margaret coel
about margaret

novels

        Winter's Child
        Man Who Fell from Sky
        Night of the White Buffalo
        Killing Custer
        Buffalo Bill's Dead Now
        The Perfect Suspect
        The Spider's Web
        Silent Spirit
        Blood Memory
        Girl w/ Braided Hair
        Drowning Man
        Eye of the Wolf
        Wife of Moon
        Killing Raven
        Shadow Dancer
        Thunder Keeper
        Spirit Woman
        Lost Bird
        Story Teller
        Dream Stalker
        Ghost Walker
        Eagle Catcher
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wind river

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Winter's Child

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The Eagle Catcher The Eagle Catcher

The first in a series of mystery novels set among the Arapahos on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation.

Read about the ten-year anniversary Commemorative Edition of The Eagle Catcher from ASAP Publishing.

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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.

Critics have praised The Eagle Catcher as a tightly crafted mystery that blends Native American culture and history with contemporary issues and fast-paced action. It introduced two intelligent, compassionate sleuths: Father John O'Malley, S.J., a history scholar and recovering alcoholic, exiled to an Indian mission on the Great Plains, and Vicky Holden, an attorney who, after ten years in the outside world, has returned to the reservation to help her people.

Read an excerpt

Readers Guide

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BUY THE BOOK

Order online from an independent bookstore via IndieBound, Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Berkley Hardcover, September 2009, ISBN: 978-0425229767



Praise

"Coel weaves often insightful commentary about Arapaho culture, bigotry and the widespread alcoholism among Western tribes. Likeable, well-drawn characters and a lively pace mark this novel—which appears poised for a sequel—for Hillerman fans."
Publishers Weekly

"...told with conviction and love."
Kirkus Reviews

"The best parts of The Eagle Catcher are Coel's portrayal of the dual cultures that exist uneasily on the reservation and an uncanny sense of dialogue that makes her characters ring true. Like the best novelists, Coel teaches her readers something—in this case about the Plains Indians. But she doesn't go overboard. After all, this is not a history lesson but a mystery, and a fine one.
The Denver Post

"...shouldn't be missed by anyone interested in either new trends in mystery writing or contemporary American Indian culture. Coel is a master of both."
Tony Hillerman

"I am always on the lookout for new mystery authors and after reading Margaret Coel’s first entry in this series I am eager to read more."
Epinions.com

"Margaret Coel hits all the right notes in this first book of her series which takes place on an Indian Reservation in Wyoming... Coel creates interesting characters, and both Father John and Vicki have past problems which give them more depth than many characters in mystery stories. Coel also does a good job of portraying the Arapaho culture and adds interesting details about things such as funeral customs, "Indian time", and the "moccasin telegraph". I look forward to reading the other books in this series."
Mystery-Thriller.com