The Spirit Woman by Margaret Coel

First Line: Father John O'Malley pulled up the collar of his jacket and dipped the brim of his cowboy hat against the hard wind whirling little pellets of snow into the air.

Legend has it that Sacajawea, the Native American woman who helped guide the Lewis and Clark expedition through the vast American wilderness, is buried on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. A college professor and longtime friend of Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden has disappeared while searching for documented evidence of that legend. 

Holden and Father John O'Malley become increasingly concerned when her missing friend is linked to another female historian who also vanished on the reservation while researching Sacajawea twenty years ago. The answer to these disappearances may lie in the pages of Sacajawea's hidden memoirs, but someone is willing to do anything to ensure they're never found.

~

It's been much too long since I've picked up one of Margaret Coel's Wind River mysteries, and The Spirit Woman was such a pleasure to read. Coel always seems to find a fascinating aspect of Native American or Western history to build her stories upon, and this time it's Sacajawea, the remarkable teenager who, with a baby strapped to her back and dealing with an abusive husband, guided Lewis and Clark. Proving that Sacajawea survived and died in old age on the Wind River Reservation among her people would be a coup for any historian, but it can't be just any proof. Historians want written documented evidence. Oral histories will not do. Rumors of Sacajawea's written memoirs are a magnet for both female college professors who have disappeared on the reservation.

The subject of abusive relationships is a major theme in The Spirit Woman, but for those readers who may find the subject too distressing, rest assured that Coel never resorts to any sort of graphic violence. It's what living under such circumstances can do to women that is the author's focus, and she deftly weaves this into the story.  

The whodunit was easy for me to deduce, but then I don't read mysteries just to see how good I am at solving crimes. For me, characterization and setting mean even more, and Coel's series has both in abundance. There's the attraction between Father John O'Malley and attorney Vicky Holden. There's how residents of the reservation react to a historian nosing around and asking questions. But even more important, there's the fact that O'Malley's boss has decided that it's time for O'Malley to move on to a different parish. His replacement shows up almost before O'Malley has a chance to hang up the phone. John is highly respected on the reservation. How are the people going to react to his leaving? The actions of the elders should make you smile. 

One of the things that kept me glued to the pages was trying to figure out how O'Malley got to stay. Let's face it... this is the sixth book in a twenty-book series, and they're all called Wind River mysteries. Father John has to stay, right? I was happy to see that my solution wasn't the right one (not that it was violent or anything, just wrong).

This is a series to savor, particularly if you love intelligent writing. The characters and the setting sing. What readers can learn about reservation life and the West is fascinating. If you haven't sampled the Wind River mysteries, I highly recommend them. Due to character development, I would suggest that you begin with the first book, The Eagle Catcher. It will be the start of a beautiful reading relationship.

The Spirit Woman by Margaret Coel

ISBN: 0425180905

Berkley Prime Crime © 2000

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

 

Native American mystery, #6 Wind River mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Paperback Swap

The Lost Bird by Margaret Coel

First Line: He was late.

There's a first time for everything. Father John O'Malley finally has an assistant who actually requested to be there with him on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Father Joseph had been there several years ago, and most of the Arapaho remember him well. But with the good comes the unthinkable: Father John is shot dead, and since he was driving Father John's old Toyota, Father John is convinced that the bullet was meant for him. 

Consumed with anger and guilt, he is determined to find the killer, and along the way he teams up with Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden. When they discover that Father John had ties to one of Vicky's cases, they know there's no time to waste.

If you love crime fiction with a strong Native American element and you haven't read Margaret Coel's Wind River mysteries, I urge you to get your hands on them and start reading. (They're best read in order, so begin with The Eagle Catcher.) I learned about them while attending an author event in which Coel appeared with William Kent Krueger. I got the first book in the series, and I haven't looked back since.

Coel is a wonderful stylist. The Wyoming landscape, the history of the area, the characters, the mysteries, and the Arapaho culture are all woven into seamless narratives that are difficult to put down. Everything she writes has such a ring of truth to it, and so much heart that readers learn the Arapaho Way whether or not they realize it. 

