Customer Reviews

The Thunder Keeper (A Wind River Reservation Myste)

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

 

 

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

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.

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.

The Arapahos on the Wind River Reservation are shocked to hear that one of their own has committed suicide while on a vision quest in a place that is sacred to the Indians. Their doubt is reinforced when their priest, Father John, is visited in the confessional by a man who says that his boss killed the Indian. Meanwhile Arapaho attorney, Vicky Holden, who has moved to Denver in order to reduce her attraction to Father John, receives a phone call from a man who wants to meet with her and discuss a matter of concern about the reservation. As she is going to meet with him, he is killed in what is seemingly a hit-and-run accident. Even though these two friends are far apart, their two cases begin to intersect and they share information which will help them solve the mystery. Author Cole inserts some interesting moments in her two characters' lives, such as Vicky's son returning to Denver to live near her and Father John's problems with his assistant when a young woman sues him for sexual assault. The books in this series are all well-written and can be counted on to provide a good read.

What does a priest do when he's told something in the confessional that could cost lives? How can he alert the authorities without breaking his vow of confidentiality? This is the intriguing opening to "The Thunder Keeper". It quickly shifts to the city of Denver and another strand... On her way to an appointment Vicky, Father O'Malley's lawyer friend, sees the man she's about to meet deliberately run down. No-one will believe her.
A suicide that isn't a suicide, an accident that refuses to be seen as a murder. Add the possibility of corporate greed to this recipe and you have the makings of an exciting, gripping book in which our heroes search for answers in a world where everything isn't quite what it seems!

I was only recently introduced to Margaret Coel's novels and I am surprised that she isn't as well known as Grisham or Ludlum. Her writing is spell binding. In addition to a great mystery and characters developed in depth, she weaves Native American history and the challenges facing today's Indians. This summer I visited the area in Wyoming where the Wind River Rez is located. Her descriptions of the area are vivid and accurate. Once you start reading Margaret Coel's books you can't stop.

Margaret Coel's series about the Wind River Reservation is excellent reading. Not only do these books deal meaningfully with major concerns facing the Native Americans on reservations in the US, they are also fascinating psychological studies and exciting mystery narratives. This particular story, dealing with the problem of artifact theft, is extremely timely. I don't collect many "series" novels, but I will continue to acquire and cherish Coel's work.

I began keeping Margaret Coel with THE THUNDER KEEPER and am adding her earlier stories as I find them. Vickie Holden and Father John O'Malley are two intriguing characters that draw the reader into their lives.
Wind River Reservation and Wyoming is a land of ancient images and vivid landscapes. Coel has been compared to Hillerman and Doss, but she stands alone, there are too many stories in the West to spend time debating the styles of three very good authors. Enjoy them all, each is different.
A confession leaves Father John with a dilemma, the seal is sacred, but murder not to be condoned. Vickie Holden gets a phone call alluding to diamonds on the reservation and the "suicide" of an Arapaho while on a vision quest in sacred lands.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

This series and Margaret Coel are one of my favorites! I enjoy the descriptions of the southwest and the relationship between the main characters.

I really like this series, and Father John and Vicky are two of my favourite sleuths. The descriptions of the scenery in Wyoming around the Windy River Reservation are breathtaking. I realize that Windy River Reservation is fictional, but Wyoming isn't, and it's a place I'd like to visit sometime. The mystery starts with the supposed suicide of a young Indian man. He apparently jumped off a cliff while he was seeking a dream quest. Father John knows it's not suicide, since no Indian would kill himself in a sacred place, but he has a hard time convincing the authorities. In the meantime Vicky is pursuing her own investigation in Denver when a man she is supposed to meet is run down deliberately on his way to a meeting with her. It turns out that the two murders are linked and Father John and Vicky pursue their investigations separately while keeping in touch by phone. This is a fast-moving story, that has a wonderful nail-biting ending (or two endings). And the bits of Arapaho culture are still there, salted throughout the book.