Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Skillfully combining the rich history of Native Americans with their life in the 21st century, bestseller Coel offers a fresh story that moves as fast as the moccasin telegraph, the reservation gossip line that spreads news faster than the Internet, in this eighth outing featuring Vicky Holden, Arapaho attorney, and Father John O'Malley, priest of the mission on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation. This represents a welcome return to form after last year's The Thunder Keeper, which suffered from an overly familiar plot. Father John is facing the possible closing of the mission and the sudden disappearance of one of his parishioners when Vicky's ex-husband is murdered and she becomes the chief suspect. Circumstances prompt Vicky to forgo Father John's assistance in her search for the killer, but as they go their separate ways, they each struggle to clarify their feelings for each other. In due course their paths cross at the ranch where James Sherwood, called Orlando by his followers, has resurrected the Shadow Dance religion of the 1890s. Can Sherwood deliver on his promise of an Indian paradise? Compared to and praised by Tony Hillerman, Coel not only presents a vivid and authentic picture of the Native American, past and present, but also captures the rugged and majestic atmosphere of Wyoming. Even minor characters are real and human. The poignant ending will catch even the most astute mystery aficionado by surprise. (Sept. 3) Forecast: Striking jacket art of a silhouetted bird above an isolated storm-threatened church will help lure casual browsers. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
After Arapaho lawyer Vicki Holden (nee Singing Bird) has a contentious dinner with her ex-husband Ben, a successful businessman and even more successful ladies' man, he's shot dead, and she becomes the prime suspect. Tightening the noose is the fact that the murder weapon belongs to Vicki's Aunt Rose, who claims it was stolen. Normally, handsome priest John O'Malley from the Wind River Indian Reservation would step in to support friend Vicki and help her solve the crime, but Father John has his hands full with another matter. Distraught elderly sisters Louise and Minnie Little Horse have implored him to find Dean, their missing nephew. Learning that Dean has a girlfriend named Janis he's kept secret from his doting aunts, Father John traces her to a revived Indian sect known as the Shadow Dancers. Led by a man named James Sherwood, a.k.a. Orlando, they dance for days at a time in preparation, so the legend goes, for Paradise. Father John is unsettled by the blind fervor of Orlando's followers; what Orlando describes as a reverent return to tradition many see as a dangerous cult. The investigative paths of Vicki and Father John merge when Dean's body is found shot by the same gun that killed Ben. In a finale that's more Nancy Drew than Nick and Nora, Father John and Vicki stumble into the solution and face off against the surprising culprit. In this sixth outing, Coel (The Lost Bird, 1999, etc.) depicts a finely textured world of believable characters, but seems uninterested in plot construction or mystery.
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