The Lost Bird [Mass Market Paperback]

Margaret Coel (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Prime Crime (2004)
• ASIN: B000P0UCH6
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,815,074 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

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A suspenseful Arapaho mystery, June 28, 2000

By 

Sheila L. Beaumont (South Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lost Bird (Hardcover)

"The Lost Bird" is the fifth in Margaret Coel's beautifully written series set on the Wind River Arapaho Reservation in Wyoming. Our sleuths are the opera-loving Jesuit priest Father John O'Malley, sent to the remote St. Francis Mission several years ago after a fall into alcoholism, and his friend Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden, divorced and known to her people as Woman Alone. Both are well portrayed, flawed just enough to be human and likable. The story involves the murder of the mission's 72-year-old assistant priest, who has recently returned to the reservation after a 35-year absence; the search for her biological parents by a movie actress who thinks she was born to Arapahos; an unexpected visit from Father John's architect niece, who is troubled about her parentage; and some dark secrets from the past. I think fans of Tony Hillerman are likely to enjoy this series. There's less mysticism here, but these mysteries are steeped in Arapaho culture. Ms. Coel is a historian of the American West, and her novels are well researched. Most important, she knows how to write a good, suspenseful whodunit.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tragic story, magnificently written, April 15, 2000

By 

Sondra Ward (Knightdale, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lost Bird (Hardcover)

This is the story of another tragic episode involving a Native American tribe. That this probably happened under other circumstances, and happened to more than the Arapaho tribe, cannot be doubted. This is another in a series that has given us insight into tribal life and continues to leave us wanting more. The characters are strong, believable, and you want the best for all of them. The underlying plot--selling tribal babies and telling their parents they died--is heartbreaking. The reunion of one such child with her father made me weep. And Vicki's trial reconciliation with Ben gave me hope. This is a great work, written with deep feeling.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughts on "Lost Bird", September 21, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lost Bird (A Wind River Reservation Myste) (Mass Market Paperback)

By far the best of the "Father O'Malley/Vicky Holden" series of mysteries, *Lost Bird* takes some startling and very sharp turns in the lives of these fascinating and well-developed characters. While Jesuit priest Father O'Malley and attorney Vicky Holden avoid one another in an attempt to control their dangerous but ever deepening relationship, O'Malley investigates the murder of an elderly priest while Vicky attempts to track down the adoptive origins of a movie star who claims to have been born to Arapaho parents. These two quests, the answers to which have been purposefully buried for decades, raise this novel to the "Can't-put-it-down" level.