Customer Reviews

The Girl with Braided Hair (Thorndike Core)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The skeleton of a woman is recovered, and Indian tradition demands that her identity be established so that she can be given a proper burial. Arapaho attorney, Liz Holden, and her friend, Father John O'Malley, join together to find out the woman's identity and discover who her murderer was. Police determine that the woman was killed around 1973, a time when Indian rights activists were part of a group called AIM. As they get closer to the truth, both Vicki and John become targets of a killer who has escaped justice for 14 years. Author Margaret Coel weaves in themes from past books in the series--tension between Vicki and Father John because of a forbidden attraction between them, financial pressures for the St. Francis mission, and the threat of Father John being transferred to another place. This series has kept up its high standards and can be counted on to provide a good read. The setting of the Wind River Reservation is a good one and it provides interesting background on the life and culture of the Arapaho Indians.

In 1973 the American Indian Movement (AIM) was an organization that the Indians themselves either loved or feared. While its expressed goal was to fight for the rights of Native American people, there were members who used the organization for their own violent purposes.

Liz Plenty Horses was accused of informing the FBI of the location of one of the wanted AIM members. She knew she would be in danger and fled with her month-old infant daughter and was never seen again.

Thirty years has passed and a skeleton with missing teeth and a bullet hole in the back of its skull is discovered on the Wind River Reservation. It is determined that it is a young Arapaho female who had given birth. The time of death was probably around 1973.

The police are not moving very fast to delve into a cold case but Arapaho attorney Vicki Holden and Father John O'Malley are determined to learn the identity of the victim, uncover the murderer and bring him or them to justice. It's a dangerous task because people are reluctant to talk and the murderer is sending increasingly violent and frightening messages demanding the investigation cease.

The Girl With Braided Hair is the first mystery of Margaret Coel's I've read and it won't be the last. Not only is the novel well-written, but the plot is intriguing and the characters are rich and fully developed. Since this is a series, there were small mentions of relationships and situations that are on-going and I want to know the history of those little tidbits.

Armchair Interviews says: Coel's mystery will provide hours of wonderful entertainment.

This work is set on an Indian Reservation in Wyoming as are the earlier books in the series. The author does her normal excellent job of a mystery with the two same two major protagonists, a female Indian lawyer and a Catholic priest. In this book there are flashbacks to the life of the victim and the 1970s American Indian Movement, AIM. While the two heroes handle their usual personal issues, series fans and newcomers will
both enjoy this book. In the end, the reader is left wondering if Father John is going to be assigned elsewhere, which would represent a major turning point for future books in the series. It is well worth the read as it is comparable to Hillerman but still different.

Margaret Coel literally turns over new earth in this 13th adventure involving Jesuit priest Father John O'Malley and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden. The bones of a murdered woman are uncovered by accident on the Wind River Reservation, a young girl in her twenties with a single long braid. Tribal elders call in Father John to bless the body, but local police dismiss it as a very cold case, not likely to be solved. Older Arapaho women tell Vicky they want justice for the murdered woman, not stonewalling.
Forensics date the murder to 1973, when members of the American Indian Movement occupied Bureau of Indian Affairs offices in Washington and later took over the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, site of the last massacre of Indians by U.S. soldiers. Some AIM leaders avoided arrest by scattering to several reservations, blending with local populations. A few came to Wind River, including young Liz Plenty Horses and her month-old daughter.
Only Father John and Vicky can dig into tribal memories to come up with Liz's name and begin to trace her final movements. But they dig too deeply and stir up a killer who still lives on the reservation, a killer who starts by intimidating witnesses, kills another witness, and comes after Vicky.
Besides well-developed suspense over the killer's near misses of Vicky, Margaret Coel takes us into the viewpoint of Liz in several tautly-drawn scenes. Our foreknowledge in no way dampens our fear as her story edges toward a bitter climax. History, mystery, threats to two of the favorite characters in crime writing--it's all here in a can't-put-it-down novel of exquisite suspense that builds to a shattering conclusion.

Near the Wind River Reservation where the Arapaho tribe lives, a skeleton is unearthed in an out of the way ravine. At first glance the authorities believe it is an Indian woman because of her long dark braid and the clothing that was from the 1970's; a time when AIM was stirring up trouble with the whites and against Indians who didn't agree with them. Records don't show any woman missing from the tribe during that time period.

