The Lost Bird

Wind River Reservation #5

by Margaret Coel, Stephanie Bush (Narrator)

What reason would anyone have to kill an aging elderly priest? Unless the reason dates back to 1964 when Father Joseph Keenan left his post. The same year dozens of Arapaho newborns had died from contaminated water. It was also the year Hollywood star Sharon David was born, perhaps to one of those grieving families. When the adopted celebrity shows up in Vicky Holdens office with clues suggesting she was born in the area its clear that the glamorous actress is a lost bird. And there may be a flock behind her along with an ages old cover up..

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Native American, Mystery Thriller, Westerns, Religion, Crime

87 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Margaret Coel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of the acclaimed novels featuring Father John O'Malley and Vicky Holden, as well as several works of nonfiction. Originally a historian by trade, she is considered an expert on the Arapaho Indians.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coel's Wind River series is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. In this installment, Father John and Attorney Vicky Holden, after his assistant Father Patrick is gunned down and a famous actress seeking her birth parents hires Vicky, uncover a blackmarket adoption ring which operated years before. The year in question was 1964. The Arapaho remember it as the year all the babies died. As a librarian and genealogist, my favorite part of the book was when Vicky went to the library to research, even if the author did kind of poke fun at the genealogist who wondered when Vicky was going to be finished. However, the entire book and story, including the introduction of Father John's niece who comes to visit from Boston, held my attention. As usual I listened to the audio version read by Stephanie Brush.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favorite of the five Wind River Reservation books I've read so far. There are 3 plots that all come together in a fantastic finish, plus a resolution of sorts for the sparks that have flown between Father John O'Malley and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden. While previous books in the series concentrated mainly on local issues, the issues here have much broader implications, and it was great to go along with Vicky as she figured it all out. I did guess the main thing, but have to admit that it was pretty close to the end when I finally did. The finish was spectacular! Very highly recommended!

[Regan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've enjoyed every single book in this series but Lost Bird is THE best (so far). What a fantastic story with multiple layers. Father John is pulled in several directions -- parallels in a way between his life and that of his followers.

[Diana Biggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margaret Coel is always good, in my opinion. This book is not exception.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only a talented writer could craft a book with so much evil and pathos while making every page ring true. Margaret Corel, in this fifth book of the Wind River series ran enormous risks of making the plot so convoluted that the reader could give up in frustration. And yet, she held back just enough to bring the threads of a 35 year old tale together into a powerfully moving conclusion. This episode is the very best yet.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each book I read in this series seems to keep getting better and better, and I really enjoyed this one. Vicky is on the trail of some missing babies from 1964 in this tale, and Father John is trying to find out who killed a semi-retired priest on the reservation. He thinks he was the intended victim at first, or was it Father Keenan? Father Keenan was a young priest on the Wind River Reserve in the past, so he must also dig up some history. Vicky and Father John end up working together again to unravel the past. This is also a truly moving story about life on the reservation and the extended families and relationships.

[Carolyn Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Native American female lawyer w/ Jesuit missionary priest.  Several stories going on, one being their mutual attraction.  Storyline can be a little disjointed but the basic plot--re a adoptee's search for her parents--was very good! Learned lots about Native American culture.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was about time I revisited this series.

[Avis Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another, Margaret Coel, book to add to my collection.
The Lost Bird is a suspenseful, engaging and with realist characters good read!
Father Keenan is a frail priest who comes to stay with Father John at St. Francis Mission.
Father Keenan has some health problems and was assigned to help Father John, as Keenan
had years back been at the Mission over 35 years ago. As Father Joseph Keenan gets into
the routine of things, he renews old acquaintances and friendships and enjoys driving
around the Mission.
But Father John is worried about him and gives Father Keenan the least tiring jobs, like
visiting with the elders, saying Saturday evening Mass and so on.
As Father Keenan stepped into the office he said “I just received an emergency call.”
He tells Father John that a poor woman’s son called and said his mother, who has cancer, would like to receive the last sacraments as she probably won’t last the night. He borrows Father John’s Toyota pickup to leave and that’s when the mystery begins.
The community is shocked. Who would kill an ailing priest? The answer may date back to 1964, the
year he left abruptly and dozens of Arapaho parents were told their newborns had died from contaminated water. Father John discovers that Keenan had a crushing secret and now they must
find proof of a cover-up before more lives are lost.
Recommend this book highly as it really keeps you in suspense!

