From Publishers Weekly
Now that Jesuit Father John O'Malley has just been reassigned from the Wyoming reservation he's called home for the last eight years, his undeclared love affair with Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden seems finally over in the sixth installment in this well-regarded series. Besides, Vicky's back with ex-husband Ben, an abusive alcoholic who says he's changed. Then Vicky receives a visit from old friend Laura Simmons, a historian who's convinced that the memoirs of 19th-century Shoshone heroine Sacajawea are stashed somewhere on the reservation. Years before, another female historian disappeared while searching for those memoirs, and within days of her arrival Laura is missing, too. Possibly Laura's disappearance has something to do with the arrival of her abusive boyfriend, but as Vicky and Father John investigate, they become convinced that someone on the reservation has come between Laura and the memoirsAif they exist. Coel stretches to form links between the "fragile" past and the shifting present, as Vicky realizes that she, Laura and various secondary characters are all daughters of SacajaweaAbattered women struggling to survive their battering men. It's an arresting theme, but overstated here, as the male characters are almost uniformly controlling, alcoholic, philandering failures who insist in falsettos that their victims understand their "rage." Readers will be engrossed in the expertly crafted suspense, but may wonder how much longer the passion between Father John and Vicky can smolder. 6-city author tour. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The wary attraction between Father John O'Malley and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden reignites when the two team up to unravel a mystery involving the famous Native American heroine Sacajawea (The Lost Bird). Twenty years earlier, the Wind River Reservation was the site of Sacajawea researcher Charlotte Allen's disappearance. Now, Father John's dog has unearthed what might be the young historian's remains, while Vicky's college friend Laura Simmons surfaces, seeking the elusive and historically significant Sacajawea memoirs alluded to in Allen's journal. When Laura herself disappears, leaving behind disturbing clues at her rooming house, Vicky and Father John fear for the safety of anyone who gets in the killer's path. Meanwhile, Father John wrestles with resigning himself to a mandatory transfer off the reservation he has grown to love. Intriguing Arapaho and Shoshone history and realistic treatment of contemporary Native American issues make this cozy sixth installment in the series a winner.DSusan A. Zappia, Paradise Valley Community Coll., Phoenix
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
