The Thunder Keeper (Wind River Reservation Mystery) [Hardcover]

Margaret Coel (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wind River Reservation Mystery | Publication Date: September 1, 2001

Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden and Father John O'Malley discover that both the supposed suicide of a young Arapaho on the Wind River Reservation and a hit-and-run accident in Denver may in fact be covered-up murders. Now they must uncover what it is about the reservation that people are willing to kill for...

Praise for Margaret Coel's bestselling series:

"Shouldn't be missed by anyone interested in either new trends in mystery writing or contemporary Indian culture. She's a master at both." (Tony Hillerman)

"Readers will be engrossed in the expertly crafted suspense." (Publishers Weekly)

"Margaret Coel joins the top echelon of writers who weave Native American culture into cleverly designed mysteries." (The Midwest Book Review)

"Seamless storytelling by someone who's obviously been there." (J.A. Jance)

"A superior series." (Booklist [starred review])

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her seventh mystery set among the Arapahos of Wyoming's Wind River Reservation featuring her twin sleuths, Father John O'Malley (on the rez) and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden (temporarily transplanted to Denver), Coel gets the atmosphere just right. Every physical detail of the "vision quest" that a desperate young man named Duncan Grover undertakes on a cliff above Bear Lake seems perfect, while the challenges of Vicky's new life as a high-profile attorney are equally sharp. But the actual story here is the problem: it seems to be made up of recycled plot elements from several other recent Western mysteries. Grover's murder, made to look like a suicide, and only uncovered when Father John hears the details in a confession; the heavy-breathing corporate villains seeking to exploit the Native Americans and plunder their riches (not oil or gold this time, but diamonds); the insensitive white cops who just don't get it surely we've covered this ground before. Too bad, because when Coel writes about Father John's tricky relationship with Vicky (echoed in a lawsuit filed by a frustrated woman against his new assistant), or Vicky's edgy moments with the husband and children she left behind, she is on original and interesting ground. The author's previous books have been justly praised by the likes of Tony Hillerman, but an overly familiar plot this time out could lead to bad word-of-mouth and a falling off in sales.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Margaret Coel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of The Thunder Keeper, The Spirit Woman, The Lost Bird, The Story Teller, The Dream Stalker, The Ghost Walker, The Eagle Catcher, and several works of nonfiction. She has also authored 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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1st edition (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 042518188X
• ISBN-13: 978-0425181881
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #825,323 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

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Native-Amrican mystey, September 5, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Thunder Keeper (Wind River Reservation Mystery) (Hardcover)

Vicky Holden loves the land of the Arapahos, the Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming, but she still leaves her home to take a job in Denver. The attorney needs to get away from the Jesuit priest Father O'Malley because they both have feelings for one other that are inappropriate. She also has to get away from her ex-husband, who wants to reconcile, but he keeps falling off the wagon and he is a mean drunk.

In Denver, Vicky currently works on a mineral rights case on behalf of the Navaho Nation. However, she receives a call from Vince Lewis, a vice president of Balder Industries, famous for their diamond minding operations. He tells her that he has information she needs to know involving the Wind River Reservation, but before they meet a hit and run driver kills Vince.

Back on the reservation, Father John hears the confession of a man who says his partner killed a man in a place sacred to the Arapaho. The police rule the man's death a suicide but Father John knows somebody killed him and there will be more deaths if the person isn't stopped. Vicky and Father John are coming at the same problem from different angles, both of them putting their lives in jeopardy.

Fans of Aimee and David Thurlo and Tony Hillerman will definitely enjoy this fast paced mystery starring two likable, believable and colorful protagonists. The heroine is a role model for women everywhere and the hero not only understands the underlying concepts of justice, he abides by them in his life. THE THUNDER KEEPER by Margaret Coel is a definite keeper.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Thunder Keeper" is a Real Keeper!, May 24, 2002

By 

Joan Minor (Bartlesville, OK United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thunder Keeper (Wind River Reservation Mystery) (Hardcover)

Author Margaret Coel launches "The Thunder Keeper," seventh in the line of a classic mystery series set on the Arapaho's Wind River reservation, with the classic hook of a man alone high on a ledge who soon plummets to his death. The police learn the dead man has been on an Arapaho spirit quest and label the death a suicide. But, a few pages later, a mysterious stranger confesses to a priest that soon more people will be murdered.

Coel's stories feature two amateur sleuths: St. Francis Mission Priest, Father John O'Malley, (history scholar and recovering alcoholic,) who has been exiled to the Arapaho reservation mission in Wyoming, and Vicky Holden, an Arapaho attorney who carries the baggage of a mean ex-husband, sometimes unhappy son (and a reciprocated inappropriate attraction for Father O'Malley.)

Father O'Malley knows he is bound by his vows to keep the confession secret. He decides to investigate the death of the man on a spirit quest himself.

Meanwhile, attorney Vicky Holden witnesses the horrific hit-and-run slaughter of Vince Lewis, a man who had valuable information he was about to tell her in reference to an urgent matter regarding the Wind River Reservation. Are the two deaths connected? If so, what ties them together? What is the secret worth killing for on Arapaho land?

The freshness of Coel's writing, the voice and clarity of the story, as well as her love and passion for the West shine in phrases like these: "The mountains rose jagged and blue in the orange-tinged dusk. Northwest, where the mountains dropped into a gully that allowed the sky to flow through, was Bear Lake," and "The thunder sounded like tanks rumbling through the sky. Lightning turned the air white and sent a charge through the earth that he could feel reverberating inside him....when the lightning flashed again he saw the petroglyph shining on the cliff above-human looking, eyes all-seeing, hands raised in benediction. He was not alone. The spirits were here, the messengers of the Creator."

Coel's skill crafting this series is a pleasure to watch. Read "The Thunder Keeper" for pure enjoyment.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unique detection team pursues killers in big sky country, August 16, 2002

By 

M. A Michaud "michael_michaud" (Dulles, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Thunder Keeper (A Wind River Reservation Myste) (Paperback)

This mystery novel has two interesting features: its spacious settings in Colorado and Wyoming, and its detective team of an American Indian woman and a Catholic priest. Both these lead characters are sympathetic. Indian legends and a secret revealed in the confessional play parts in this story, which is competently told. On the down side, the scheme that drives the murders is not particularly original. The fortuitous intervention of a male friend saves the female sleuth from violence, a much overused convention. It would have been more interesting to read about how a plucky woman outsmarted the bad guys.