. Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of midcentury American life from an author of novels “as big-hearted as they come” (Parade), The River We Remember is an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home. Awards for this Book? - TBD, probably a handful.