Margaret CoelRezensionen

Father John may be reassigned, Father's John's niece visits to research Arapaho history and falls in love with local, Vicky researches for child adoption after original lawyer is murdered while also trying to keep alcoholic client out of prison

Father John is called to say last rites at a scene where a young woman discovered a hand protruding from the ground. Vicki, struggling to gain enough clients to stay afloat now that she's back in Lander, receives an offer to assist the Lakota lawyer handling contracts for the Arapaho casino. A discrepancy in the mission's bank funds causes Father John and Father George to investigate. The story lines intertwine as it becomes clear casino loan sharks are making it hard on locals and that the tribe isn't getting all the money it should be. This is better than many in the series, and I like the fact that Vicki appears to be moving on in her relationships with other men and realizing Father John will remain true to his calling for the foreseeable future. I listened to the audiobook read by Stephanie Brush.

He was at home with the Arapahos, a Plains Indian tribe he had once thought of as a footnote in a history book. Strange that he should be in this place. God worked in mysterious ways. Years of struggling with the thirst, in and out of rehab, stumbling through life teaching, or pretending to teach, in a Jesuit prep school in Boston. Then the assignment to an Indian reservation in the middle of Wyoming. He'd had to look up the place on the map. He had no idea where he was going. To the middle of nowhere, to the ends of the earth.

I liked this book better than her last one. I'm afraid the ending is setting us up for the end of the series and I would be disappointed if that happened.

THE MAN WHO FELL FROM THE SKY is book 19 in the Wind River Reservation series and it's also the first book I have read in the series. And, as a newbie must I say that I had no problem whatsoever getting into the book. The only drawback is that there is a lot of history between Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and Father John O'Malley. They have been through a lot of things since they met years ago. But, reading this book just made me interested in getting the previous books to get to know them better.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

THE MAN WHO FELL FROM THE SKY is book 19 in the Wind River Reservation series and it's also the first book I have read in the series. And, as a newbie must I say that I had no problem whatsoever getting into the book. The only drawback is that there is a lot of history between Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and Father John O'Malley. They have been through a lot of things since they met years ago. But, reading this book just made me interested in getting the previous books to get to know them better.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

The story is about a murdered Indian with our heros John and Vicky solving the murder. I thought that the repeated telling of the tale got pretty boring and the use of legal jargon by non legal characters was off-putting. The cultural issues illuminated were fun, though, and the mix of Indian culture with white law is a discovery.

Drums pounded and trumpets blasted. The noise floated ahead of the parade. Crowds lined the curbs on Main Street in Lander and clustered around aluminum chairs and ice chests. The sun blazed like a hot poker. A dry, scorching breeze ruffled the flowers in the pots hanging from the streetlamps and snapped at the brim of Father John O'Malley's cowboy hat. He fished two dollars out of his pocket, purchased two tall glasses of lemonade from the girl scouts behind one of the booths and handed a glass to Bishop Harry. It was the second Sunday in June, the Moon When the Hot Weather Begins in the Arapaho Way of marking time, and the breathless days were already beginning, the heat gathering and setting in for the summer.

The nice thing about Margaret Coel's Wind River Reservation series is that you can jump in at any point. I have read one other book in this series, and have had no trouble picking up the thread of the characters' lives. So if you want to start with Buffalo Bill's Dead Now, you can. But I am certain you will want to go back and read every book in the series, as I plan to. This novel is a satisfying combination of a little Old West in a New West story.

Father's new associate priest seems to be collecting data for the provincial to close the mission at the upcoming meeting. Father John enlists the aid of a "grandfather" to be present at the meeting which will decide the mission's fate. Meanwhile a woman reports a missing Arapaho man who worked for a technology firm. She doesn't want to involve the police although Father John knows it is past time to report his disappearance. He goes to a ranch where an Arapaho who had a near death experience and came back claiming to be Orlando who was trying to revive the ghost dance religion. He discovers the man had been there and suspects he may be hidden on the ranch. He reports what he sees to chief Banner who begins investigating the man's disappearance. Meanwhile Vicki's ex-husband invites her to dinner where they get into a fight. He is shot shortly thereafter, making her the FBI's prime suspect. He'd mentioned two Lakota men who had stolen something. The story lines become linked and intertwined as the story unfolds. I enjoy the reservation setting. I really wish the author would drop the romantic attraction between the priest the and the lawyer. It's unnecessary, and the two could team up without that element in a more effective manner. I listened to the audiobook read by Stephanie Brush.½

Linked past and present stories lead to murders on the Wind River Reservation.

