The Story Teller (A Wind River Reservation Mystery)

by Margaret Coel

Book Overview

Father O'Malley and Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden return! When a sacred tribal artifact disappears from a museum, it's more than Arapaho history that is lost--it's an Arapaho student's life... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 042517025X
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Berkley
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.7" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Another winner by Ms. Coel

Make Vick and Father John part of your life. They aren't perfect people like some characters in mystery books but they are good people who struggle with many issue that we do. Fine reading. Enjoyable through out.

Among Best of a New Genre of Mysteries

I picked up another of Coel's mysteries set on the Arapaho Res. at the hospital giftshop, while desperate for something to read. I found it so good, I sought out the others available in the series. So far "Story Teller" is my favorite. It is a compelling mystery, and the regular characters are also quite realistic. Although not as introspective as Hillerman's Navajo characters; the mystery elements move along at a faster pace. I really like the new genre of mysteries set in-and somewhat illuminating for the nonIndian-the native nations of the West. Coel is one of the best of this genre.

NOT The Formula Mystery

For some of us, it's enjoyable to read a mystery NOT about finding jewels, treasure maps, precious uranium and the like, but an adventure tale about recovering a lost book, a ledger book, in fact. Coel's mystery picks up with characters she has introduced already in her previous novels: Vicky Holden, an Arapaho attorney, and her colleague, Fr. John O'Malley. Together, the unlikely pair track down a pictographic story drawn in a ledger book detailing the Arapaho involvement (as some of the slain)in the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864. The book is important for the pair to discover because it could be used to reclaim lands taken from them so long ago.The mystery moves in a measured tempo, with a true rising action and a finale that reads in a flash.Yet the power in this tale, at least for me, lies in the characterization of its two protagonists, current-day pariahs, as heroes, struggling against the revisionist Historians (--History is written by the winners, goes the adage--) set to try to win again.Of course, I won't tell you how it ends. Enjoy!

Southwest mystery reminiscent of Hillerman

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGRA) allows tribes to reclaim some of their artifacts from museums, who must provide a list of their collection. Recently the Denver Museum of the West provided a list to the Arapaho Cultural Director Dennis Eagle Cloud, who in turn showed it to elderly storyteller Charles Redman. "Grandfather" immediately claimed the museum omitted the ledger that contains the stories of Chief Niwot as scribed by No-Ta-Nee.Attorney Vicky Holden explains to the pair that they have no legal recourse in obtaining the ledger. Dennis explodes and accuses his fellow tribesperson as being Anglicized after a decade amongst the whites. Vicky starts to argue back, but stops when Grandfather asks her to look for the book. She reverently agrees. However, before she can begin her search, a Arapaho student is killed while seeking the missing book. With the help of Father John O'Malley, a pastor on the Wind River Reservation, Vicky inquires into the invaluable historical account of her people while trying to ferret out a murderer. Margaret Coel's latest Native American mystery, THE STORY TELLER, may be her best work to date as she brilliantly ties together a who-done-it with Native American culture. The characters all ring true as they rapidly propel forward the tribal conflict with assimilation, the puzzle of the missing agenda (that provides much insight into the Arapaho lifestyle), and the murder mystery. Ms. Coel is one of the top story tellers of the sub-genre, ranking with the likes of Tony Hillerman. Fans of the contemporary Native American mystery should also read THE DREAM STALKER, THE GHOST WALKER, and THE EAGLE CATCHER for a collection elite novels.Harriet Klausner