From Library Journal
Knowing that her granddaughter, Red Knot, loves High Fox does not keep Hunting Hawk, the Greenstone Clan tribal leader, from promising her in marriage to Copper Thunder, a powerful chieftain of another clan. When Red Knot is murdered before the marriage takes place, chaos erupts, and High Fox is fingered as the assassin. High Fox's trump card is Sun Conch, who begs the Panther to leave his isolated dwelling and help her absolve High Fox of the crime. The Panther, a mysterious elder whom many fear and call a witch, joins the fray, and thus begins the unfolding of an intricate drama. Masters of the Native American historical fiction genre, the Gears focus on the pre-Columbian Chesapeake Bay Native Americans in the ninth book of their "First North Americans" series. Suffused with suspense, their imaginative story offers a fascinating portrait of an ancient matrilineal culture. Highly recommended.
-?Mary Ellen Elsbernd, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland HeightsCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This work continues the highly successful First North Americans series (which includes
People of the Wolf [1990] and
People of the Lightning [1997]), and shows why it has been so popular: it offers a first-rate murder mystery, anthropological information (the authors are prizewinning archaeologists) on pre-European Native America, a slight dash of sex (mostly innocent), and plenty of politics. Whew! The amazing thing is that it is all done so well. Red Knot has been betrothed to Copper Thunder in order to forge an alliance that will protect both their tribes. When she is murdered on the day of her wedding, it threatens to throw the tribal villages along the Chesapeake into a bloody war. Suspicion for the crime falls on Sun Conch, who had a relationship with the girl before she was promised away. Old Panther, a recluse, and possibly a powerful witch, is asked to look into the situation before it explodes. He is drawn into a convoluted web where it appears that everyone had good reason to wish the girl dead, and even the innocent work to obscure the trail.
Eric Robbins
de W. Michael Gear
de Kathleen O'Neal Gear
de W. Michael Gear
de W. Michael Gear
de Kathleen O'Neal Gear
