Customer Reviews

The Silent Spirit (Thorndike Core)

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Picking up the newest episode of Margaret Coel's Wind River Mysteries is like coming home to a familiar community. This time, it's just that for Father John O'Malley. He has returned to the Wyoming mission after spending six months in Rome. All too soon, he's faced with a series of challenging circumstances surrounding Kiki Wallowingbull, a young Arapaho and ex-con who appears to be on a mission of his own. Kiki swears that he's given up drugs, and the priest tries to counsel him. But it seems as though the young man might well have been lying when his dead body is later found by the river, at a place well known to be used by drug dealers. Father John of course launches his own informal investigation into Kiki's tragic death.

At the same time, Native American attorney Vicky Holden is having difficulties of her own in her law partnership with Adam Lone Eagle. Adam prefers to work on cases that benefit the Native Americans on a grander scale, while Vicky still sees a need for individual representation. So when an anonymous caller tells her he killed someone accidentally, Vicky makes his case a priority. And the victim in question turns out to be Kiki Wallowingbull. As usual, Vicky and John end up working together to find answers to the questions that only they seem to be asking.

The viewpoint of the narrative alternates between Father John, Vicky, and the subject matter of Kiki's obsession: what really happened to his great-grandfather, Charlie Wallowingbull. Charlie had been part of a group of Indians who appeared in the 1920s silent film, "The Covered Wagon." But he never returned to the reservation after going to Hollywood to promote the film. Did he have a second life? Was he murdered? And if so, by whom? Did Kiki learn the truth about his ancestor? Was that the reason for his own murder? And can Vicky and John figure out the truth as well?

Margaret Coel has woven a compelling story here that reads like true crime. She's placed a fictitious and suspicious murder into the very real history of the movie industry and "The Covered Wagon." She always gives us something to think about, teaching non-Native American readers about the lives of the folks on the reservations, both past and present. This is an intriguing tale that should interest many readers, even those who may be visiting the St. Francis Mission for the very first time.

On the Wind River reservation, Kiki Wallowingbull comes home after serving two years on a charge of selling drugs. Father John O'Malley, who just returned from Rome after a six month stint there is now the interim pastor of St. Francis Mission located on the reservation. He and Kiki meet and the ex-convict tells the priest he is clean and determined to find out what happened to his great-grandfather Charlie who vanished in 1923 while in Hollywood doing a shoot to promote a movie, The Covered Wagon, in which he had a part.

When Kiki returns from Hollywood, he tells Father John that the answer to the disappearance is here on the reservation. Soon afterward, Kiki is found dead. Lawyer Vicky Holden hears from a man who insists he killed him in self-defence, but though they soon talk in person she never sees his face. The police arrest a drug dealer, but Vicky knows the man is innocent of this crime; she must find the culprit to insure justice is served even though the arrested prime suspect is a career criminal.

The story is told in two parts, the present and 1923 when the Arapahos and the Shoshones make the movie. In the present, Kiki dies trying to learn what really happened to his ancestor. Readers will enjoy trying to find out what the link between the two deaths are besides blood; and want to do it before Father John and Vicky solve it. Margaret Coel provides an enjoyable mystery that is highlighted by the Arapahos eight decades ago and now.

Harriet Klausner

Twenty-five-year-old Arapaho Kiki Wallowingbull has led a troubled life. Raised by his grandparents, Kiki has been involved with drugs and crime for years. After his release from prison for a drug conviction, he is determined to turn his life around, reconnect with his roots, and make his grandfather proud. In order to do this, Kiki embarks on a journey to find out what happened to Charlie Wallowingbull, his great-grandfather.

In 1923, Charlie was one of hundreds of Arapahos who left the Wind River Reservation to live on the Utah-Nevada border in order to appear as an extra during filming of the silent movie The Covered Wagon. During the shooting, Hollywood movie star Tim McCoy served as an interpreter and advocate for the Native Americans on the set, making sure they were taken care of and treated with respect. But when a stunningly beautiful actress caused friction on the set, Charlie found himself in the middle of the trouble.

Back in the present, Jesuit priest Father John O'Malley is a recovering alcoholic who has returned from a six-month sabbatical in Rome to minister to Native Americans at St. Francis Mission in Colorado. Understaffed and overworked, Father John burns the midnight oil and consumes coffee --- cups and mugs and pots of it --- as he struggles with his inner demons while trying to shepherd his new flock.

Shortly after Kiki returns from California, he is murdered. His frozen body is found on a river bank by Father John. Word on the reservation (spread by the "moccasin telegraph") is that his death is drug-related. Because of Kiki's past involvement with drugs and the location of the body, authorities believe he has been murdered as a result of a drug deal gone wrong. But Andrew Wallowingbull, Kiki's grandfather and an Arapaho elder, knows Kiki was drug-free and trying to turn his life around. Andrew pleads with Father John to find out who murdered Kiki and prove that he was off drugs.

