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Wind River Reservation #1
The Eagle Catcher
From New York Times bestselling author Margaret Coel comes a tightly crafted mystery that blends Native American culture and history with contemporary issues and fast-paced action—the first in the Wind River series!
When the Arapaho tribal chairman is found murdered in his tepee at the Ethete powwow, the evidence points to the chairman's nephew, Anthony Castle. But Father John O'Malley, pastor of St. Francis Mission, and Vicky Holden, the Arapaho lawyer, do not believe the young man capable of murder. Together they set out to find the real murderer 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 into the fraud-infested world of Indian oil and land deals. Eventually it leads to the past — the Old Time — when the Arapahos were forced from their homes on the Great Plains and sent to the reservation.
There in the Old Time, Father John and Vicky discover a crime so heinous that someone was willing to commit murder more than a hundred years later to keep it hidden. As they close in a killer who does not hesitate to kill again, they discover they have become the next targets...
When the Arapaho tribal chairman is found murdered in his tepee at the Ethete powwow, the evidence points to the chairman's nephew, Anthony Castle. But Father John O'Malley, pastor of St. Francis Mission, and Vicky Holden, the Arapaho lawyer, do not believe the young man capable of murder. Together they set out to find the real murderer 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 into the fraud-infested world of Indian oil and land deals. Eventually it leads to the past — the Old Time — when the Arapahos were forced from their homes on the Great Plains and sent to the reservation.
There in the Old Time, Father John and Vicky discover a crime so heinous that someone was willing to commit murder more than a hundred years later to keep it hidden. As they close in a killer who does not hesitate to kill again, they discover they have become the next targets...
241 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
557 people are currently reading
3523 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Coel
64 books504 followersMargaret 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 420 reviews
August 13, 2012
The acknowledged king of this genre, the lives of native Americans in the twentieth century, is Tony Hillerman, and I've read a number of his novels. However I enjoyed this one far more. The combination of the alcoholic Jesuit and the female Arapaho lawyer works really well. The plot is relatively straight forward but the insight into the daily struggles of the native Americans in todays society are highlighted as well as the historical injustices which are perpetuated.
September 2, 2024
I am surprised I have never discovered this series before. I loved this first book. And so many places that are familiar to me from living there as a child. We lived in Fort Washakie for a year while my Dad worked there as a Dr. then we moved to Lander for 2 years. I have been to Riverton often and flown out of the airport. Hudson had 2 very fine steak restaurants but I have no idea if they are still there. So this book held some memories but it was also very well written. And the ending was very fast paced and exciting. Well worth reading for anyone who likes mysteries and loves the West.
December 10, 2018
In Margaret Coel's The Eagle Catcher, the first installment in the Wind River Reservation serial mystery series, if you're a fan of Tony and Anne Hillerman's novels, you would enjoy this series. It all started when Father John O'Malley had found Harvey Castle's dead body inside of his tipi. That's when he alerted the BIA and the tribal police about his findings. They start looking for answers and pinpoint the blame to his nephew Anthony, who had a heated argument with him before his murder. Father John called Vicky Holden, who was half-Arapaho and half-Caucasian, to represent him. While the police believe they have found the man, both Vicky and Father John think otherwise and dug a little bit deeper into Harvey's office to look for answers. Along the way, they point their fingers to other suspects which included Ned Cooley, who's running for governor of Wyoming, and Jasper Owens, a wealthy oilman. The closer they get to know the truth, the more things take a drastic turn when Father John gets assaulted and Vicky gets abducted by the suspect. Together, they would learn the real history behind the motive in a gripping life-and-death showdown that would leave you at the edge of your seat.
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July 28, 2024I read books 1-9 in the series.years back
January 21, 2016
This was an OK mystery, though somewhat lacking the depth of native American history and traditions that were so well done in the Tony Hillerman books. As in Hillerman's Navajo Tribal Police series, though, there are personal histories of the main characters that are not fully revealed in this first book. There are quite a number of books in this series, so perhaps there is more character development to come.
I didn't care much for the narrator, Stephanie Brush. She often speaks with a rather harsh tone, and even has a hint of yankee accent seeping out from time to time, which felt entirely wrong for an Arapahoe. I didn't notice at first that she would be the narrator. I absolutely did not like her readings of the later Steven F. Havill Posadas County Mysteries (although those stories themselves are some of my favorite mysteries).
I might try Book 2 in this series, but think I'll go with library books if Brush is the only one who narrates the audiobooks.
I didn't care much for the narrator, Stephanie Brush. She often speaks with a rather harsh tone, and even has a hint of yankee accent seeping out from time to time, which felt entirely wrong for an Arapahoe. I didn't notice at first that she would be the narrator. I absolutely did not like her readings of the later Steven F. Havill Posadas County Mysteries (although those stories themselves are some of my favorite mysteries).