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret Coel has produced another fine book. This one deals with the theft of Native American babies from their parents through illegal adoptions. It is a flashpoint subject that was carefully dealt with carefully. The Indian side of things is very well handled by Ms. Coel. She does not take the reactionary view that the adoptive parents were horrid individuals.

I grew up with two Native American brothers and am of Native American heritage myself. When the boys were in the middle of their High School years they were taken from the adoptive family and returned to the reservation where they came from. One of the boys later returned, the other one was never seen again. I knew the boys and their adoptive parents. This was a gut wrenching occurrence for everyone involved. The real criminals are unscrupulous adoption agencies that took children from families who could have cared for them.

On another level, I have been reading this series from the beginning going forward. The book is more polished than previous novels by Ms. Coel and dwells more on the mystery and less on the relationship between O'Malley and Holden. While the relationship is important in the context of the series, the crime was brought more to the forefront in this installment.

I recommend this book to fans of books written by Anne Hillerman and Aimee Thurlo.

[Wanda Hargrove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden gets a visit from a movie star. The woman knows she was adopted thirty-five years ago and hires Vicky to find her birth parents. Only problem no Arapaho would give up her child for adoption. Now Vicky has a problem on her hands and is determined to find out what happened thirty-five years before.

Father Joesph a priest who was at the reservation thirty-five years earlier has returned. However, he's failed to tell Father John O'Malley why he's returned. The Provincial, Father O'Malley and Father's Joseph's boss has an idea that Father Joesph has returned to die. A call comes into the Mission that a woman wants her last rights because she's dying of cancer. Father Joesph goes, but he's killed.

Vicky and Father John are determined to find out what an adoption of an Arapaho woman, has to do with the death of a priest, two people from thirty-five years earlier and another woman have in common. To complicate matters Vicky's ex-husband Ben Holden wants her back, and Father John's niece is added to the mix. It's a series of twists and turns that lead to danger as a killer is stalking the reservation.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vicky is on the trail of some missing babies from 1964 in this tale, and Father John is trying to find out who killed a semi-retired priest on the reservation. He thinks he was the intended victim at first, or was it Father Keenan? Father Keenan was a young priest on the Wind River Reserve in the past, so he must also dig up some history. Vicky and Father John end up working together again to unravel the past. This is also a truly moving story about life on the reservation and the extended families and relationships.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Father Joseph Keenan is shot in a remote area of the Wind River Arapaho Reservation, Father John O’Malley believes that he was the intended victim. Who would want to kill an elderly priest who has only been at Saint Francis Mission for a short time? Movie star Sharon Davis is convinced that she was born on the reservation and hires Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden to search for her birth parents, even though Vicky assures her that Arapahos do not give away their babies. An excellent mystery plot; the romantic tension between Vicky and Father John, not so much.

[Chrisette · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title says it all. Indians that have lost their way or their children are called lost birds. The Arapahoe pray for them to find their way back to the people. In this book, Father John and Vicky get involved with a murder of a priest on the reservation and end up jumping through hoops to solve it. This is a very sad story with a lot of grief involved. Fifteen families are waiting for their lost birds to find their way home. Another book very well written. The reader feels like they are there. Trying to solve the murder and find the killer.

[Michale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am enjoying this series, partly because it provides me with such great escape: I am not Catholic, American Indian, or rural - instead, I live in a large midwestern city and can only imagine the people and places described based on some brief travels out West. While I enjoy the stories of the Arapaho, Vicky, Father John, and other regulars, by this point I know that their divergent paths set up in the beginning of the book will merge, that they will be in grave danger, solve the murder mystery together, and come through relatively intact. The formula and the phrasing has become a bit too familiar. But I plan to continue with these books because I am learning about different cultures through the prism of a favorite genre.

[JulieAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reading! I am a big fan of Tony Hillerman's books and when he left this world I had to search out other writers who write about the modern lives of Native Americans on reservations. Margaret Coel definitely satisfies! Her characters are people I would enjoy in real life. This story is particularly emotional. Characters are faced with searching through the past to resolve the present. I am going to leave at that.......

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good story. I continue to struggle with the way Coel uses coincidence. Have one action cause another, rather than two seemingly unrelated mysteries having to dovetail neatly at the end. In this one, a woman comes looking for her biological parents and a priest is murdered. Coel could easily have had the first triggering the second instead of just happening to happen at precisely the right time to set up the book.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series of books by Coel, featuring Jesuit priest John O'Malley, who runs the Catholic mission on this Arapaho reservation, and his frequent collaborator, lawyer Vicky Holden, herself an Arapaho. Coel does a wonderful job of describing people and places, as well as the cultural rifts between the native Americans and the white population, the tensions between John and Vicky, and so much more. A gem of a series!

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree with other reviewers who say this is the best of the first five books in the series. The well-established characters and relationships are deepened and the interweaving plots of a woman trying to find her birth parents (the "lost bird" of the title), an aging priest returning to the res to try to make amends and getting killed for his efforts, and the pollution of the groundwater causing a series of infant funerals thirty-five years earlier all come together in a brilliant way.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another winner from Margaret Coel...Fr. O'Malley & Arapahoe lawyer Vicky Holden, starting at different points arrive at the same mystery...Holden begins with a search for the birth parents of a celebrity on the "Rez," while O'Malley investigates the shooting of his assistant, who served St. Joseph's 35 yrs. ago....Good stuff!!!

[Jay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book in the series. It delves into the main characters pasts and brings forward imperfections that make them more realistic. Probably, not the hardest whodunnit in the series because it is somewhat predictable. However, this is an excellent series and I can't wait to read another.

[Leslie Conner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great writer, Wind River Range setting, amazing story the reads well, gives detail that keeps my interest. Great characters and caring relationships. Really worth my time and it is a great intellectual distraction when needed.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy this series. These books are mysteries with very likable characters set on an Arapaho reservation in present time. Though they are fairly lightweight in the "thriller" category, they do have exciting climaxes, made better by the enchantment of the setting and the protagonists.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each one of the books in this series highlights a problem inherent in Native Americans lives ( usually caused by whites). The quality of the stories and writing seems to have improved as she writes more. I look forward to reading more in the series.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid and well written book. So far it is my favorite Wind River Mystery. I like the characters, the mystery was different and the solution made sense. Worth reading if you like mysteries and enjoy a bit of Native American culture thrown in.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Priest murdered, movie star finds Arapaho roots....good read with several diversions and moving parts. Wyoming landscape, the history, characters, mysteries, and Arapaho culture are all woven into the story. I'm into the series and looking for #6.

[Marcy Skala · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a can't put it down kind of book. Why would a priest be murdered? I enjoyed the relationship between Father O'Malley and Vicky Holden, but also her reconciliation with her ex. I don't think the description of place included the great despair that usually accompanies description of life on the reservation, but I enjoyed the setting so unfamiliar to me. The one annoyance is why anyone would make assumptions about paternity without a test. I would think Megan would want a definitive answer to her paternity questions.

[Ginny McNees · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first Coel book.
The main reason I wasn't into the book is because I was reading the fifth book in an existing which does not work for me. And when fictional stories about Native Americans I still prefer to read Tony Hillerman.

[Gail Tavis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

This was a very good book, a great mystery, and a relationship book. Those are three things I look for in a book, and this book had all three. I really enjoy how Margaret writes and will definitely read the rest of the series.

[Keg Good · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy the whole series of Wind River Books. After spending 2 autumns in Lander, I can feel the physical environments and the White vs Arapaho tensions discussed in the book. I do get confused by the very seldom mention of the Shoshone Indians.