Dream Stalker (Wind River Reservation Mystery) [Hardcover]

Margaret Coel (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wind River Reservation Mystery | Publication Date: October 1, 1997

Margaret Coel's bestselling Arapaho Indian mysteries are drawing the author comparisons to a female Tony Hillerman, and Hillerman himself has called her "a master." In The Dream Stalker, Father John O'Malley and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden must catch a killer whose dreams are leading to his victims' worst nightmares.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden opposes the plan to construct a nuclear waste facility on the Wind River Reservation, but she receives death threats and the enmity of her people for her pains. Good friend John O'Malley, Jesuit priest at the local mission, believes that a murdered Indian he found has some connection to Vicky's troubles, so he investigates?against police advice. Financial problems at the mission, the personal crises of the new assistant, and O'Malley's own temptations of the flesh lend realistic touches to the author's usual commendable plotting and characterization. A fine addition to a successful series.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In this third Father John O'Malley mystery, the head of St. Francis Mission on the Arapaho reservation in Wyoming comes to the aid of attorney Vicky Holden, who has been receiving death threats stemming from her role in protesting a plan to store nuclear waste on the reservation. Soon the pair must catch a killer whose dreams prompt violence. Coel enchants and intrigues by presenting uniformly well developed, realistic characters--from O'Malley and Holden to the most peripheral walk-ons--who face difficult moral choices. Against a vivid landscape and accurate historical backdrop, Coel injects drama and surprise into every corner of her story. Her lively style and western settings, awash in Native Americana, evoke Tony Hillerman's work, and Holden's character will remind readers of Hillerman's attorney, Janet Pete. At the same time, Coel's ability to conjure a mystery out of obscure history suggests Stephen Dobyns' Saratoga series, and O'Malley, with his cranky independence, dry wit, and love of opera, compares favorably to Colin Dexter's Chief Inspector Morse. Heartily recommended. John Rowen

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1st edition (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425159671
• ISBN-13: 978-0425159675
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,468,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Margaret Coel is the author of four nonfiction books and many articles on the people and places of the American West. Her work has won national and regional awards. Her first John O'Malley mystery, The Eagle Catcher, was a national bestseller, garnering excellent reviews from the Denver Post, Tony Hillerman, Jean Hager, Loren D. Estleman, Stephen White, Earlene Fowler, Ann Ripley and other top writers in the field. A native of Colorado, she resides in Boulder.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shattered dreams, August 28, 2005

By 

Felicia Jordan (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dream Stalker (A Wind River Reservation Myste) (Paperback)

"The Dream Stalker" has everything you could want in a mystery novel -- a suspensful and compelling story, well-drawn characters and setting, an intriguing glimpse into the Arapaho culture and frustrated love.

About the only complaint I could make is I wish Margaret Coel would continue the stories of her supporting characters from novel to novel. For example, her last book ended with Susan, Vicky Holden's daughter, in drug treatment. In "The Dream Stalker," it is mentioned Susan has returned home to L.A., but nothing else is stated about her recovery or her strained relationship with Vicky. Coel is so good at making me care about her characters, I want to see what happens to all of them.

However, that's a small quibble about a series that is rapidly becoming one of my favorites.

I also want to note the villain in "The Dream Stalker" was one of the most chilling killers I've ever encountered in mystery fiction, a person made all the scarier because of their absolute conviction that what they are doing is justified.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Third book of the series, November 21, 2003

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dream Stalker (A Wind River Reservation Myste) (Paperback)

The attraction that Father John O'Malley and Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden feel for each other deepens in this third book of the series. Father John receives an anonymous phone call late at night, requesting a meeting with him. When he goes to the meeting place, he finds an unidentified body whom he is sure is the caller. Meanwhile Vicky is working to oppose a transaction which would allow a ranch to be turned over to a company which will use it for a nuclear storage site. More people die, and Father John is afraid that Vicky will be next. There are abductions, car chases, and other scarey moments while the Jesuit priest and the Arapaho attorney pursue the murderer. There are also the usual glimpses into the Arapaho culture which always enrich Margaret Coel's books. This is another good entry to this series.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful blend of mystery and mysticism, August 23, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Dream Stalker (Wind River Reservation Mystery) (Hardcover)

Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden plays the Lone Ranger as she opposes the construction of a nuclear waste storage silo on the Legeau Ranch near the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Most of her tribe see the silo as an opportunity for jobs, but Vicky worries that the site will harm her people.

Her vocal opposition has stirred up the enmity of her opponents. One of them wants to quiet Vicky and all other opposition to the construction by using any means at his/her disposal. One opponent to the site is killed and Vicky nearly becomes a victim also. She turns to her one known ally, Father John O'Malley. Working as a team, the intrepid amateur sleuths begin to investigate why someone wants any opponents to the silo silenced. As they dig deeper, the pair becomes aware of their own attraction to each other. Still, they must solve the case if they plan to survive the silo construction.

Margaret Coel is rightfully being acknowledged as the female Tony Hillerman. The lead protagonists are wonderful characters and the story line is a very interesting blend of a modern problem (nuclear waste) and Native American folk lore. More novels like THE DREAM STALKER and readers will soon be calling Tony Hillerman the male Margaret Coel.

Harriet Klausner