I might try Book 2 in this series, but think I'll go with library books if Brush is the only one who narrates the audiobooks.
February 10, 2013
Eagle Catcher, the first title in the mystery series by Margaret Coel, is set on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Father O’Malley, a recovering alcoholic, has been banished from Boston to the poverty-stricken reservation, where he links up with Arapaho attorney Vicki Holden to learn the truth about oil and land deals that may have culminated in the murder of Harvey Castle, the tribal chief.
I read this with some expectation of being enchanted by the tales of the Native culture as in the Hillerman novels. It did not meet that bar for me, while a good story I was not intrigued by this series as I was with Leaphorn and Chee.
I read this with some expectation of being enchanted by the tales of the Native culture as in the Hillerman novels. It did not meet that bar for me, while a good story I was not intrigued by this series as I was with Leaphorn and Chee.
December 20, 2016
Just excellent - a huge start to a new series.
Well drawn and interesting characters, good action and plotting, fine descriptions of the scenery and land around this area of the country.
Looking forward to the next one.
Well drawn and interesting characters, good action and plotting, fine descriptions of the scenery and land around this area of the country.
Looking forward to the next one.
August 16, 2010
I am a mystery lover, but this author needs a few more novels under her belt before I will read her again. You can tell she's a novice. Her work is amateurish. She does have promise, though.
July 7, 2018
I've been looking for a good mystery series that also would give me more insight into modern Native American culture. This is the best I've found so far.
July 14, 2021
In the summer of 1968 – possibly 1969 – I found an arrowhead out on the prairie in Eastern Wyoming. An acquaintance who had considerably more experience with Native American artefacts figured it was probably not that old. Other than that, he couldn't say. I did some research at the local library and much later on CD-ROM and then on-line and concluded it may well have been made by the Arapaho, who lived around that area at the time. It could have been made by the Cheyenne, or maybe the Pawnee... But I decided it was Arapaho, though I knew nothing more about them.
After reading this book I know a little bit more. I was, and am, a big fan of Tony Hillerman. I even dreamed of taking a trip through the Navajo Nation, while realising that I would be nothing but a tourist. The landscape would still be thrilling even if I was not as much a part of the culture as in Mr Hillerman's novels. I'm also a fan of Craig Johnson who writes about Sheriff Walt Longmire in Bighorn Mountain country in northern Wyoming and a bit about Henry Standing Bear and the Cheyenne.
I have actually driven across the Wind River Reservation in my younger years, heading for the Tetons or Yellowstone. The drive from Casper all the way up into the mountains around Dubois is pretty dull travelling. It was nice to stop off in this book and see what was going on.
There were a few things that annoyed me about this book. I thought the dialogue was much less real than Craig Johnson's. I thought the writing was, at times, uninspired. I thought the mystery while roiling the waters pretty well, still ended too expectantly,
The chief protagonist is Father John, a Jesuit Priest from Boston. Now I've been suspicious of the Jesuits ever since I saw the TV series Shogun back in the 1980s. And I have been suspicious of Christian missionaries since before that. Father John is a good man, and not a hard-line Catholic, apparently. He allows his parishioners to add their cultural rites to services but he is still the head of a Christian Mission.
"...Oh, the relentless logic of the Jesuit system—once locked onto your thought processes, it never released its grip. Sometimes he wished he could think in another way, forget about logic..." (p. 17)
This is the other thing I know about Jesuits, their love of logic, and I was a bit disappointed that this turned up here. Somewhat as when Jim Chee turned out to be a really good tracker; playing to the stereotype.
"Teenenoo Hiinooni’it,” Will said, calling Father John by the Arapaho name he had given him three years ago. It meant Touch-the-Clouds. It symbolized what he did as a priest, and, Father John suspected, the fact that his head rose above the heads of most other men around here..." (p. 26)
The other protagonist is Vicky Holden, who is born and raised Arapaho but left her brutal husband, the reservation, and her children to become a lawyer. In this book she is 42 years old. Somewhat in the mold of Joe Leaphorn she is a non-traditional Arapaho. I suspect Mr Hillerman did not dare to choose a traditional Navajo as his protagonist as that would entail knowing everything about the culture. Later on, when he was more sure of himself he brought in Jim Chee who is very traditional. This is the first book in a series of 20... or so! Quite possibly Vicky becomes more assimilated as Ms. Coel does. There are other Arapaho in this book who are more traditional, though they are somewhat distant.
