William Kent Krueger is an American novelist and crime writer, best known for his series of novels featuring Cork O'Connor, which are set mainly in Minnesota. He was born on November 16, 1950, in Torrington, Wyoming.

Raised in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, Krueger briefly attended Stanford University but was expelled for radical activities during the Vietnam War era. His diverse career included logging timber, working construction, and freelance journalism before focusing on child development research at the University of Minnesota.

Krueger is a full-time author residing in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he lives with his wife Diane, a retired attorney. He has been married for more than fifty years. The author has received numerous accolades, including the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, and the Friends of American Writers Prize. His last thirteen novels were all New York Times bestsellers.

His stand-alone novel Ordinary Grace, published in 2013, received the Edgar Award for Best Novel. The companion novel, This Tender Land, published in September 2019, was on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly six months. His most recent stand-alone, The River We Remember, published in 2023, received an Edgar Award nomination for Best Novel.

Krueger's protagonist, Cork O’Connor, is a former sheriff of Tamarack County and a man of mixed heritage—part Irish and part Ojibwe. His work is celebrated for its deep connection to the Minnesota landscape and cultural heritage.