Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kruger

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kreuger

Frank Drum, a Scottish descendent and son of a Methodist paster lives in New Bremen. One summer, a series of seemingly unrelated accidental deaths took place near the village’s railroad.  

Frank and his side-sick stammering younger brother, Jake, had their share of tragedy soon after these. Their sister, bound for Julliard, was found dead after a night of revelry celebrating a successful operatic performance by the river bed.

Her devoted boyfriend was the main suspect when they found out that the dead sister was pregnant but while protesting his innocence, he confessed he was guy. This fact was picked up by Jake ,who accidentally told it to a rogue policeman. The boyfriend committed suicide after the town got wind of it.

A few bystanders fell victims to the witch hunting , including an Indian who had a political history .

In the end, they discovered the father of the unborn baby was an older trusted family friend who was a village celebrity and happened to be an old flame of their mother. The murderer turned out ot be an autistic girl who only had affection for the blind but musically talented brother and Jake. A series of unrelated events collided causing the girl to die tragically.

Other than the mother who could not forgive as a minister’s wife was expected to, the Drum siblings grappled with issues of forgiveness and letting go.

The parting chapter saw the Drums' reconciliation with the people who did harm. The many the red herrings who looked like prospective suspects turned out to be  unrelated to all the cases in the story. Jake as a result of the incident became a minister and Frank, a teacher. The tone in the end was that hate and unhappiness terminate at death. Only forgiveness and love would live on.