"After Vicky had divorced Ben and left the reservation, Rose had helped Vicky's mother with the kids, Lucas and Susan. By the time Vicky had returned to the reservation, the kids were 18 and 20, off on their own in Los Angeles. Knowing her children would grow up in the Arapaho Way had made it possible to leave them. Still, it never left her mind that, to reclaim herself, she had lost her children..." (p. 134)
"He was a good man, for a white man. He seemed to care about the people here. And he was intelligent, very intelligent. But he was a priest, and she suspected that everything he knew he had learned out of books." says Vicky about Father John. (p. 43)
“Father John was quiet a moment. “I don’t know either,” he said finally. “Harvey was a good man.” He saw by the flash of light in the old woman’s eyes that she understood he meant good in the Arapaho Way. A good man was generous and kind, thoughtful of others. Only a few could be called good." (p. 26)
Now this is the kind of thing I enjoy, insight into a different culture, new meanings.
"The Catholic ritual would come first, then the Arapaho. Just because her people had converted to Catholicism didn’t mean they’d given up the old ways of believing. Those beliefs were still strong as a lodgepole pine, with the new way merely grafted on..." (p. 133) I like this simile.
I read this on a Kindle. One of the silly things Kindle does – or one of the cute things – is mark passages that other readers have noted. For example:
"He’d learned a lot about faith since he’d been at Wind River Reservation, mostly about how it was something other than an intellectual exercise. There were no words, no lofty concepts, that could take away the pain. Faith was living with the pain..." (p. 33) This was highlighted by 64 readers.
"Vicky thought of what her grandfather had told her once. “We pray with our ancestors, and we pray with the long robes. You can’t pray enough.” (p. 133) 27 highlighters.
"...this church, a chapel really, built by Arapahos a hundred years ago. Above the entrance were the painted symbols of the Trinity: a thunderbird for God the Creator, a tipi, sacred pipe, and eagle feather for the Holy Spirit, and the figure of a warrior for the Risen Christ. Around the whitewashed stucco walls marched stick-figure drawings of the Stations of the Cross. And circles everywhere for all the natural things in the world that are round—Mother Earth, sun, moon..." (p. 86)
The fictional St. Francis corresponds no doubt to St. Stephens Indian Mission in the town of Arapahoe. That church too is decorated with brightly coloured geometrical figures, lines and figures.
"It was about 9 o’clock, an hour after the wake was supposed to start. Vicky knew that Father John would start the services on Indian time, when everyone had arrived and was ready. Indian time had nothing to do with clocks. Most whites never understood that..." (p. 131) 44 highlighters.
This resonates with me. While serving in the Peace Corps in India people also spoke about 'Indian Time' – meaning "sometime, not sure when". Or frequently "just now coming".
“'Niatha’s too clever for himself,” Will said. The Arapaho word for white man was also the word for spider, a mysterious, clever creature. 'Niatha tries hard to bury his shameful deeds. Trouble is, he wants to write everything down. So pretty soon somebody like Harvey finds what Niatha wrote down. Niatha gets tangled up in his own web.'" (p. 177)
My favourite quote.
Despite some problems this was a pretty good yarn. I will almost surely read another book further on in the series.
After reading this book I know a little bit more. I was, and am, a big fan of Tony Hillerman. I even dreamed of taking a trip through the Navajo Nation, while realising that I would be nothing but a tourist. The landscape would still be thrilling even if I was not as much a part of the culture as in Mr Hillerman's novels. I'm also a fan of Craig Johnson who writes about Sheriff Walt Longmire in Bighorn Mountain country in northern Wyoming and a bit about Henry Standing Bear and the Cheyenne.
I have actually driven across the Wind River Reservation in my younger years, heading for the Tetons or Yellowstone. The drive from Casper all the way up into the mountains around Dubois is pretty dull travelling. It was nice to stop off in this book and see what was going on.
There were a few things that annoyed me about this book. I thought the dialogue was much less real than Craig Johnson's. I thought the writing was, at times, uninspired. I thought the mystery while roiling the waters pretty well, still ended too expectantly,
"Here and there an oil pump appeared on the horizon, like a great black hawk pecking the earth." (p. 16). Black hawks are rare in Wyoming, nor do they peck the ground, a crow would have worked better.
"A few years back he would have had the answers, and they would have tripped off his tongue as easily as the sunlight glinted off the pebbles in the driveway. Smooth and glib he’d been, full of the certainty and clarity of fifteen years of Jesuit training." (p. 33) This is another confusing metaphor. Words tripping off the tongue, like sunlight on pebbles?...like sunlight dancing on a stream?
"VICKY GUIDED THE Bronco down the broad main street of Lander. Flat-faced, two-story buildings stood side by side, like ponies tethered together in a corral..." Nope. (p. 58)
The chief protagonist is Father John, a Jesuit Priest from Boston. Now I've been suspicious of the Jesuits ever since I saw the TV series Shogun back in the 1980s. And I have been suspicious of Christian missionaries since before that. Father John is a good man, and not a hard-line Catholic, apparently. He allows his parishioners to add their cultural rites to services but he is still the head of a Christian Mission.
