Customer Reviews

The Witch's Tongue (Charlie Moon Mysteries)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ute tribe investigator Charlie Moon is visiting his aunt when a woman bursts into her trailer with a strange story of dreams, King Kong, and her husband climbing a moonbeam. Charlie and a local cop look, but can't find any sign of the missing husband--but find themselves caught in a roadblock, chasing an Indian who thinks he can fly, and generally running into the kind of trouble that the tribe pays Charlie to help them avoid. Somehow, it's up to Charlie to get to the bottom of the mysteries of missing museum pieces, a missing husband, a strange fight between a cop and an Indian who can't quite fly but is happy to sue the tribe, and, before it's over, multiple murders. Unfortunately for him, he's got to do all the detecting while his love live gets tied up in knots.

Author James D. Doss combines Native American mysticism, a rich dash of humor, a tall (7 foot), dark, and silent hero, and some confused but mostly likable criminals into a fast-reading story. Poor Charlie continues to have rotten luck with his women, great skill with his detecting, and questionable success with his ranch (although beef prices were up four cents).

As with the other books in the Charlie Moon series, THE WITCH'S TONGUE is less about who did it than watching Charlie Moon go through the paces, astound those around him, and manage to come out ahead somehow (except on the little matter of love). At times the story got a bit silly, and I would have liked to see more of Aunt Daisy and her pitukupf, but that didn't keep me from getting completely hooked. Good stuff.

Having lived in the American West for most of my life, I've long enjoyed stories that take place in places I've been. And I've been all over the four corners area. In the Charlie Moon mysteries, the action is in South Western Colorado, an area I know particularly well. And the tone of the book reflects well on the area.

The mystery tales spun by Mr. Doss are all you could want of a good mystery. The clues are there, the seemingly unconnected incidents that are creating all kinds of confusion and uproar will all come together in the end. But you knew that, this is the essence of any mystery.

The story is very well told. The characters are not supermen, they have flaws. In between is a good dose of humor. The plot is full of twists and turns, blind alleys and mis-directions so you wonder just how Charlie Moon is going to pull it off.

It's kind of like Tony Hillerman but with the Ute's instead of the Navaho. It's also without the mystical aspects, which makes for a story that I happen to like better.

All hell has broken loose on the Ute Reservation in the Granite Creek, Colorado area. After physically abusing his wife, Jacob Rattle vanishes in Spirit Canyon (to the joyful relief of his spouse). At about the same time, someone steals coins and cameos that museum owner Jane Cassidy claims is worth millions. Antiques dealer Ralph Briggs tells Ute tribal investigator Charlie Moon about a shady deal when he is shot. At a roadblock to catch the museum thieves, Felix Navarone is "treed" by Officer Jim Wolfe landing in jail.

Legal Aide trainee Eddie Ganado visits Felix; who not long afterward is released. . Charlie ignores the mess to work on his ranch but his aunt pressures him to become involved as Jim stole corpse powder from her. Charlie really changes his mind when he meets FBI Special Agent Lia McTeague in charge of the investigation. He is attracted to her and like any male needs to show off his prowess by trying to uncover who is killing people and why.

Combining humor with Native American mythos, James D. Doss proves he is a shaman when it comes to providing a terrific mystery. The story line is fueled on two levels with the obvious homicides and other havoc on the one hand and the Charlie-Lia on the other hand. Both ties nicely together as it is the attraction to Lia that coaxes Charlie to need to solve the case. Fans of Charlie (this being his eighth appearance) already know why Mr. Doss' Moon novels are always amongst the genre's best, but newcomers will see first hand the proof of that assertion.

Harriet Klausner

Clues so subtle, Charlie Moon needs a rap on the shins to follow them, but with all of his cleverness a woman to share his life eludes him. Lila McTeague, FBI agent leaves him behind for other pastures.
This series is like a comfortable shoe where as you read you remember other stories in the series.
I miss the almost lyrical quality of previous books, but Aunt Daisy continues to surprise as she maneuvers her overgrown nephew to do her bidding. Daisy Perika is a character you wish you could meet in person. One of a kind, who keeps the reader coming back for the next installment.
THE WITCH'S TONGUE, is not the best of Doss, but a good read despite its flaws.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

I tried to stay with this book to the end, but alas, I tossed it with only about 20 pages left. By this time the plot had become so byzantine that I no longer cared who did what. Furthermore, I was getting pretty sick and tired of the sophomoric and unrealistically silly dialog that ran all through the book. The relationship between Moon and the FBI lady, for instance, was like something out of a novel for teenagers. In other words, the book lacked credibility. Doss falls short, I'm afraid, of even a mediocre Hillerman book. Hillerman weaves in the rich and mystical lore of the Indian culture quite effectively. His dialog is pitch perfect, not contrived, as in this book. And, as another reviewer noted, I was put off by Doss's maddening habit of witholding clues and information through the book. I was looking forward to a good read, but all in all, it turned out to be a very flawed book.

I absolutely loved this book. I never tire of the Charlie Moon mysteries and Daisy is such a great character. I even prefer her to Charlie.

I have enjoyed all of James Doss's books. If you like Tony Hillerman you will enjoy James Doss.

Charlie Moon and company are back -- even the strange little dwarf. A twisting plot that comes together at the end -- and left me amazed at Moon's picking up on such subtle clues.

Where does one begin with a Doss novel? The characters? Here we have the stock educated folks, who talk like characters in a Victorian soap opera. We have an assortment of Indian caricatures, one of whom claims he can fly. We have the non-gentry, who make cute grammar errors to remind us that we may not be excessively filled upper body coverings like those snooty rich folks, but we are better than these yahoos. We have assorted women who go moist when a man walks by and assorted men who can't look at a woman without "leering." We have, in other words, the same old cardboard cast that wanders around in every Doss novel.

The plot, then? Well, the "mystery" is such a tangle that by the time we learn that a person we like is inexplicably implicated in the torture of one of villains, we can only shrug and mutter, "Whatever." We have the dumbest reward ever offered, and the dumbest resolution we can imagine for the ransoming. We have the "hero" cheating a woman out of a million dollars because she hurt his feelings... and nobody, not even the woman, seems especially upset about that. We have the "arch" villain turning out to be (and it's telegraphed from the middle of the book) a lifelong friend of Charlie Moon and Scott Parris. We have Charlie losing the great love of his life, Ms. Jesse James, and falling stumblefooted in love with the next goodlooking woman he sees... two days later. And wait for it, he takes her fishing on Jesse Lake, a pond on his ranch named after, well, maybe you can guess.

This is not a spectacularly stupid book, like, say, Shadow Man. It's just dumb in the mediocre way that the mildly successful specialize in.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The background is Ute Indian territory. I enjoy mystery novels and this author finds way for me to laugh in spite of the murder or two that are included.