February Books

I only read a paltry seven books in February.  I had too many things on my mind and couldn't settle or concentrate.  I have started a bunch of books, but we'll see how I do finishing them.  Here are the ones I finished:

     The Rogue Not Taken  -  MacLean
   
     The Road to Little Dribbling  -  Bryson

     A Faint Cold Fear  -  Slaughter

     Forty Plus and Fancy Free  -  Kimbrough

     Growing Up  -  Thirkell

     Murder by the Book  -  Brown

     Boundary Waters  -  Krueger

I hope to read more in March.  Spring is coming, isn't it?  Today is windy and much colder than yesterday.  Maybe the seasons are going backward.

Boundary Waters - William Kent Krueger

I love this series.  It takes place in the deep woods and many lakes of the Minnesota - Canada border.  There are two other mystery / suspense series that take place in the wilderness that I also like:  Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series and Paul Doiron's Mike Bowditch Maine woods series.  I almost forgot Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak series, which takes place in Alaska.  There's something so exciting and scary about people hiding out in the woods and people looking for the people who are hiding out in the woods.  Plus there are all the things that can befall people just out in the woods:  accidents, animals, weather.  I love it!  If you know of any similar series, I'd love to know about them.

I've treated myself to buying the whole series via used books stores and the Internet.  I'm still feeling sorry for myself after a few stressful months.  After reading a few of Krueger's books out of order, I now have them all and will read them in the order they were written, which, presumably, is the story order, too.

In Boundary Waters, Cork O'Connor, former sheriff of Aurora, MN, is asked to find a young singing star who has gone on a retreat alone in the woods.  Her father, also a famous country singer, thinks something has happened to her.  Cork is part Anishinaabe and is trusted by other Anishinaabe on the rez.  One of them took the young woman to a remote cabin and has been taking her food and supplies.  But now he's missing, too.

The FBI shows up looking for the girl.  They go off into the woods with Cork and a few others who know the woods.  Almost immediately, they encounter another group looking for the girl.  There are so many bad men in the woods you can't see the bad men for the bad men!  Is everyone a bad man?  Will the few good guys find the girl before the bad guys?

There's so much suspense, so many times I thought the story was over, but, no, there's another roller coaster ride ahead.  Boundary Waters did not disappoint.