"...Oh, the relentless logic of the Jesuit system—once locked onto your thought processes, it never released its grip. Sometimes he wished he could think in another way, forget about logic..." (p. 17)
This is the other thing I know about Jesuits, their love of logic, and I was a bit disappointed that this turned up here. Somewhat as when Jim Chee turned out to be a really good tracker; playing to the stereotype.
"Teenenoo Hiinooni’it,” Will said, calling Father John by the Arapaho name he had given him three years ago. It meant Touch-the-Clouds. It symbolized what he did as a priest, and, Father John suspected, the fact that his head rose above the heads of most other men around here..." (p. 26)
The other protagonist is Vicky Holden, who is born and raised Arapaho but left her brutal husband, the reservation, and her children to become a lawyer. In this book she is 42 years old. Somewhat in the mold of Joe Leaphorn she is a non-traditional Arapaho. I suspect Mr Hillerman did not dare to choose a traditional Navajo as his protagonist as that would entail knowing everything about the culture. Later on, when he was more sure of himself he brought in Jim Chee who is very traditional. This is the first book in a series of 20... or so! Quite possibly Vicky becomes more assimilated as Ms. Coel does. There are other Arapaho in this book who are more traditional, though they are somewhat distant.
"After Vicky had divorced Ben and left the reservation, Rose had helped Vicky's mother with the kids, Lucas and Susan. By the time Vicky had returned to the reservation, the kids were 18 and 20, off on their own in Los Angeles. Knowing her children would grow up in the Arapaho Way had made it possible to leave them. Still, it never left her mind that, to reclaim herself, she had lost her children..." (p. 134)
"He was a good man, for a white man. He seemed to care about the people here. And he was intelligent, very intelligent. But he was a priest, and she suspected that everything he knew he had learned out of books." says Vicky about Father John. (p. 43)
“Father John was quiet a moment. “I don’t know either,” he said finally. “Harvey was a good man.” He saw by the flash of light in the old woman’s eyes that she understood he meant good in the Arapaho Way. A good man was generous and kind, thoughtful of others. Only a few could be called good." (p. 26)
Now this is the kind of thing I enjoy, insight into a different culture, new meanings.
"The Catholic ritual would come first, then the Arapaho. Just because her people had converted to Catholicism didn’t mean they’d given up the old ways of believing. Those beliefs were still strong as a lodgepole pine, with the new way merely grafted on..." (p. 133) I like this simile.
I read this on a Kindle. One of the silly things Kindle does – or one of the cute things – is mark passages that other readers have noted. For example:
"He’d learned a lot about faith since he’d been at Wind River Reservation, mostly about how it was something other than an intellectual exercise. There were no words, no lofty concepts, that could take away the pain. Faith was living with the pain..." (p. 33) This was highlighted by 64 readers.
"Vicky thought of what her grandfather had told her once. “We pray with our ancestors, and we pray with the long robes. You can’t pray enough.” (p. 133) 27 highlighters.
"...this church, a chapel really, built by Arapahos a hundred years ago. Above the entrance were the painted symbols of the Trinity: a thunderbird for God the Creator, a tipi, sacred pipe, and eagle feather for the Holy Spirit, and the figure of a warrior for the Risen Christ. Around the whitewashed stucco walls marched stick-figure drawings of the Stations of the Cross. And circles everywhere for all the natural things in the world that are round—Mother Earth, sun, moon..." (p. 86)
The fictional St. Francis corresponds no doubt to St. Stephens Indian Mission in the town of Arapahoe. That church too is decorated with brightly coloured geometrical figures, lines and figures.
"It was about 9 o’clock, an hour after the wake was supposed to start. Vicky knew that Father John would start the services on Indian time, when everyone had arrived and was ready. Indian time had nothing to do with clocks. Most whites never understood that..." (p. 131) 44 highlighters.
This resonates with me. While serving in the Peace Corps in India people also spoke about 'Indian Time' – meaning "sometime, not sure when". Or frequently "just now coming".
“'Niatha’s too clever for himself,” Will said. The Arapaho word for white man was also the word for spider, a mysterious, clever creature. 'Niatha tries hard to bury his shameful deeds. Trouble is, he wants to write everything down. So pretty soon somebody like Harvey finds what Niatha wrote down. Niatha gets tangled up in his own web.'" (p. 177)
My favourite quote.
Despite some problems this was a pretty good yarn. I will almost surely read another book further on in the series.
October 16, 2015
The Eagle Catcher is the first book in the Wind River Reservation mystery series by Margaret Coel. It deals with an Irish priest who, after falling into disgrace from addiction to alcohol and so forth, was sent to a small reservation where the Arapaho people live.
We begin in the present-day of the narrative and only learn these facts later in the book. You see, when he first arrived at the St. Francis Mission on the reservation in Wyoming, he was full of pride, despite his fall from esteem. He thought he would tough it out and then leave. Now, six years later, he loves the reservation and it's people. He has learned to see things from their point of view and have respect for their ideas and traditions. We aren't told what O'Malley does and doesn't agree with the Native Americans on, but just that he values them.
