“Charlie Bauer doesn’t intend to leave this life filled with rancor or regret or plagued by the demons of if only. She intends to lie down in peace.
And so, she sips her whiskey and reads her books and every once in a great while allows herself the pleasure of a cigar, and she awaits without fear her own passing, when she will be lowered into the soil of Black Earth County and laid to rest forever beside the moonlit, milk-white flow of the Alabaster, a river she remembers fondly as an old friend.”
William Kent Krueger’s The River We Remember (Atria 2023) flows like the river on which it is set; at times it is gentle and soft, while also being unpredictable and raging. Like the river, the novel is brimming with life, death, and secrets – and it may prove one of my favorite mysteries.
On Memorial Day in 1958, while much of Jewel, Minnesota is at a parade to remember and honor those lost to war, the body of Jimmy Quinn is found in the Alabaster. The catfish have made a snack of him, but it’s not difficult to determine the cause of death was a shot gun blast to the gut. Suicide? Accident? Murder?
Powerful and wealthy, Quinn wasn’t a kind man. There are many who’d love to see him dead. Sheriff Brody Dern would prefer it not be a murder. But why? Why does he wipe away evidence? And why is everyone so quick to blame Noah Bluestone, a Native American war veteran who’d returned to Jewel with his beautiful Japanese wife after twenty years of military service? And why won’t Noah or his wife answer any questions related to Quinn?
The town drips with secrets – some are meaningless, but others would destroy lives. While the novel centers on Quinn’s murder and the investigation surrounding Noah Bluestone, Krueger gives us some memorable characters who are all just a little bruised from the cards they’ve been dealt. (Some carry the scars from the war on their bodies, others in their minds. Some have escaped abuse, and some are still hiding their bruises. Some have a hidden past as a sex worker. Some are having affairs. Some are lying. Some are stealing. Some are plotting. Some are suicidal. Some are alcoholics.) My favorite is likely Charlie, a retired attorney who has spent her life in a male dominated field. When Noah is arrested, she is appointed as his counsel – against his wishes. Charlie, along with the retired sheriff, set out to prove Noah’s innocence despite his refusal to discuss what happened.
The novel reminded me a bit of Beartown and The Bee Sting – especially in the scenes with Scott and Del – and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Despite Kruegar having published over 20 novels, The River We Remember is my first read of his. While I enjoy a good mystery, I don’t read them often. I may have to change that.
Read this book.
A Girl Named Tommi 