Vicky Holden, a lawyer and member of the Arapaho tribe, and her Lakota partner Adam Lone Eagle work to protect tribal interests. Vicky became a lawyer "to help people with no reason to trust the authorities and no reason to hope." One night, she receives calls from a mysterious voice pleading with her for help. He claims to have killed Kiki in self-defense, and is desperate to prove his innocence before he is sent to prison and loses his son. Father John and Vicky, who have feelings for one another but fight their attraction, are brought together to help solve Kiki's murder and clear his name. To do so, they must also uncover the mystery of Kiki's great-grandfather.

Margaret Coel has created a compelling mystery, using narratives from the past and present to link the lives of generations of Arapahos with the early history of Hollywood filmmaking and the treatment of Native Americans through the decades. In the bleak and remote landscape of a bitter Colorado winter, her richly drawn yet flawed characters seek redemption while struggling to overcome their sordid pasts. Readers who enjoy mysteries with a Native American or an early Hollywood slant should drink up THE SILENT SPIRIT.

--- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt

This is the 15 book in the Windy River mystery series, and it is a winner! In this book Father John and Vicki find themselves investigating an old missing person case from the 1920's when an Arapaho Indian never came home from Hollywood. He had gone there with 500 other Indians to film a silent motion picture called The Covered Wagon. All the other men had come home, but Charley Wallowingbull never did. His great-grandson sets out to find out what really happened to him and finds himself in the middle of a modern-day mess that actually ends up taking his life. Vicki and Father John are trying to piece together what happened to Kiki Wallowingbull and find they are delving into the old Hollywood of the silent screen. Maragaret Coel meshes these two eras together and the story just flows. I have to say that Father John O'Malley is my favourite fictional character. He is so real and so human that I have to keep reminding myself that he is just a character. These books are truly wonderful and I highly recommend them. I get a lot of Indian lore in each book, but also a great mystery and a wonderful story. And the books in the series appear to keep getting better and better.

Author Margaret Coel takes us back to the Wind River Reservation where Father John O'Malley has just returned from a 6-month assignment in Rome. Father John picks up a hitchhiker named Kiki Wallowingbull who reveals to him that he is seeking the person who killed his grandfather when he went to Hollywood with hundreds of other Indians to appear in a movie during the 1920's. Soon the young man himself is killed and Father John is compelled to look for the murderer. He tries to avoid Vicki, the Arapaho attorney for whom he has a forbidden attraction, but eventually their paths cross and they join forces to find the killer. Vicki has a tenuous relationship with her business partner, Adam, and Father John is in a constant battle to stay away from alcohol, which remains a temptation for him. Author Coel is very familiar with life on a reservation and she does an excellent job in portraying that life to readers.

The Wind River mystery series continues with Father John O'Malley returning to the Wyoming St. Francis mission after a six-month sabbatical in Rome, and Vicki Holden struggling to balance her professional career with her partner, Adam Lone Eagle, with her continued feelings of obligations to protect her Arapaho people. The Holden-Lone Eagle partnership has been building a substantial legal practice in representing the Arapaho and Shoshone tribes, leaving Vicki no time to undertake her more usual types of representations defending unfortunate Indians accused of various types of crimes. Another problem is the affinity between Vicki and Father John, which they studiously avoid addressing.

The plot involves a young man who is obsessed with the past. His grandfather was one of many Arapahos and Shoshones who acted in a silent film on location in the 1920's and then went on to Hollywood to help promote the movie. Unfortunately, the grandfather never returned, and it is believed he was murdered. The grandson, determined to discover the truth, travels to Los Angeles, where he makes a discovery. Upon his return to the reservation, he is murdered.

It remains to Father John and Vicki to discover the truth of the past and present, as they have in putting other mysteries to rest in the previous 12 novels in the series. The author continues with an outstanding ability to create characters and situations that blend with western culture and downtrodden Native Americans, and combining the well-written episodes with an interesting mystery story. Recommended.

This story had a unique aspect which kept me reading long after I should have quit. I remember Tim McCoy as a cowboy actor and his part in the story made it all the more interesting. Margaret Coel is an expert in Local Color in all her works and this one really captured the imagination.

Margaret has outdone herself again! The twists and turns in The Silent Spirit constantly kept me on my toes. I always worry about Father O'Malley being replaced, but I know that he'll always be there. The same goes for Vicky. The Wind River Mysteries wouldn't be the same without them. When I sit down to read one of Margaret's Wind River books, it's like going home. In my mind's eye, as I settle down in my recliner, I can see St. Francis Mission as I turn off Seventeen Mile rod onto Circle Drive and smell the coffee that Elena has waiting for me. Margaret does such a great job of pulling the characters and places together, that I feel that I'm right there with Vicky and Father John as they solve another Wind River Mystery. Thanks Margaret, each new Wind River Mystery always makes my day!

Jimmy D. Moore
Woodway, Texas

I own almost all the books written by Margaret Coel and can't wait to get to the end but am sorry when I do! Just want to know what will happen next on Wind River. Love the fact that M. Coel is from Colorado.

An interesting mystery however bnot one of my favorite ones she has written. The intrigue was not as intense as she has made it in other mysteries of the same series.

It is special as We are familiar to the area she writes about and have lived in that area. We also have visited the reservation near Riverton Wyoming.\
I look forward to each of her books so far and will be waiting for the next one to appear.

It is easy reading and enjoyable.