All of this brings us to the beginning of the book, wherein the story begins. A tribal council member, Harvey Castle, is murdered in his tent at a powwow event, his nephew is accused of the crime. O'Malley, and his friend, Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden, don't believe for a minute that Anthony did the crime. But the FBI agent investigating things has evidence to indict him. It looks bad, unless the priest and the lawyer can prove the young man's innocence.
What I liked about this book was that it showed honestly the frayed nature of the interactions of whites and Native Americans, but didn't really get in your face, whites are bad and Indians pure about it. Too many pov's in history, or other sources are cliched or biased. This one shows an honest point of view. Whites mistreated the Indians, and that is true. Not all whites are bad, and racism is on both sides. The author's statement in the front of the book makes clear her sympathies for the Native American peoples, but she wrote things honestly. Detailing the disgraceful treatment of indigenous peoples by the US government, and the ongoing bad actions on both sides.
It should be understood that the Father and Vicky are not action heroes. They are in danger when the bad guy comes a-calling. It's really their cleverness that saves them. I think I like the authoress including Vicky for the sake of avoiding the "white guy saves the day" trope, as she herself explained. But she fleshed out Vicky and makes her likable, if a bit of a jerk at times. But those few times she isn't as nice as Father John are ones that, given her past traumas, she can be forgiven and understood for.
The visual descriptions of the lands of the Reservation help to envision these beautiful lands. As well, the in-depth way of portraying the customs and rites of the tribe pulled you in and showed you a fascinating and remarkable culture.
I can't wait to pick up another volume in this series some time.
Highly Recommended.
We begin in the present-day of the narrative and only learn these facts later in the book. You see, when he first arrived at the St. Francis Mission on the reservation in Wyoming, he was full of pride, despite his fall from esteem. He thought he would tough it out and then leave. Now, six years later, he loves the reservation and it's people. He has learned to see things from their point of view and have respect for their ideas and traditions. We aren't told what O'Malley does and doesn't agree with the Native Americans on, but just that he values them.
All of this brings us to the beginning of the book, wherein the story begins. A tribal council member, Harvey Castle, is murdered in his tent at a powwow event, his nephew is accused of the crime. O'Malley, and his friend, Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden, don't believe for a minute that Anthony did the crime. But the FBI agent investigating things has evidence to indict him. It looks bad, unless the priest and the lawyer can prove the young man's innocence.
What I liked about this book was that it showed honestly the frayed nature of the interactions of whites and Native Americans, but didn't really get in your face, whites are bad and Indians pure about it. Too many pov's in history, or other sources are cliched or biased. This one shows an honest point of view. Whites mistreated the Indians, and that is true. Not all whites are bad, and racism is on both sides. The author's statement in the front of the book makes clear her sympathies for the Native American peoples, but she wrote things honestly. Detailing the disgraceful treatment of indigenous peoples by the US government, and the ongoing bad actions on both sides.
It should be understood that the Father and Vicky are not action heroes. They are in danger when the bad guy comes a-calling. It's really their cleverness that saves them. I think I like the authoress including Vicky for the sake of avoiding the "white guy saves the day" trope, as she herself explained. But she fleshed out Vicky and makes her likable, if a bit of a jerk at times. But those few times she isn't as nice as Father John are ones that, given her past traumas, she can be forgiven and understood for.
The visual descriptions of the lands of the Reservation help to envision these beautiful lands. As well, the in-depth way of portraying the customs and rites of the tribe pulled you in and showed you a fascinating and remarkable culture.
I can't wait to pick up another volume in this series some time.
Highly Recommended.
August 18, 2013
If you're like me and enjoy mysteries that are permeated with Native American culture and history, put Margaret Coel's Wind River mysteries on your reading list. This first book in the series is a strong blend of well-plotted mystery, a setting that should be listed in the cast of characters, Arapaho culture and history, and two strong, interesting leads in Father John O'Malley and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden.
"In the distance, the brown humps of the Wind River Mountains rode against the sky like a herd of giant buffalo."
The high plains setting of the Wind River Reservation plays an important role in the book, especially if you keep in mind the fact that Father John and Vicky are a thirty to forty-five minute drive from anywhere. It's remote, it's beautiful, and its weather can turn on a dime.
Father John O'Malley taught history in Jesuit prep schools back East until his drinking spiraled out of control and he was sent in disgrace from Boston to the Wind River Reservation. To his surprise, he fell in love with the landscape and with the Arapaho people. Vicky Holden was the wife of a drunk and abusive man. She divorced him and took the long lonely road to law school. Vicky is much more prickly than Father John, but both are strong, intelligent, and just the kind of characters to sustain a long series.
