Customer Reviews

The Story Teller (Wind River Reservation Mystery)

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For some of us, it's enjoyable to read a mystery NOT about finding jewels, treasure maps, precious uranium and the like, but an adventure tale about recovering a lost book, a ledger book, in fact. Coel's mystery picks up with characters she has introduced already in her previous novels: Vicky Holden, an Arapaho attorney, and her colleague, Fr. John O'Malley. Together, the unlikely pair track down a pictographic story drawn in a ledger book detailing the Arapaho involvement (as some of the slain)in the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864. The book is important for the pair to discover because it could be used to reclaim lands taken from them so long ago.

The mystery moves in a measured tempo, with a true rising action and a finale that reads in a flash.

Yet the power in this tale, at least for me, lies in the characterization of its two protagonists, current-day pariahs, as heroes, struggling against the revisionist Historians (--History is written by the winners, goes the adage--) set to try to win again.

Of course, I won't tell you how it ends. Enjoy!

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGRA) allows tribes to reclaim some of their artifacts from museums, who must provide a list of their collection. Recently the Denver Museum of the West provided a list to the Arapaho Cultural Director Dennis Eagle Cloud, who in turn showed it to elderly storyteller Charles Redman. "Grandfather" immediately claimed the museum omitted the ledger that contains the stories of Chief Niwot as scribed by No-Ta-Nee.

Attorney Vicky Holden explains to the pair that they have no legal recourse in obtaining the ledger. Dennis explodes and accuses his fellow tribesperson as being Anglicized after a decade amongst the whites. Vicky starts to argue back, but stops when Grandfather asks her to look for the book. She reverently agrees. However, before she can begin her search, a Arapaho student is killed while seeking the missing book. With the help of Father John O'Malley, a pastor on the Wind River Reservation, Vicky inquires into the invaluable historical account of her people while trying to ferret out a murderer.

Margaret Coel's latest Native American mystery, THE STORY TELLER, may be her best work to date as she brilliantly ties together a who-done-it with Native American culture. The characters all ring true as they rapidly propel forward the tribal conflict with assimilation, the puzzle of the missing agenda (that provides much insight into the Arapaho lifestyle), and the murder mystery. Ms. Coel is one of the top story tellers of the sub-genre, ranking with the likes of Tony Hillerman. Fans of the contemporary Native American mystery should also read THE DREAM STALKER, THE GHOST WALKER, and THE EAGLE CATCHER for a collection elite novels.

Harriet Klausner

Margaret Coel has the ability to transport the reader to a different world, to a place where her characters live and breathe, once opening the first page of one of her books. You will surely not want to put the book down until the mystery had been solved, this one spanning the Wyoming Wind River reservation to the busy streets of Denver, the southern plains of Colorado and back again.

Coel is a stunning Storyteller herself. Skillful, studied, straightforward, smooth, strategic, sublime, sizzling, solid, sonorous, spacious, succinct, spicy, suspenseful, stupendous, substantial, spotless, superb and other superlatives could readily summarize her stories.

Coel writes wonderful mystery novels set in the American West and filled with intriguing Arapaho lore. She is a master at exploring crimes from the past and showing how they could affect the present.

In "The Story Teller," Coel takes Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and mission priest Father John O'Malley out of their comfort zone on the reservation to the big city of Denver. They hunt for a missing ledger book that proves Arapaho were killed along with Cheyenne during the Sand Creek Massacre.

I picked up another of Coel's mysteries set on the Arapaho Res. at the hospital giftshop, while desperate for something to read. I found it so good, I sought out the others available in the series. So far "Story Teller" is my favorite. It is a compelling mystery, and the regular characters are also quite realistic. Although not as introspective as Hillerman's Navajo characters; the mystery elements move along at a faster pace. I really like the new genre of mysteries set in-and somewhat illuminating for the nonIndian-the native nations of the West. Coel is one of the best of this genre.

Vicky Holden, an Arapaho attorney, is called by tribal officials to find a valuable ledger which is supposed to be in a Denver museum. When Vicky investigates, she encounters denials by museum officials that such a ledger ever existed. She theorizes that there is a cover-up because the ledger would reveal that Arapahos were part of an Indian massacre in which the descendants were promised land. The Cherokees try to claim that they were the only people to be killed at the battle. Meanwhile Father John O'Malley returns to the reservation after a month-long sabattical during which he renewed his priestly vows and his resolve not to become involved with Vicky on an emotional level. Soon he is caught up in the murder of a young Arapaho and his path crosses Vicky's while he is investigating. As usual, the two pair up and try to solve the mysterious events occuring in Denver and on the reservation in Wyoming. Father John and Vicky possess a depth which many characters in mysteries lack. Another plus to this series is the information on Indian culture which is portrayed so well in these books.

While I enjoyed the mystery in this book, I really enjoyed learning about the restoration of Native American lands and sacred objects!

With her usual skill, Margaret Coel weaves an intriguing tale of murder and Native American issues, both historical and current. The book also highlights the dangers of preconceived notions, as illustrated by the police detective who is too ready to accept deaths of minority victims as "drug-related" and by an array of characters who dismiss the memories of an Arapaho elder because of his age.

The Story Teller combines a compelling mystery with the search for truth about victims long dead. One of Coel's best!

Make Vick and Father John part of your life. They aren't perfect people like some characters in mystery books but they are good people who struggle with many issue that we do. Fine reading. Enjoyable through out.

This fourth book in the Windy River Reservation mystery series is a winner. I truly like how the two main characters, Vicky Holden and Father John O'Malley are developing. Ms. Coel has made them into wonderfully well-rounded characters that I can't wait to continue reading about. This book has a wonderful mystery as Vicky and Father John are on the trail of a priceless Arapaho artifact in Denver. Young people keep getting killed while the two of them are trying to find the solution to this mystery. This is a wonderful and different sort of mystery series, and I recommend it highly. Father John O'Malley is my favourite fictional sleuth right now.