‘Ordinary Grace’ by William Kent Krueger      (2013) – 307 pages

In my search for good fiction from all around the world, I wound up missing a great fiction in my own backyard. I am now making amends for my error. You may not be familiar with the name William Kent Krueger. Neither was I until very recently.

Apparently William Kent Krueger, a Minnesota writer, has been turning out well-received crime novels for a long time, usually involving private investigator Cork O’Connor. Since I don’t generally follow crime writing, I had not heard of his work. In 2013, Krueger published a stand-alone mystery novel, ‘Ordinary Grace’, which I totally missed since my attention was elsewhere. Over the years, this novel has gained in reputation until it captured the attention of even me. Later I found out it had won the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award in 2014 for the Best Novel of the Year.

‘Ordinary Grace’ is a small-town Minnesota novel that takes place in 1961, and the main protagonist is 13 year-old Frank Drum. I happened to be 13 years old that same year so I could identify with many of its references such as the hot rods and the song Del Shannon’s “Runaway” and President Kennedy and also the prevailing upbeat spirit of the novel.

Frank Drum’s father is a Methodist minister who preaches for three churches in the area, so the family’s Sunday mornings are filled with church services. His mother sings at these churches.

“Oh, when she sang she could make a fence post cry.”

This is a good example of the analogies that Krueger uses to draw us readers in. Later we have “farm families who in most aspects of their public life were as emotionally demonstrative as a mound of hay”.

Also in the family are his older sister Ariel and Frank’s stuttering little brother Jake.

The Minnesota River

I won’t get into the central mystery in this novel at all, leaving that for the reader to discover. Instead I will discuss the place of mysteries in the broader category of literature. When a mystery is not formulaic and deals with life as it is lived, it has the potential to become great literature. When the characters are fully developed and finely drawn and the plot is involving and believable, a mystery can reach the highest levels. ‘Ordinary Grace’ has all these attributes. This crime novel is outstanding literary fiction.

Above all ‘Ordinary Grace’ captures small-town Minnesota life which is probably a lot like life elsewhere.

Grade:   A