I was swept up by the story very quickly, and I appreciated how Coel skillfully wove present-day Arapaho issues into the narrative. Although I did identify one of the villains of the piece very early on, the killer came as a total surprise. The reveal should not have been so amazing, however, because there were clues all along the trail-- proof of how the story made me put aside my deductive skills.
If there was anything I didn't like about the book, it was the fact that the story was over much too soon and left me with a craving for more-- in particular, more of Vicky Holden. Father John received the lion's share of the attention in this book, and Vicky is such a fascinating character that I'm dying to learn more about her.
Good mystery, evocative setting, Native American culture and history, and two characters with whom I need to become better acquainted. I'm definitely returning to Wind River!
"In the distance, the brown humps of the Wind River Mountains rode against the sky like a herd of giant buffalo."
The high plains setting of the Wind River Reservation plays an important role in the book, especially if you keep in mind the fact that Father John and Vicky are a thirty to forty-five minute drive from anywhere. It's remote, it's beautiful, and its weather can turn on a dime.
Father John O'Malley taught history in Jesuit prep schools back East until his drinking spiraled out of control and he was sent in disgrace from Boston to the Wind River Reservation. To his surprise, he fell in love with the landscape and with the Arapaho people. Vicky Holden was the wife of a drunk and abusive man. She divorced him and took the long lonely road to law school. Vicky is much more prickly than Father John, but both are strong, intelligent, and just the kind of characters to sustain a long series.
I was swept up by the story very quickly, and I appreciated how Coel skillfully wove present-day Arapaho issues into the narrative. Although I did identify one of the villains of the piece very early on, the killer came as a total surprise. The reveal should not have been so amazing, however, because there were clues all along the trail-- proof of how the story made me put aside my deductive skills.
If there was anything I didn't like about the book, it was the fact that the story was over much too soon and left me with a craving for more-- in particular, more of Vicky Holden. Father John received the lion's share of the attention in this book, and Vicky is such a fascinating character that I'm dying to learn more about her.
Good mystery, evocative setting, Native American culture and history, and two characters with whom I need to become better acquainted. I'm definitely returning to Wind River!
April 7, 2024
3.5 stars, rounded up
This is yet another series that's been on my to-read shelf for years, and I suspect the cluttered, unappealing cover had a lot to do with my skipping over it time and time again.
The book was originally published in 1995, so of course it's a bit dated, but it was a good story just the same. In the same way that Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn & Chee series teaches about the Navajo culture and traditions, this book taught me some about the Arapaho tribe, something I expect to continue as the series progresses.
I like Father John and Vicky, the MCs, and their determination to look out for the people on the reservation, their best interests and their rights. There seems to be a bit of romantic tension just below the surface with these two, but John is a Jesuit priest, so unless he gives up his profession, I don't see that track going anywhere.
The murder occurred early in the story, giving the author plenty of time to teach a few cultural lessons while her MCs investigated the crime. There weren't many obvious suspects to consider, but there were quite a few story lines tangled up together, making it difficult to decide what was relevant and what was a red herring. I didn't figure out the culprit or the motive until just before it was revealed in the book.
I look forward to returning to Wyoming to learn more about the Arapaho tribe and to see what awaits Father John and Vicky in the next book in this series.
This is yet another series that's been on my to-read shelf for years, and I suspect the cluttered, unappealing cover had a lot to do with my skipping over it time and time again.
The book was originally published in 1995, so of course it's a bit dated, but it was a good story just the same. In the same way that Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn & Chee series teaches about the Navajo culture and traditions, this book taught me some about the Arapaho tribe, something I expect to continue as the series progresses.
I like Father John and Vicky, the MCs, and their determination to look out for the people on the reservation, their best interests and their rights. There seems to be a bit of romantic tension just below the surface with these two, but John is a Jesuit priest, so unless he gives up his profession, I don't see that track going anywhere.
The murder occurred early in the story, giving the author plenty of time to teach a few cultural lessons while her MCs investigated the crime. There weren't many obvious suspects to consider, but there were quite a few story lines tangled up together, making it difficult to decide what was relevant and what was a red herring. I didn't figure out the culprit or the motive until just before it was revealed in the book.
I look forward to returning to Wyoming to learn more about the Arapaho tribe and to see what awaits Father John and Vicky in the next book in this series.
January 24, 2013
There wasn't anything that I really disliked about The Eagle Catcher, but there also wasn't anything that intrigued me. I wasn't interested in the main characters and I felt that Father O'Malley jumped to conclusions rather quickly. I would have preferred to learn more about the Arapahoe characters. I didn't finish the story.
April 11, 2023
I liked this book primarily because of the sense of place. Being somewhat familiar with the Wind River Reservation and surrounding area, the descriptions of the people and places felt true.
The story itself was ok, but felt pretty contrived at the end. I'll probably give the next one in the series a try.
The story itself was ok, but felt pretty contrived at the end. I'll probably give the next one in the series a try.