At the heart of The Lost Bird is a heartbreaking subject that's dealt with honestly and with great sensitivity. As the story unfolds so do more facets of the characters' lives. Father John and Vicky both have emotional revelations to deal with, and Father John also has a surprise visit from his niece Megan which will also cause him great soul-searching. 

There are always many layers to these Wind River mysteries, but Coel is the type of writer who keeps a smooth pace while never wasting a word. It's taking me a while to get through this series, but that's my plan. I aim to savor each and every book... and to mourn when I finally read the last installment, Winter's Child.
 

The Lost Bird by Margaret Coel

ISBN: 0425170306

Berkley © 2000

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Native American Mystery, #5 Wind River Reservation mystery

Rating: A

Source: Paperback Swap 


 

The Dream Stalker by Margaret Coel

First Line: Rain pattered against the window and broke through the quiet in the study.

Once again the vivid setting of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming provides a dramatic backdrop for Father John O'Malley and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden to solve a crime of greed and false promises.

A big power company from back East has come to the Wind River Reservation promising lots of jobs and lots of money if the Arapaho will agree to store nuclear waste on their land. This company has had geological surveys done to prove that the site they have chosen is completely safe. To an impoverished people, most of whom live from day to day, the promise of safety and the lure of jobs is irresistible. But to Father John O'Malley of the St. Francis Jesuit Mission and to Vicky Holden, the dangers far outweigh the benefits. Trouble is, someone is quite willing to silence anyone who opposes the storage dump.

Margaret Coel has a plot that immediately raises my hackles. If nuclear waste needs to be taken care of, it needs to be taken care of where it was created, not shipped off "out in the middle of nowhere" for other people to deal with. Same thing goes for junked electronics, or any other waste created by society anywhere around the world. This program of avoidance is rife with dangers, and Coel deals with them in fine fashion.

Once again it's Father John and Vicky who bring the story to life. Although the two are attracted to each other, The Dream Stalker doesn't revolve around that one fact. Father John is dealing with yet another new priest sent to help him, and he's learning that what is to him a place of redemption and peace isn't thought of in the same light by the Church hierarchy. The constant struggle to keep the mission monetarily afloat adds an immediacy to the book as well.

What adds "zing" is the very real sense of danger to Vicky Holden, who refuses to be silent about the nuclear waste storage facility. The debate has brought the media and environmentalists into an already fraught situation, and Coel kept me worrying about Vicky. There is no safe place for the Arapaho lawyer-- even among her own people.

I came to this series late, but I'm enjoying every minute of Coel's plots, setting, and characters. Bring on the next book!
 

The Dream Stalker by Margaret Coel

ISBN: 9780425165331

Berkley Prime Crime © 1998

Mass Market Paperback, 272 pages

Native American Mystery, #3 Wind River Reservation mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Paperback Swap 

The Ghost Walker by Margaret Coel

First Line: Snow had fallen all day, and now the open spaces of Wind River Reservation lay under deep powder.

In this second book in Margaret Coel's Wind River mystery series, it's winter in Wyoming and cold enough to freeze you all the way down to your bones. When Father John O'Malley's old truck breaks down on a lonely road during a snowstorm, he has to walk for help. He finds a body dumped in a ditch and shortly thereafter is given a lift by a nervous, evasive stranger. When the police arrive, the body has disappeared, and the Arapaho begin talking about ghost walkers-- spirits that cause trouble until their bodies are given a proper burial. 

And trouble begins almost immediately. O'Malley is told that his superiors have decided to sell his small reservation church to some sort of investment group. O'Malley has parishioners who need help now, and as he does his best to provide what is needed, he's sick at heart wondering what will happen to these people if the church is indeed sold. Then a troubled young Arapaho disappears, his former girlfriend is murdered, and he learns that friend and lawyer Vicky Holden's daughter is back in the area. Father John and Vicky need to find out what's going on fast before any more people die.

Margaret Coel's writing puts you right on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming-- and that winter wind cuts right through you while you try to piece together all the clues in a very satisfying mystery. While the setting is beautifully rendered, what holds all the pieces of location and investigation together is her superb cast of characters. 

