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. Raised in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, Krueger briefly attended Stanford University but was expelled for radical activities. Afterward, he worked in various fields including logging and construction, and eventually ended up researching child development at the University of Minnesota.

Krueger has been married for over fifty years to a marvelous woman who is a retired attorney, and they reside in St. Paul, Minnesota. He writes a mystery series set in the north woods of Minnesota, with his protagonist being Cork O’Connor, a man of mixed heritage—part Irish and part Ojibwe.

Krueger's work has received numerous awards, 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 stand-alone novel Ordinary Grace won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2013, and This Tender Land, published in 2019, was on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly six months.

He is known for his disciplined writing process, developed over years of early morning writing sessions in local coffee shops. His recent works continue to be recognized, with The River We Remember receiving an Edgar Award nomination for Best Novel in 2023.

Krueger's journey as a writer began with his childhood dream of becoming an author, and he has successfully fulfilled this dream, making a significant impact in the literary world.