January 6, 2015
I picked this up in hopes of replacing Tony Hillerman, plus it was set in country that I knew. I'm afraid I wasn't too impressed. The characters seemed wooden and the prose too plain. Oh well
January 13, 2021
Very enjoyable, and a great mystery.
May 13, 2023
My first Margaret Coel will definitely not be my last. .Quick and easy read. Interesting in the mode of Hillerman.
October 4, 2024
I am generally uncomfortable when settler writers attempt to world-build Indigenous worlds; all too often there is romanticisation, or a sense of voyeurism, or just as often a sense of fatal impact blended with defeated resignation – settlers tend to have fairly shallow understanding of Indigenous worlds.
Yet every now and then there is a settler writer who seems to come close to getting it, as with Tony Hillerman’s police procedurals set in the Dine world –the ‘Navajo’ reservation of the south western USA. It’s not just Hillerman’s blurb on the cover of this first of a long series of mysteries set on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming that gives me that sense; Margaret Coel seems to me to have built a believably complex Arapaho (or Hinono’eino’ Biito’owu’ as they call themselves) world.
As with any first novel in a series, there is quite a bit of character building, especially her central figures of Father John O’Malley – a Jesuit Priest out of Boston –and Vicky Holden, an Arapaho lawyer making her way back into her community after time away in training and with assorted law firms. Police procedural this is not, the story fits more comfortably into the sub-genre some label hard-boiled loner (not that O’Malley is all that hard-boiled). Both central figures have a strong engagement with the Indigenous community – as member, or as well established priest – who also mediate engagements with the settler world.
At the heart of the story there is a heinous historical crime that has come back to haunt settlers and the community after four generations, grounded in actions of the state and its agents’ actions during the Plains wars and the formation of the reservations. But Coel also weaves in contemporary exploitation, focused on oil drilling and royalties, as well as the racism of the everyday world and the precariousness of Indigenous lives in a world shaped by a violent settler state and settler networks.
Not that it is a grim book full of bleak lives – this is crime novel true to its genre, engaging with well-crafted characters that manages to avoid the perils of explanation by monologue, although there is new assistant priest who does, at times need things explained – but it is not overdone. More so, it is a well-paced narrative that is more than realistic in both its core crimes and its red herrings. That’s more than enough to mean I’m looking forward to the second in the series (and I expect the dozen or more hat come after that).
Yet every now and then there is a settler writer who seems to come close to getting it, as with Tony Hillerman’s police procedurals set in the Dine world –the ‘Navajo’ reservation of the south western USA. It’s not just Hillerman’s blurb on the cover of this first of a long series of mysteries set on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming that gives me that sense; Margaret Coel seems to me to have built a believably complex Arapaho (or Hinono’eino’ Biito’owu’ as they call themselves) world.
As with any first novel in a series, there is quite a bit of character building, especially her central figures of Father John O’Malley – a Jesuit Priest out of Boston –and Vicky Holden, an Arapaho lawyer making her way back into her community after time away in training and with assorted law firms. Police procedural this is not, the story fits more comfortably into the sub-genre some label hard-boiled loner (not that O’Malley is all that hard-boiled). Both central figures have a strong engagement with the Indigenous community – as member, or as well established priest – who also mediate engagements with the settler world.
At the heart of the story there is a heinous historical crime that has come back to haunt settlers and the community after four generations, grounded in actions of the state and its agents’ actions during the Plains wars and the formation of the reservations. But Coel also weaves in contemporary exploitation, focused on oil drilling and royalties, as well as the racism of the everyday world and the precariousness of Indigenous lives in a world shaped by a violent settler state and settler networks.
Not that it is a grim book full of bleak lives – this is crime novel true to its genre, engaging with well-crafted characters that manages to avoid the perils of explanation by monologue, although there is new assistant priest who does, at times need things explained – but it is not overdone. More so, it is a well-paced narrative that is more than realistic in both its core crimes and its red herrings. That’s more than enough to mean I’m looking forward to the second in the series (and I expect the dozen or more hat come after that).
July 2, 2018
Margaret Coel, in her first book of the Wind River Reservation series, introduces the reader to the culture of the Arapaho and to her main characters, Father John Aloysius O’Malley and Vicky Holden. Astute readers will compare this series to Tony Hillerman's Navajo mysteries. They might find that Father O’Malley will help them forgot about Leaphorn and Chee.
January 6, 2019
I really liked this because of the knowledge of the arapaho indians. It seems very realistic.
January 10, 2023
This was a bit different for me. I enjoyed the reservation setting and Father John as the MC. The story was good and kept me wanting to read.
February 1, 2024
This was ok. It lacked depth. It took reading 60% through the book for it to pick up. Love the idea and concept of the book. Not sure it is worth starting the series.
