I love a mystery set in an exotic location. The Orient Express. A renovated sanatorium in the Alps. Bangkok, Egypt, Paris, Mumbai. Sometimes there’s nothing more exciting than hopping on a literary red-eye and reading about murder in the Australian Outback.
Still, as much as I love to imagine the scent of eucalyptus in the air as I read, there’s something uniquely gripping about a mystery set a bit closer to home. With a setting as familiar as stepping out my own front door, books grounded in the heart of America have an almost visceral appeal. It’s easy to imagine devilish deeds unfolding in far-flung locales where snow batters the windows and harsh mountain peaks stab the horizon, but how unsettling to think that in the Heartland there are also dark puzzles to solve.
Perhaps it’s the Midwest’s reputation as America’s “girl-next-door” that makes mysteries set here particularly riveting. We’re wholesome and down to earth, the sleepy flyover states that are usually well behaved and often forgettable. A fall from grace in the last place you’d expect always makes for a juicy story.
Or maybe it’s the simple ordinariness of these backyard settings that makes them so unputdownable. Even if we’ve never stepped foot in middle America, we’ve seen it on TV and in movies enough—the sweeping prairie vistas, ticker tape hometown parades, unpretentious small cities that so seamlessly marry urban and rural in such charming ways. The Midwest is as American as apple pie and just as delectable.
The rich literary tradition of the Heartland is celebrated in Willa Cather, Mark Twain, and Louis L’Amour, as well as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Laura Ingalls Wilder to name just a few, but the Midwestern mystery stands in a class by itself. And lucky for us the ranks are growing by the day. Here are just a handful of mysteries set in and written by fantastic Midwestern authors.
Lightning Strike by William Kent Krueger
William Kent Krueger is the perfect place to start. A Minnesota native and the beloved author of the Cork O’Connor series, Krueger has made a name for himself as a multi-award winning and bestselling novelist. In Lightning Strike, his newest Cork O’Connor offering, he rewinds the clock to tell Cork’s origin story. We know and love Cork as a former small town, northern Minnesota sheriff with a steely determination and a heart of gold, but in this book he’s twelve years old and the first person to stumble upon an alleged suicide victim. It’s a story about fathers and sons, and rethinking everything you thought you knew. Lightning Strike is also a masterful mystery, and one that will keep you guessing until the final pages.
The Monsters We Make by Kali White
The Des Moines Register paper boy kidnappings of the early 1980’s were the inspiration for Kali White’s The Monsters We Make. White was just a child growing up in Iowa when the kidnappings took place, and the immediacy of the fear and uncertainty she felt as a girl is taut throughout each chapter. Told from multiple perspectives, with characters that leap off the page and a storyline that haunts, White captures a moment in time that unraveled the trust of a close-knit community. We’re taught to be wary of strangers, but what if the people we should be worried about are closer to home?
Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens
Missouri native Allen Eskens knows the Ozarks like the back of his hand and it shows. In Nothing More Dangerous, the setting is a character all its own, and his striking prose is on full display in this lush, small town mystery that grapples with family, loyalty, and racial tension. The story centers around Boady Sanden, a fifteen-year-old whose life is upended when the Elgins move into the neighborhood. Thomas Elgin is a black kid in a narrow-minded and, well, downright racist community, and as he and Boady become fast friends, Boady’s worldview is shattered. When a local woman disappears, the boys are drawn into the mystery in unexpected and ultimately transformative ways.
This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf
Heather Gudenkauf is a household name in the Midwest and rightfully so. Her mysteries have been holding us in thrall for well over a decade, beginning with her commanding debut The Weight of Silence. Her most recent offering, This Is How I Lied, continues in her tradition of marrying authentic, lovable characters and complicated, small town settings with twisty mysteries that pack a memorable punch. A twenty-five year old mystery and a cast of shady characters keep the pages flying by until the explosive—and unexpected—conclusion.
Strike Me Down by Mindy Mejia
The Daily Mail once called Mindy Mejia “a future star in crime writing,” and that future is now. A Minnesota native (and accountant!), Mejia’s books are all set in the plains, forests, and lakes of Minnesota—“the landscape of [her] imagination.” In Strike Me Down, Nora Trier is a forensic accountant who is hired by Strike, an anti-corporate, feminist athletic empire. When the prize money for a major kickboxing tournament goes missing, Nora finds herself tangled in a stunning, deadly web. This gorgeously written, ambitious thriller will keep readers on the very edge of their seats.
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
I would be terribly remiss to talk about Midwestern authors and not include the unparalleled Louise Erdrich. She doesn’t always write mystery, but when she does it stuns. A Pulitzer Prize and National Award winning novelist, Erdrich’s books are always firmly planted in the rich soil of middle America. In The Sentence, her latest novel, a Minneapolis bookstore is haunted by the ghost of the store’s most annoying customer. Tookie, a new employee and former convict, must solve the mystery of the haunting all while coming to terms with the extraordinary events of an unprecedented year. Told in Erdrich’s characteristic lyrical prose, The Sentence is timely and immediate, an up-close reckoning with everything from Covid to George Floyd. It’s experimental and unexpected, something fresh and new from an author who’s made a name for herself as a champion of Native American characters and stories.
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