Customer Reviews

The Spirit Woman

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

 

 

As a long time fan of this series, I found this book to be exactly what I was expecting as the follow up to The Lost Bird. Each book is better than the last, and the major characters are still capable of surprising the reader. Every aspect of this book is satisfying: the depth of characterization, the personal struggles of the main characters, the portrayal of the local community, the interplay of different elements of the plot -- as well as the resolution of the mystery. I really recommend this book.

However, this book was just a little bit less good than as I was expecting, perhaps because my expectations have been set so high by all of Coel's previous works.

Coel, who writes about a Jesuit mission on an Aparaho reservation in Wyoming, does a wonderful job of creating a sense of place and people so well that you really want to go out to Wyoming and meet these people and see it all for yourself. It's hard to believe that the mission isn't really there exactly the way she describes it, with the same priest riding down a rough empty road listening to opera.

She has continued to bring to life real people in what feels like a real reservation in this book, but I found myself a little less engaged by the plot than I have been in earlier books by her. Nevertheless, this book is well worth reading.

The plot involves a journal which records Sacajawea's story; some say that the journal was destroyed in a fire, others say that it was rescued and hidden on the reservation that the Arapaho share with the Shoshone. Twenty years earlier a historian had claimed to have found the journal, but she mysteriously disappeared. Now another historian has come to the reservation to look for the journal. The book begins with the discovery of a skeleton by a Jesuit priest/detective; the skeleton appears to be connected to the missing journal. Did the journal survive the fire, and if so, who has it? Was the first historian's disappearance related to the journal? What happened to her and why? And is the second historian in danger?

One of the themes of this mystery is spousal abuse. As the series continues, Coel seems to have a less romanticized view of life on the reservation, and in this book she deals with one of the problems that many of the women of the reservation have to deal with.

On the whole, an excellent book, particularly for anyone interested in Native Americans.

Margaret Coel's latest installment in her Father John O'Malley mysteries will entice fans of mysteries and Indian lore. As in her previous entries, Coel involves Father O'Malley in the affairs of the Indian reservation with the perfect blend of Jesuit intensity, compassion and humanity. His understanding of the native community helps him to solve the latest mystery. A hint of an involvement with a colleague is intimated, and suggested as reason for him to leave his assignment. The recurring issues of alcoholism and spousal abuse offer social commentary and plot advancement without being didactic. Readers will not be disappointed at the book's ending.

Vicky Holden is a woman you can identify with. She becomes like a good friend you watch struggling with personal as well as career issues. Be sure to add this to your collection.

A rambler with historical overtones, The Spirit Woman is set on a Wyoming Indian reservation peopled with vaguely familiar and rather sedate characters that leave a reader wondering whose cookie cutter Margaret Coel borrowed to cut them out. No genuine surprises in plot or character come to the reader's rescue to convince you these are real people with real problems. The book has the feel of a formula mystery, just well crafted enough to be mildly entertaining, yet hindered by the writer's unwillingness to get off the fence and pull out all the punches. The plot is a little too respectable, plodding through correct mental, social and historical territory as if the author is afraid to offend. You'll find no flamboyant, action driven main characters like Stephanie Plum or Kinsey Millhone here. Main characters Father O'Mally, a recovering alcoholic, and Vicky Holden, a divorced Arapahoe lawyer, are likeable enough, but come across as humorless and powerless. Their progress through the book is chiefly emotion driven and interesting at times. But the characters lack the necessary appeal of flesh and blood people and the plot has few twists or unpredictable events that could have elevated this novel into a superior read. The book's strong point is the setting, the landscape and weather managing to steal the show. Reminiscent in the style and pace of an English cozy mystery that's been transplanted to the modern American west, it should be a moderately satisfying read for Tony Hillerman and Agatha Christie buffs alike. But fans of fast paced suspense by the likes of Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich and Elmore Leonard may find The Spirit Woman tedious at best. Good enough for a Rainy Day, but if it falls out of your beach bag you probably won't mourn the loss.

It seems like sometimes the most compelling mystery fiction is that in which the protagonist is not a law-enforcement official, but an amateur sleuth. Though I imagine that this interest goes back quite some time, I would also guess that we probably owe this to the fiction writers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including such literary heavyweights as Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and G. K. Chesterton.

The formula is fairly standard. Take a character that conceivably has nothing at all to do with the situation at hand, and very little formal training. Any training that they *do* have is mostly self-taught. Put them in a situation where their quick wits and knowledge can help them to save the day.

In the book, *The Spirit Woman*, by Margaret Coel, the "fish out of water", if you will, is a Catholic priest, Father John O'Malley. Father John is an intelligent priest whose promising career was destroyed by his alcoholism. Upon coming to the reservation, Father John meets a brilliant lawyer, Vicky Holden. The two have an attraction to each other which is made fairly obvious.