October 21, 2025
Jesuit priest solves murder on Arapaho reservation in Wyoming where he serves the church as the superior missionary. Background romantic tension with divorced Arapaho attorney. Greedy prejudiced white men abound.
July 6, 2013
I had been wanting to read this book for some time and finally got a copy of it. It is the first book in Ms. Coel's 'Wind River Reservation' mystery series that features Father John O'Malley and Vicky Holden.
Father John is the head pastor of the St. Francis Misson on the rez. Vicky Holden is Arapaho but left the rez years ago to escape an abusive ex-husband and to finish her education and eventually become a lawyer. She spends much of her time back on the rez and in this story helps to find a killer. The murder mystery is a good one and incorporates Arapaho traditions and history. There are many interesting secondary characters and the Arapaho history makes for a deeper story.
I look forward to continuing this series and seeing where Father John and Vicky's relationship goes. In this book they are friends but there is a hint on both their parts of interest beyond that. As John is a priest and Vicky an almost engaged woman this could get sticky and more interesting!
I would highly recommend this book. The writing is excellent and Ms. Coel is considered to be an expert on the Arapaho Indians which adds another dimension to the stories.
Father John is the head pastor of the St. Francis Misson on the rez. Vicky Holden is Arapaho but left the rez years ago to escape an abusive ex-husband and to finish her education and eventually become a lawyer. She spends much of her time back on the rez and in this story helps to find a killer. The murder mystery is a good one and incorporates Arapaho traditions and history. There are many interesting secondary characters and the Arapaho history makes for a deeper story.
I look forward to continuing this series and seeing where Father John and Vicky's relationship goes. In this book they are friends but there is a hint on both their parts of interest beyond that. As John is a priest and Vicky an almost engaged woman this could get sticky and more interesting!
I would highly recommend this book. The writing is excellent and Ms. Coel is considered to be an expert on the Arapaho Indians which adds another dimension to the stories.
August 10, 2015
There are already some very good reviews of this book written, and I'm so eager to get the second book in the series started that I'm just going to say that I really liked Father John O'Malley, the priest from Boston who finds his second chance at the Wind River Reservation. His respect for the Arapaho customs he encounters and for these native American people is firmly intertwined with his Roman Catholic ministry and his Jesuit heritage.
His investigative partner is Arapaho lawyer, Vicky Holden, who is the attorney for young Anthony Castle, accused of murdering his uncle.
Both Father John and Vicky use their respective skills to track down the real murderer and, in the process, they uncover some incriminating evidence in the murdered man's Arapaho history that was in process of being written down.
His investigative partner is Arapaho lawyer, Vicky Holden, who is the attorney for young Anthony Castle, accused of murdering his uncle.
Both Father John and Vicky use their respective skills to track down the real murderer and, in the process, they uncover some incriminating evidence in the murdered man's Arapaho history that was in process of being written down.
March 23, 2021
An unlikely couple of sleuths team up in this mystery to uncover murder and theft. Father John O'Malley, a Jesuit priest at the Wind River Indian Reservation, gets "his nose into other people's business" and so begins a caper that already has three sequels. His alter-ego help comes from Vicky, the Arapaho Lawyer, surnamed Woman Alone. Their disparent skills become all that is needed in finding out the murderer and the one responsible for the great land theft against the Arapaho Nation.
But what makes this unusual novel so likeable is its rich respect for two faiths and cultures: the Native-Americans and the Jesuit priests. Coel provides a synthesis of faith in the midst of an entertaining mystery and that is talent. And it makes the reading of the tale a multi-level experience of pleasure.
But what makes this unusual novel so likeable is its rich respect for two faiths and cultures: the Native-Americans and the Jesuit priests. Coel provides a synthesis of faith in the midst of an entertaining mystery and that is talent. And it makes the reading of the tale a multi-level experience of pleasure.
May 4, 2012
This is the first book in the Wind River Reservation series set in Wyoming. In this novel we are introduced to a Jesuit priest who has been exiled to a mission that serves the Arapaho Indians. We are also introduced to Vicky who is an Arapaho lawyer. Father John gets caught up in a dangerous cover up when he discovers the body of his friend and tribal elder Harvey slain in his tipi during the annual powwow. There are several layers to this story. Greed over land and oil rights among them. The mistreatment of the Native Americans throughout history is mentioned as well. I give this story ★★★
July 29, 2015
Somehow, I missed Margaret Coel, but I'm making up for lost time. THE EAGLE CATCHER is the first mystery in her Wind River Reservation Series featuring Father John O'Malley and attorney Vicki Holden. Not only has Ms Coel depicted the amazing setting that is the Wind River area in central Wyoming, but she has paid incredible attention to the details of the Arapahoe's who live there. I was swept along in this story of traditional Native attitudes sometimes in conflict with land management and mineral rights. The setting is definitely the star here, but the characters are believable, the pace is fast, and the plot is deviously clever. I can't wait to read the next in the series.
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