People of the Mist (Thorndike Western II) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Kathleen O'Neal Gear (Author), W. Michael Gear (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1998 | Series: Thorndike Western II

The next volume of The First North Americans Series takes readers back to the Algonquin culture of the Chesapeake, 600 years ago, where a bitter old recluse known as the Panther has retired to an island in the middle of the Bay. Only the bravest venture to his lair, until, one day, a frightened young man comes bearing a tale of politics and war, lust and love, and a heinous murder which will sunder the great chieftainships.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Knowing that her granddaughter, Red Knot, loves High Fox does not keep Hunting Hawk, the Greenstone Clan tribal leader, from promising her in marriage to Copper Thunder, a powerful chieftain of another clan. When Red Knot is murdered before the marriage takes place, chaos erupts, and High Fox is fingered as the assassin. High Fox's trump card is Sun Conch, who begs the Panther to leave his isolated dwelling and help her absolve High Fox of the crime. The Panther, a mysterious elder whom many fear and call a witch, joins the fray, and thus begins the unfolding of an intricate drama. Masters of the Native American historical fiction genre, the Gears focus on the pre-Columbian Chesapeake Bay Native Americans in the ninth book of their "First North Americans" series. Suffused with suspense, their imaginative story offers a fascinating portrait of an ancient matrilineal culture. Highly recommended.
-?Mary Ellen Elsbernd, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

This work continues the highly successful First North Americans series (which includes People of the Wolf [1990] and People of the Lightning [1997]), and shows why it has been so popular: it offers a first-rate murder mystery, anthropological information (the authors are prizewinning archaeologists) on pre-European Native America, a slight dash of sex (mostly innocent), and plenty of politics. Whew! The amazing thing is that it is all done so well. Red Knot has been betrothed to Copper Thunder in order to forge an alliance that will protect both their tribes. When she is murdered on the day of her wedding, it threatens to throw the tribal villages along the Chesapeake into a bloody war. Suspicion for the crime falls on Sun Conch, who had a relationship with the girl before she was promised away. Old Panther, a recluse, and possibly a powerful witch, is asked to look into the situation before it explodes. He is drawn into a convoluted web where it appears that everyone had good reason to wish the girl dead, and even the innocent work to obscure the trail. Eric Robbins --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 677 pages
• Publisher: G. K. Hall & Company (August 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078380251X
• ISBN-13: 978-0783802510
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,844,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars People of the Mist is a compelling and gripping novel, April 2, 1999

By 

Courtney Lynn Leiphart (courtneylynn@cheerful... (Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: People of the Mist (First North Americans, Book 9) (Mass Market Paperback)

When I sat down to read 'People of the Mist', I was not sure what to expect. The synopsis on the back cover said that the book was about the Native American people in the Chesapeake bay area, and in particular about the murder of a young girl, Red Knot. Well, I was amazed with the writing style of Kathleen O'Neal Gear, and W. Michael Gear. I got into the book after a chapter or two, and couldn't put it down. The authors had me guessing till the very end of the book as to who the murderer was, and I'm usually good at figuring things like that out. If you want a good novel with an excellent mystery componant to it, 'People of the Mist' is the book for you.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Different style but just as good..., December 17, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Molokai, Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: People of the Mist (First North Americans, Book 9) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the latest book in the People series that I have read, and it is a little different from the rest. It was given to me by a friend, and I thought that the storyline didn't sound to exciting (I'm not into that mystery type books), but I was in for a surprise. This book was awesome! Second best that they have written... I liked People of the River the best... and very entertaining. The charachters are not as mystic and dreamerlike as the other People books are, but it makes them more believable, and realistic. The Panther was so intriguing, his past and present life. I liked the way he allowed mostly everyone to think he was a witch, when he really was just an old man who resented his past mistakes but had the Power (a different kind of Power than htat of the other books in this series), to correct those of others. Sun Conch was so regal and brave, she didn't desrve to love such a coward. I almost cried when... well, you gotta read it. Throughout the whole book, I thought I knew who the killer was. I would jump around from character to character changing my ideas, at one time even coming to the conclusion that White Otter and Quick Fawn were in on it together. I would read one part of the book, and backtrack to another part of the book to see if my theory fit, and sometimes it did, but sometimes it didn't. In any case, if you wanna find out who killed the heiress Red Knot, you have to buy this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Really A Murder Mystery Set In Pre-Columbian Maryland 700 Years Ago, September 16, 2005

By 

Notnadia (Currently upstairs.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: People of the Mist (Hardcover)

It seems like in every single volume of the "First Americans" series the Gears write, a new genre is explored. In one book it is a quest, in another the tale is one of requested intervention of supernatural forces, still another is a cautionary fable concerning ecology. And in this case, it is a very fine murder mystery. This novel is set around the Chesapeake Bay region roughly a half-dozen generations before Columbus's voyage. It covers the culture of the Algonquians down to the smallest detail and does a fine job of contrasting their value system to that of other aboriginal groups (such as the more pastoral southeastern tribes) and also with showing us a people who dwelled in a region of such remarkable natural plenty that life could be sustained with very little effort.

In this bounteous landscape a murder has been committed. A beautiful teenaged daughter of a powerful chieftain has been found beaten to death in the forest near her home. She had sneaked out in the night for a rendezvous of some sort and never made it back. Amid the descriptions of Algonquin life, funerary and religious rites and crime and punishment, the story weaves outward, until a hermit-like old man, much feared and respected by the villagers, is welcomed into their midst to use his towering intellect to solve the murder of the young woman and prevent the catastrophic consequences her death might have on her people's immediate future.

This is one of the two best books in the First Americans series and even devoid the bonus of its wealth of information on tribal life, it is a spectacular mystery that remains unsolved to the very end of this novel's pages.