Find out what Minnesotan William Kent Krueger says writing is like

There is an audiobook of William Kent Krueger’s new mystery, “Apostle’s Cove,” but it is not read by him. Oh, he auditioned. But he didn’t get the job.

“Apostle’s Cove” is the St. Paul writer’s 21st mystery featuring cop-turned-private-investigator Cork O’Connor but the audition was back in 2007, for “Thunder Bay,” the seventh in the series. The O’Connor books are narrated by David Chandler but, back then, there were plans to re-record the books and Krueger threw his hat in the ring, making his way to a Michigan sound booth.

“They had me open to the first page and said, ‘OK, read.’ It opens with expository prose and I’m a pretty good reader of expository prose,” said the 74-year-old, over coffee at Rustica in Edina. “Then they said, ‘Go to the page that’s marked,’ and it was a section where there were a lot of people in conversation and that’s when I realized why you have professional readers. Because my men sounded like women, my kids sounded like adults. I said, ‘OK, I get it.’ They said, ‘Well thank you very much, Kent, but I think we have somebody else in mind.’”

That’s good news for his fans, since it means the Edgar- and Minnesota Book Award-winning author has more time to craft both Cork O’Connor mysteries and stand-alone novels such as his wildly popular “Ordinary Grace” and 2023’s “The River We Remember.”

Currently, Krueger is working on both kinds of books: In addition to “Apostle’s Cove,” another Cork O’Connor — who “paid my mortgage, put my kids through college. I love spending time with him” — will hit shelves next fall. A stand-alone should be available in 2027.

Here’s how that works:

“A stand-alone takes me two or three years to write and I typically have Cork O’Connor obligations in the meantime. So I will work on a Cork O’Connor novel, get it to a place where I can make a stop,” began Krueger. “I finish my first draft, try to set it aside for awhile so I can come to the first round of revisions with a fresh eye and send it to my agent for her to read. She’ll have it for a few weeks. I’ll work on a stand-alone in the meantime. She sends [the O’Connor] back, I make edits and send it to my editor at Simon & Schuster. He has it for several weeks. In that way, I’m never working on Cork O’Connor in the morning and, in the afternoon, a stand-alone.”

“It allowed me to go back and explore characters who are no longer part of the series, because they’ve died, or look at characters in an earlier time,” said Krueger, who revisits, for instance, Cork’s first wife, Jo, who died in a plane crash in “Heaven’s Keep” but whom he hopes readers will be jazzed to encounter again. “That was exactly my thinking: ‘This will be fun for me and for readers who haven’t seen her for many, many books, to recall what his family life was like back then.’”

One fan who may be happy to see Jo back, albeit briefly, is Krueger’s wife Diane. Like Jo, she was a (now-retired) attorney and, like Jo, she’s blond. Which is why, when the fictional Jo died, the real Diane asked Krueger, “Is there something you should be telling me?”

“Apostle’s Cove” also came together differently. In the past, Krueger has known everything that happens before sitting down at his keyboard to write. Not this time.

“The story was created as I wrote it. Which is a very different process for me and I’m not sure I’ll ever do it again,” said Krueger, who wasn’t even sure whodunit until he wrote the ending. “I think what happened is I’ve been writing mysteries for a very long time and my instincts as a storyteller and a mystery writer kicked in.”

Krueger said he always enjoys sitting down with the beloved characters but comparing current Cork to past Cork opened up new possibilities. In fact, his editor is encouraging him to dive into the past in future books (“Lightning Strike” was set in the character’s youth).

“When I finish a book in the Cork O’Connor series, I will give it to one or two, occasionally three, Native American friends to read to make sure there’s nothing in there that is stupid or, even worse, offensive,” said Krueger, who refers readers to writers Marcie Rendon, Louise Erdrich and Anton Treuer for perspectives not filtered through a white gaze.

In “Apostle’s Cove,” a Native character alerts readers that justice looks different to the book’s white and Ojibwe characters: “I’m just reminding you how the law works because when it comes to Indians, sometimes white people forget.”

With the book’s arrival imminent, Krueger’s work isn’t done. He’s embarking on a six-week, 45-appearance tour, one he and his team booked themselves, rather than through his publisher, because they can visit more stores and libraries for less money by staying in Hampton Inns (“I’m a rewards member!”) instead of Ritz Carltons. Dating back to his first books, he has built a coalition of independent stores and libraries. Many are in Minnesota, where the O’Connor books are set.

Inevitably, he’ll meet fans who point out inconsistencies in his fictional Tamarack County, or errors about gun safeties. And Krueger — who has the broad and frequent smile of a man who works because he loves it, not because he has to — will reply with good cheer.

“In one of my talks about reasons to write, a line I deliver to audiences that they love is I have learned writing is a little bit like sex,” said Krueger. “If you’re not enjoying yourself, you’re probably not doing it right.”

By: William Kent Krueger.

Publisher: Atria, 322 pages.