At first, this part of the story was off-putting. I was ready for the typical Catholic-bashing, but it never came. The priest stays true to his priestly vows, in matters of both morality and alcoholic consumption. Indeed, the main purposes of such elements in the storyline seems to be to present Father John as a smart, capable, ethical, character, who winds up on the reservation in what is considered at first to be a wash-out assignment. As the series shows, he puts his skills and formidable intellect to good use.

Vicky is smart herself, but does very little without Father John's help. Her purpose in the story may seem a bit baffling, until you read the Coel's reason for creating the character. She wanted a believable story, and a non-Indian priest going around with such free reign with no contacts in the community is decidedly NOT realistic. She also wanted to avoid what she saw as the unfortunate implication of a white priest coming to "save" the supposedly hapless Indians. So she created Vicky. I must say that whatever one thinks of her reasoning on either point, the setup does work.

In this particular story, Father John discovers a body of a murdered woman who was beaten to death twenty years earlier. Shortly afterward, a history professor, who is one of Vicky's friends, disappears. More crimes are committed, and Father John and Vicky realize that a vicious killer is on the loose, desperately trying to cover his tracks. It looks like they may be next.

There was really only one chief weakness to this book. The resolution is dependent on the killer's fear and near-madness. I found myself wondering why the killer would make the sudden move he did when it only could get him in more trouble. I suppose the reason is that the story was winding down, and a hundred or more extra pages would just be filler, so Coel decided to end it when she did. Really, the pacing was a bit off. For most of the book, things were smooth and compelling, and then they sped up for an exciting and satisfying, but quite *rushed* climax.

A smaller, but still annoying weakness was that the mystery was entirely too easy for me to solve ahead of the characters. Many readers figure things out before the characters, since we have more information, but usually, the author does not make a big deal out of the "reveal". Coel did, and it was a bit anti-climactic, because it was so obvious from a hundred miles away.

These weaknesses are balanced out by the vivid, and well-researched, descriptions of reservation life. The real-life history of the tribes is put into the book, and it makes everything more compelling. Of particular note is that the biases and prejudices of the tribal peoples toward the "white men" is very much in evidence. This makes the relationship that Father John develops with his flock, and the process of solving mysteries and guiding the people spiritually, that much more difficult, but satisfying when it does occur. This truly does make for some great storytelling.

Finally, the characterization is top-notch. Father John is an admirable leader, who is doing his best to lead his flock and make a bad situation into a good one. He seems to prefer the "rez" as he calls it after the tradition of the tribes, and views this as God's will for him. His "punishment" for his sins is turned into a wonderful blessing. God made a bad thing into a good one, in His Divine will. It's really a very inspiring and powerful spiritual truth slipped into the book.

This story was not a brilliant work in the mystery genre, but it was a fun read. *The Spirit Woman was the sixth book in the *Wind River Reservation* Mystery series, and I look forward to revisiting this reality-based fictional setting in the future and sharing more adventures with Father John. Recommended.

This book actually has three mysteries intertwined in the story. First is the 20 year old skeleton that Father John finds buried at the mission. Second is the age-old mystery of what actually happened to the Indian scout Sacajawea, and third the disappearance of Vicky's friend who goes missing while she is researching Sacajawea on the Windy Hills Reservation. I love the tales about Sacajawea, so was anxious to read this book. I did find the mystery a little predictable, but as always, I really enjoy Father John and Vicky, and I also enjoy all the wonderful Indian lore that is placed throughout each book.

Arapaho attorney Vicki Holden has a reunion with an old friend when Laura Simmons appears on the Wind River Reservation to do research on Sacajawea. Laura is following in the footsteps of another investigator who came to the reservation 20 years earlier and who disappeared. When a skeleton is unearthed which proves to be the first investigator, Vicky and her friend, Father John, decide that Laura may be in danger. This book contains themes of domestic abuse and alcoholism which occur on the reservation and which tie the stories of the two investigators to that of Sacajawea. The story gets a little slow at times, but the continuing attraction between the unlikely pair of priest and female attorney keeps things interesting.

Arrived in excellent condition, I have listened to it many times. However, I would have chosen a different person to read it.

Scajawea, the mystery woman of the Lewis and Clark expedition: Were her memories of the trip recorded? Legend says they were, but were destroyed in a fire. A young archaeologist claimed to have discovered it then disappeared. Now a friend of Vickie Holden's comes to the Wind River Reservation to follow the tracks left behind by this missing woman.
A skeleton which proves to be the missing woman leads both Vickie and Father John to fear for the safety of the new researcher. The killer may strike again to cloak his identity.
Vickie strives to find the answers while dealing with her memories of an abusive husband that drove her from her home and the rejection of her own people for stepping outside a woman's traditional place.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.