Another Okay book by Coel. It drags somewhat in the middle as many things are repeated over and over as our heroes meet different folks. Also, "you ask me" is used consistently; while it may be reservation lingo, it's probably not popular in 1923. The use of flashbacks to 1923 was often confusing and not well divided. The Vicky and John characters have the same old, same old tension builders going on---boring, trite and used---book 15 is just like book 1 and it gets older and older. I had to drag myself through this book.

Coel created some cool characters. She created some great imagery. A priest driving down a dusty road in a beat-up pick-up. The concept for the book is great. A Native American is killed looking for Butch Cassidy’s treasure.

And the story kept me turning the page. For me though the action never expanded, Neither did the characters. It was a serviceable read. But not a great literary work.

Coel creates good characters in an interesting plot. However, Vicky and John are predictable: Vicky will work on a case despite what her partner thinks and John has the continual threat of a transfer. Their non-romance is annoying. This plot unfolded and unfolded and unfolded. The plot was feasible and seemed well researched, but just when you thought it was a dead end...something came up. Maybe I'm getting tired of this series and the characters involved. I put it in the "did finish" pile and on to the next one.

Vicky moved to Denver to work at a big law firm. She's finishing up a case involving gas rights on a Navajo reservation. Father John's new assistant priest is called on the carpet for sexual harrassment, and Father John hears a confession by a man who was an accessory to murder. Father John tries to find out who is missing. He and Vicky both learn about the death police conclude must be suicide, but they know no Arapaho would do such a thing in a sacred place. They begin working different aspects of the case, arriving at their conclusions about the same time, and both in danger at the same time in different states. I've enjoyed the audiobooks of this series while commuting or traveling until this installment. The audiobook was not available at my library so I had to read the print version of this one. I'm glad I finally did so I can get on with the series. It was a great installment.

This was a very long book, about 11 hours, and after 12 books, the formula wears: Vicki was too sick; she had two auto accidents; she risked herself to defend someone against injustice; blah-blah. Meanwhile, Father John has staff problems....again. And, we hear about the stolen petroglyphs ad Infiniti. And, a white guy is the perp....again. This book would be pretty good at about 6-7 hours.

Not the best Margaret Coel has offered in this series, this one drags in the middle and gets repetitive to a fault. The idea of an Arapahoe - Shoshone war is on every page and it doesn't take too long to figure out that the history professor's wife did the murders to promote his book. Then, it's just blah-blah-blah for the final 80% of the listen.

In book 10, a 1907 killing affects modern life. Coel wraps Arapaho culture around a murder, some history and a presidential candidate. Father O'Malley plays in the plot but not as much as Vicki. The book flashes back to 1907 on occasion and the listener must account for that. I enjoyed the book, plot and characters...some of them were hateful. Onward to book #11

"This is for the Indian priest." The voice of a machine, Father John thought, a monotone, high-pitched and rapid. And inhuman. The voice of a robot or an alien in a B movie. Father John shifted forward, set his mug on the desk, and dipped his head toward the phone, not taking his eyes from the tiny microphone spilling out the words:
Once they fell in heat
Revenge is sweet and cold.
Bodies in the snow
Frozen enemy of old
Dead in the gorge
Attacks no more.

researchers seek memoirs of Sakajawa

a wife kills for her husband's dream

I enjoyed this 9th book in Coel's Wind River series. I've read them all in order. Plot involves corrupt bad guys running an Indian casino and the impact of gambling on the humans at the reservation. I liked the way that Father John's spiritual and counselor role intertwines with Vicki's legal one. Definitely one of the better books in this series.

The plots are three: potential loss of the mission; Vicki's ex- is murdered (good riddance) and a computer geek goes missing. Oh and let's not forget the Jim Jones style false prophet. As this is book #8, I'm so over the priest-indian woman lawyer romance. Coel's books on Arapaho Wyoming are informative and interesting. The stories are becoming somewhat repetitive.

Father John and Vicky end up working on a homicide together again but from different angles...trying to maintain distance....but, eventually have to work together. There's a side plot with the assistant pastor who gets sued for sexual harassment. This series goes through more assistants than there are historical road signs in Texas.:-) Fun book, good read!

Mystery wrapped around Sacajawea historical fiction. Coel does an excellent job weaving the challenges and issues of the Native Americans. However, the theme primarily is about violence towards women...including Vicki Holden, one of the main characters. It's also about belonging somewhere, in this case on the Wind River Reservation, as Fr John is threatened with an assignment to Milwaukee. You know that he doesn't go there because there are eight more books in this series that can't be done from Milwaukee :-)