Margaret Coel's Blood Memory and Willima Kent Krueger's Red Knife

We have two wonderful books not to be missed, Margaret Coel's Blood Memory, her first stand-alone novel dealing with contemporary Native American affairs.

Someone is trying to kill Catherine McLeod.

Catherine is an investigative reporter for a major Denver newspaper. At first she thinks someone wants her dead because of what she must have written for the paper. But soon she realizes that she has been targeted for death because of what she might write in the future. She has no idea of what that might be.

As an assassin closes in, Catherine finds herself in a race for her life to uncover the story that someone is determined to keep hidden. Soon she realizes the story revolves around a massacre of Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians in 1864—the Sand Creek Massacre—and the efforts of the tribes to build a 300 million dollar casino on the plains close to Denver. But behind the headlines, Catherine comes to understand, is the real story of what happened in the past, a story buried for one hundred and fifty years.

And behind the facts of that story is someone who wants her dead.

The race to uncover the truth takes Catherine through the streets and neighborhoods of Denver to the power centers of Washington, D.C. Desperate to stay one step ahead of the assassin stalking her, Catherine sheds her old identity and everything familiar in her life, gradually becoming someone else. Along the way, she must come to terms with her own past and the Arapaho blood that she had never acknowledged. But only by facing the past can she write a story never before told and, ultimately, save her own life.

Come meet Margaret Monday, September 8 at 7pm at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore.

Red Knife by William Kent Krueger the latest book in the award-winning Cork O'Connor series finds the charismatic private investigator caught in the middle of a racial gang war that's turning picturesque Tamarack County, Minnesota, into a bloody battlefield.

When the daughter of a powerful businessman dies as a result of her meth addiction, her father, strong-willed and brutal Buck Reinhardt, vows revenge. His target is the Red Boyz, a gang of Ojibwe youths accused of supplying the girl's fatal drug dose. When the head of the Red Boyz and his wife are murdered in a way that suggests execution, the Ojibwe gang mobilizes, and the citizens of Tamarack County brace themselves for war, white against red.

Both sides look to Cork O'Connor, a man of mixed heritage, to uncover the truth behind the murders. A former sheriff, Cork has lived, fought, and nearly died to keep the small-town streets and his family safe from harm. He knows that violence is never a virtue, but he believes that it's sometimes a necessary response to the evil that men do. Racing to find answers before the bloodshed spreads, Cork himself becomes involved in the darkest of deeds. As the unspeakable unfolds in the remote and beautiful place he calls home, Cork is forced to confront the horrific truth: Violence is a beast that cannot be contained.

In Red Knife, Krueger gives his readers a vivid picture of racial conflict in small-town America, as well as a sensitive look at the secrets we keep from even those closest to us and the destructive nature of all that is left unsaid between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, friends and lovers.

William is signing at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore on Thursday, September 25 at 7pm. He will speak and sign. The event is free and open to the public. Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to meet this fascinating author.

You can read and except here