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    The Spirit Woman
    The Spirit Woman
    The Spirit Woman
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Spirit Woman

    Written by Margaret Coel

    Narrated by Stephanie Brush

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A historian arrives in Wind River country convinced that the memoirs of 19th century Shoshone heroine Sacajawea are stashed somewhere on the Wind River reservation. She believes that Sacajawea survived the Lewis and Clark expedition and returned to the Shoshones where she lived out her life. And when the historian turns up missing, Father John O’Malley and Wind River attorney Vickie Holden become convinced that, if the memoirs truly do exist, then  someone has stolen the memoirs and may have dispatched the historian, permanently.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBooks in Motion
    Release dateDec 15, 2000
    ISBN9781596073074
    The Spirit Woman

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    Reviews for The Spirit Woman

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      It seems like sometimes the most compelling mystery fiction is that in which the protagonist is not a law-enforcement official, but an amateur sleuth. Though I imagine that this interest goes back quite some time, I would also guess that we probably owe this to the fiction writers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including such literary heavyweights as Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and G. K. Chesterton. The formula is fairly standard. Take a character that conceivably has nothing at all to do with the situation at hand, and very little formal training. Any training that they *do* have is mostly self-taught. Put them in a situation where their quick wits and knowledge can help them to save the day. In the book, *The Spirit Woman*, by Margaret Coel, the "fish out of water", if you will, is a Catholic priest, Father John O'Malley. Father John is an intelligent priest whose promising career was destroyed by his alcoholism. Upon coming to the reservation, Father John meets a brilliant lawyer, Vicky Holden. The two have an attraction to each other which is made fairly obvious. At first, this part of the story was off-putting. I was ready for the typical Catholic-bashing, but it never came. The priest stays true to his priestly vows, in matters of both morality and alcoholic consumption. Indeed, the main purposes of such elements in the storyline seems to be to present Father John as a smart, capable, ethical, character, who winds up on the reservation in what is considered at first to be a wash-out assignment. As the series shows, he puts his skills and formidable intellect to good use. Vicky is smart herself, but does very little without Father John's help. Her purpose in the story may seem a bit baffling, until you read the Coel's reason for creating the character. She wanted a believable story, and a non-Indian priest going around with such free reign with no contacts in the community is decidedly NOT realistic. She also wanted to avoid what she saw as the unfortunate implication of a white priest coming to "save" the supposedly hapless Indians. So she created Vicky. I must say that whatever one thinks of her reasoning on either point, the setup does work. In this particular story, Father John discovers a body of a murdered woman who was beaten to death twenty years earlier. Shortly afterward, a history professor, who is one of Vicky's friends, disappears. More crimes are committed, and Father John and Vicky realize that a vicious killer is on the loose, desperately trying to cover his tracks. It looks like they may be next. There was really only one chief weakness to this book. The resolution is dependent on the killer's fear and near-madness. I found myself wondering why the killer would make the sudden move he did when it only could get him in more trouble. I suppose the reason is that the story was winding down, and a hundred or more extra pages would just be filler, so Coel decided to end it when she did. Really, the pacing was a bit off. For most of the book, things were smooth and compelling, and then they sped up for an exciting and satisfying, but quite *rushed* climax. A smaller, but still annoying weakness was that the mystery was entirely too easy for me to solve ahead of the characters. Many readers figure things out before the characters, since we have more information, but usually, the author does not make a big deal out of the "reveal". Coel did, and it was a bit anti-climactic, because it was so obvious from a hundred miles away. These weaknesses are balanced out by the vivid, and well-researched, descriptions of reservation life. The real-life history of the tribes is put into the book, and it makes everything more compelling. Of particular note is that the biases and prejudices of the tribal peoples toward the "white men" is very much in evidence. This makes the relationship that Father John develops with his flock, and the process of solving mysteries and guiding the people spiritually, that much more difficult, but satisfying when it does occur. This truly does make for some great storytelling. Finally, the characterization is top-notch. Father John is an admirable leader, who is doing his best to lead his flock and make a bad situation into a good one. He seems to prefer the "rez" as he calls it after the tradition of the tribes, and views this as God's will for him. His "punishment" for his sins is turned into a wonderful blessing. God made a bad thing into a good one, in His Divine will. It's really a very inspiring and powerful spiritual truth slipped into the book. This story was not a brilliant work in the mystery genre, but it was a fun read. *The Spirit Woman was the sixth book in the *Wind River Reservation* Mystery series, and I look forward to revisiting this reality-based fictional setting in the future and sharing more adventures with Father John. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      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 :-)
    • 4/5
      Father John's time on the reservation draws to a close as the provincial orders him to complete his doctorate back East so he can teach.The new priest arrives on a motorcycle and shows interest in Arapaho oral stories. Vicky is back with her abusive former spouse, but she's already beginning to see it will not work. Father John finds a body. Vicky's friend, a white woman historian, comes to the reservation to locate an alleged manuscript containing valuable information on Sacajawea. An Arapaho graduate student is also interested in the work. Vicky's friend disappears after her ex-boyfriend shows up and threatens her. Father John discovers the memoir which led Vicky's friend to the reservation in the mission's archives and gets it into the FBI agent's hands. Father John receives a call about the discovery of the woman's body and calls Vicky. Gradually the two of them realize what is going on. Good installment in the series with a lot of interesting historical elements.
    • 4/5
      Spousal abuse from Sacajawea to the present is exposed in this story of beginnings and endings. The historic background of this intrepid woman provides the rationale and framework for this Wind River mystery
    • 3/5
      I didn't find The Spirit Woman as good as the other books in this series.. The plot seemed to drag on. I do like Father John and Vicki and will read the next book.
    • 4/5
      This is another excellent Wind River Indian mystery by Margaret Coel. She does an excellent job of weaving the challenges and issues of the Native Americans in her narrative as Vicky Holden and Father John work to find clues to the murder of not one but two female historians searching for answers to the legend and lore of Sacajawea.
    • 4/5
      Coel continues to write good mysteries surrounded by excellent characters and weaves in the history of the Shoshone and Arapahoe Indians.

      In this book a friend of Vicki's from college comes to the reservation to research Sacajawea and the tales of the elders about her time among them. History says that Sacajawea died as a relatively young woman but Shoshone history claims she lived to be almost 100. She told tales to all who would listen of her time with the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

      When the researcher is killed Vicki and Father John are searching for answers, who and why would someone kill an historian who is looking for more information about a legend? The story is riveting and spins a web of history, deceit, greed and brutality.

      I am still enjoying the series and will be reading more.
    • 4/5
      Coel's series is set on the Wind River Arapaho/Shoshone Reservation in Wyoming (a real place), and her narrative conveys the poverty and social problems of similar locations. The writing is not stellar, but the themes and locale are compelling. Spirit Woman piques with an historical mystery about Sacajawea's life following the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1805-06.