Written by Margaret Coe
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps

Wind River Reservation 01 - The Eagle Catcher[/color]

On the windswept plains of Wyoming's Wind River Reservation, Arapahos have gathered for the Ethete powwow, a time to reaffirm the balance and harmony in life. But balance and harmony quickly give way to fear and confusion when respected tribal chairman Harvey Castle is found murdered at the powwow camp, and the evidence points to the chairman's nephew. Father John O'Malley, S.J., pastor of St. Francis Mission, and Vicky Holden, Arapaho attorney, do not believe that Anthony Castle - one of the most promising young people on the reservation - is capable of murder. Together they set out to find the real criminal and clear Anthony's name. The trail that Father John and Vicky follow winds across the high plains of the Wind River Reservation into Arapaho homes and community centers and the fraud-infested world of Indian oil and land deals. Eventually it leads to the past - the Old Time - when the Arapahos were forced to leave their homes on the central plains and relocate on the reservation. It is through the horrendous crimes committed then that Father John and Vicky discover the motive for the murder of the tribal chairman a century later. But as they close in on the killer, they become the next targets ...

Coel, Margaret - Wind River Reservation 03 - The Dream Stalker

In this third Father John O'Malley mystery, the head of St. Francis Mission on the Arapaho reservation in Wyoming comes to the aid of attorney Vicky Holden, who has been receiving death threats stemming from her role in protesting a plan to store nuclear waste on the reservation. Soon the pair must catch a killer whose dreams prompt violence. Coel enchants and intrigues by presenting uniformly well developed, realistic characters--from O'Malley and Holden to the most peripheral walk-ons--who face difficult moral choices. Against a vivid landscape and accurate historical backdrop, Coel injects drama and surprise into every corner of her story. Her lively style and western settings, awash in Native Americana, evoke Tony Hillerman's work, and Holden's character will remind readers of Hillerman's attorney, Janet Pete. At the same time, Coel's ability to conjure a mystery out of obscure history suggests Stephen Dobyns' Saratoga series, and O'Malley, with his cranky independence, dry wit, and love of opera, compares favorably to Colin Dexter's Chief Inspector Morse.

Coel, Margaret - Wind River Reservation 05 - The Lost Bird

Fr. John O'Malley and attorney Vicky Holden solve a mystery and wrestle with their mutualAand forbiddenAattraction in another suspenseful outing (after The Story Teller, 1998). When his elderly assistant is killed on a back road on the Wind River Arapaho Reservation in Wyoming, Father John assumes that he himself was the target, since the dead man was driving his truck and had just stepped out of it when he was shot. Soon, however, he learns that the frail old priest, who once held Father John's current post as head of the St. Francis Mission, came back to the reservation to expose a long-buried crime against the Arapaho people. When Holden, an Arapaho lawyer, hears that a priest has been murdered, she fears the worst, since Sonny Red Wolf, an angry Indian separatist, has often vowed to drive Father John off the reservation. After Holden finds Father John alive, she embarks on her own investigation of the murder. Meanwhile, movie star Sharon David hires Holden to trace her true lineage; she is convinced she was born to Arapaho parents on the reservation and given away for adoption. Holden repeats the local legendAthat many Arapaho babies died of a mysterious sickness around the time of Sharon David's birth, so no Arapaho would let a baby go. Probing, however, she uncovers a plot involving a clinic and a famous pediatrician, while Father John, converging on the same plot, confronts the killer. Like many mystery writers working on Native American ground, Coel knows that the gaps between cultures are fertile ground for suspense. She also develops solid characters and a keen sense of place that keep this tale humming.

Coel, Margaret - Wind River Reservation 06 - The Spirit Woman

On a gray November afternoon, Father John O'Malley, head of the Jesuit mission on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, finds a decomposed body. Across the reservation, attorney Vicky Holden discovers that her friend, Laura Simmons, has disappeared while searching for Sacagawea's memoirs. O'Malley and Holden soon realize that their mysteries are connected and rush to solve them before more mayhem occurs. Coel's series' characters continue to be richly developed and compelling in this sixth installment, but Sacagawea steals the show. Her memoirs make a terrific McGuffin in this nicely paced and suspenseful mystery. Sacagawea's own experiences with domestic violence and her decisions, at key points in her life, to make her own journeys foreshadow the mystery's solution and the life choices made by Holden and other women in the tale. This series will continue to appeal to fans of other authors using Native American settings and characters (Hillerman, Doss, and Medawar, among them), but Coel blends frontier history, complex emotions, and western vistas in a way that is all her own.

Coel, Margaret - Wind River Reservation 08 - The Shadow Dancer

Skillfully combining the rich history of Native Americans with their life in the 21st century, bestseller Coel offers a fresh story that moves as fast as the moccasin telegraph, the reservation gossip line that spreads news faster than the Internet, in this eighth outing featuring Vicky Holden, Arapaho attorney, and Father John O'Malley, priest of the mission on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation. This represents a welcome return to form after last year's The Thunder Keeper, which suffered from an overly familiar plot. Father John is facing the possible closing of the mission and the sudden disappearance of one of his parishioners when Vicky's ex-husband is murdered and she becomes the chief suspect. Circumstances prompt Vicky to forgo Father John's assistance in her search for the killer, but as they go their separate ways, they each struggle to clarify their feelings for each other. In due course their paths cross at the ranch where James Sherwood, called Orlando by his followers, has resurrected the Shadow Dance religion of the 1890s. Can Sherwood deliver on his promise of an Indian paradise? Compared to and praised by Tony Hillerman, Coel not only presents a vivid and authentic picture of the Native American, past and present, but also captures the rugged and majestic atmosphere of Wyoming. Even minor characters are real and human. The poignant ending will catch even the most astute mystery aficionado by surprise.