Several Indian women asks attorney Vicky Holden to inquire when the police will find out her name so they can release the body and give her a proper burial. Vicky is now in practice with Adam Lone Eagle normally taking on clients with major cases that impact many people and issues. However, this death in which the woman was tied up with all her bones broken and a bullet wound to the head affects her deeply and she starts investigating as does Father John the catholic priest whose mission as on the reservation. Vicky receives threatening notes and is shot at; she realizes the killer is hiding on the rez behind people afraid to give him away.

What Tony Hillman has done for the Navaho, Margaret Coel has done for the Arapaho. There are two storylines running in alternating chapters; the first is the woman whose bones were found in the present goes on the run because AIM leaders thought she was an FBI snitch who got another leader killed. The second begins with finding out in the present who killed her. Both tales are exciting and filled with suspense and danger. This is a must read for anyone who loves a great mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Margaret Coel does write well. Everyone will enjoy her descriptive ability, historical accuracy, and Southwestern flavor BUT the sub plots in her Wind River Series are never changing and therefore dull. The mission always needs money. Father may be transferred at any minute. The sexual tension between the main characters is now so old that it is stale and actually boring. White law enforcement is unable to gain the trust of those on the reservation (even though they have been there as long as the main characters and proven themselves over and over again). Everyone who needs to hide does so at the mission guest house. Etc. Etc. Etc. Primary plots are well thought out and intriguing but the subplots are "phoned in " and trite.

The book has been well explained in other reviews so let me just add that, having read the entire series to date, this is the best one so far. Not that any of the others were bad, in fact it is a 5-star series, well deserving of the comparisons to Hillerman, but you have to distinguish somehow. It is also an easy place to come in as there is a lot explained and the book is stand alone strong.

For the uninitiated, Father John, the recovering alcoholic priest on the Wind River reservation of the Arapaho Nation, has been solving mysteries for years with Arapaho lawyer Vickie Holden who is also recovering, in her case from abuse by her violent father and husband. They are a great pair and feel a strong mutual attraction towards one another but he is a priest so what can you do? In the earlier books I found this very frustrating. Imagine what it was like for Father John and Vickie!

I think this is the most introspective of the series and while Ms Coel has frequently used the history vs the present conceit, this one seems to do it best. Coel is extremely knowledgeable about Native American History and the Arapahoes in particular. You feel history taking shape around you as layers are added on to the life and times of Liz Plenty Horses and the American Indian Movement of the early 1970s. Its a very hard book to put down and leaves you feeling you have added something when its over. What more can you ask for?

This book is another fine work in a lengthy but delightful series, in which each book unfailingly grabs your interest and entertains from the first page to the last. Set against the backdrop of the sometimes violent struggles for Indian civil rights in the 1970's, themes are a nice mix of both familiar and new: Native American culture and wisdom; Indian struggles for equal rights and respect in a white man's world; the changing roles of women; the ongoing love story of Vicky and Father John; the triumph of the human spirit in the face of unjust treatment, alcoholism, poverty, and loss. The book is full of delicious descriptions of prairie scenery, enigmatic personalities, screaming tensions, and injuries inflicted with baseball bats. Dialogue is realistic, flowing. Story characters are believable, endearing, threatening. This story presents a different plot from former books in the series. What happened to the frightened young girl, holding her newborn baby close as she fled those who wanted to kill her, her sympathetic friends immobilized by fear of brutal reprisal, the one man who could save her, slow to respond? There are those in the present who still want this investigation dropped - and plan to make it happen. The author creates an eerie sense of determined evil, stalking Vicky and the others, relentlessly pursuing and killing all who were associated with the crime of the past. There is a suspenseful, edge-of-your seat, story climax. With Father John's help, Vicky and the young women of the reservation hope - especially now - to bring the truth to light, and peace to the spirit of a young woman caught up in the struggles of the past. A very satisfying read!

This Wind River Reservation novel deals honestly with the fact that whites aren't the only villains. The American Indian Movement, while dealing with the very important civil rights issues relating to the severe abuses perpetrated by the descendants of European immigrants on the indigenous people of the United States, also spawned its own brand of corruption and abuse. Margaret Coel confronts this head-on, but does so in the format of a fascinating and gripping story that is full of sensitivity and sympathy. I found myself relating especially powerfully to the way in which Vicky Holden was swept into the drama of abused women, past and present.

I love Magaret Coel's Wind River novels. It was a surprise that I learned about Indian Affairs in the recent past. It is a joy to read a good story and learn a great deal, too.