Father John O'Malley is a real, flawed human being who cares deeply for the Arapaho on the Wind River Reservation. He has taken the time and trouble to learn their history and their customs, and as a result his parishioners have learned to trust and value him as an important part of their lives. His friend Vicky Holden is a bit prickly and tends to be very reserved, but she's had a tough row to hoe-- escaping from an abusive alcoholic husband and working hard to earn a law degree. Now she's back on the reservation to help her people, but she straddles both worlds and conflicts can arise-- like the sudden reappearance of her daughter, who resents Vicky for leaving her father and making her own way in the world.

All the characters play against each other very well as the various threads of the plot begin to mesh together. Thankfully Coel adds welcome touches of humor to all the serious goings on of the plot, letting us watch the quick-thinking priest wheel and deal to get the people on the reservation the things they so desperately need. Especially humorous is the scene in which O'Malley cuts a deal with a car salesman.

Equally important amongst the murders, the setting, and the characters are the glimpses Coel gives us into Arapaho culture:

"Whites'll say Lester's my brother's grandson."

Father John gave a nod of understanding. There was no concept of aunt, uncle, or cousin on the reservation. Your brother's child was your child. Thomas and Mardell had no children of their own, but they were not childless.

It's a concept other cultures would do well to take to heart. 

This is only the second book I've read in this series, but the further I get into it, the deeper I fall. Margaret Coel knows how to write a feast for both mind and heart.
 

The Ghost Walker by Margaret Coel

ISBN: 9780425159613

Berkley Prime Crime © 1997

Mass Market Paperback, 256 pages

Amateur Sleuth, #2 Wind River mystery

Rating: A

Source: Paperback Swap 

The Eagle Catcher by Margaret Coel

First Line: A cold gust of wind whipped across the Ethete powwow grounds and flapped at Father John Aloysius O'Malley's windbreaker.

It's time for the big Ethete powwow on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, but when the Arapaho tribal chairman is found murdered in his tepee there on the grounds, the entire tribe is in shock. Father John O'Malley, pastor of the St. Francis Mission on the reservation and friend of the dead man is also in shock. All the evidence points to the chairman's nephew, but Father John and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden believe the evidence is pointing at the wrong person. The trail these two follow leads all over the reservation, into fraudulent oil and land deals and-- eventually-- all the way back into the past. What they begin to piece together puts them right in the cross hairs of a determined killer.

If you're like me and enjoy mysteries that are permeated with Native American culture and history, put Margaret Coel's Wind River mysteries on your reading list. This first book in the series is a strong blend of well-plotted mystery, a setting that should be listed in the cast of characters, Arapaho culture and history, and two strong, interesting leads in Father John O'Malley and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden.

"In the distance, the brown humps of the Wind River Mountains rode against the sky like a herd of giant buffalo."

The high plains setting of the Wind River Reservation plays an important role in the book, especially if you keep in mind the fact that Father John and Vicky are a thirty to forty-five minute drive from anywhere. It's remote, it's beautiful, and its weather can turn on a dime.

Father John O'Malley taught history in Jesuit prep schools back East until his drinking spiraled out of control and he was sent in disgrace from Boston to the Wind River Reservation. To his surprise, he fell in love with the landscape and with the Arapaho people. Vicky Holden was the wife of a drunk and abusive man. She divorced him and took the long lonely road to law school. Vicky is much more prickly than Father John, but both are strong, intelligent, and just the kind of characters to sustain a long series.

I was swept up by the story very quickly, and I appreciated how Coel skillfully wove present-day Arapaho issues into the narrative. Although I did identify one of the villains of the piece very early on, the killer came as a total surprise. The reveal should not have been so amazing, however, because there were clues all along the trail-- proof of how the story made me put aside my deductive skills.

If there was anything I didn't like about the book, it was the fact that the story was over much too soon and left me with a craving for more-- in particular, more of Vicky Holden. Father John received the lion's share of the attention in this book, and Vicky is such a fascinating character that I'm dying to learn more about her.

Good mystery, evocative setting, Native American culture and history, and two characters with whom I need to become better acquainted. I'm definitely returning to Wind River!

The Eagle Catcher by Margaret Coel

ISBN: 9780425154632

Berkley Prime Crime © 1996

Mass Market Paperback, 256 pages

Amateur Sleuth, #1 Wind River mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Paperback Swap