Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Murder, romance, a nuclear storage facility and Indian lore blend appealingly in this third mystery (after last year's The Ghost Walker) featuring Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden and Father John O'Malley of the St. Francis Mission near the Wind River Reservation of Wyoming. Holden's opposition to building the storage site on the Legeau ranch near the reservation runs counter to the fervent support of most Arapaho, who welcome the job opportunities the construction promises. At first, her position generates threats, which escalate into attempts on her life as she tries to learn more about the proposed site and those who would benefit most: wealthy rancher Alexander Legeau and his wife, Lily; ambitious Lionel Redbull; suave Paul Bryant, president of United Power Company; and others. The double-stranded plot also involves the murder of an old Indian cowboy whose midnight call sends O'Malley to a deserted cabin to hear a confession that's never made involving the cowboy's ties to a 30-year-old killing. Adding spice is the intense attraction, which threatens to boil over at any time, between the Boston-bred, opera loving O'Malley and stubborn, cause-oriented Holden. The nicely drawn Wyoming backdrop, capable plotting and engaging characters all add up to another coup for Coel. (Oct.)
Library Journal
Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden opposes the plan to construct a nuclear waste facility on the Wind River Reservation, but she receives death threats and the enmity of her people for her pains. Good friend John O'Malley, Jesuit priest at the local mission, believes that a murdered Indian he found has some connection to Vicky's troubles, so he investigatesagainst police advice. Financial problems at the mission, the personal crises of the new assistant, and O'Malley's own temptations of the flesh lend realistic touches to the author's usual commendable plotting and characterization. A fine addition to a successful series.
Kirkus Reviews
After too many years of poverty and neglect, the Arapahos and Shoshones of Wyoming's Wind River Reservation are finally going to clean up—by accepting the United Power Company's nuclear waste, which will be laid to rest securely beneath Alexander Legeau's family ranch. United president Paul Bryant is delighted. So is Legeau, who's offered to sell the ranch as the triumphant fulfillment of a lifelong dream. And so are Matthew Bosse, the elder of the Arapaho tribal council, who proposed the facility in the first place, and most of his people, who see United's promised cash payout as only the beginning of a sorely- needed stream of jobs and income. About the only people who aren't happy, in fact, are Father John O'Malley, the alcoholic mission pastor who finds the murder of cancer-ridden, conscience- stricken Gabriel Many Horses suspiciously well-timed, and Vicky Holden, the activist lawyer who's convinced that any deal that looks too good to be true must be. As they continue to battle their impossible mutual attraction, Father John and Vicky (The Ghost Walker, 1996, etc.) work, together and separately, to figure out who wants United's radioactive waste enough to kill for it.
When everybody in the book has basically the same motive, you can't expect too much in the way of suspense or surprise. But Coel's third is swift and compelling, with her usual light, penetrating touch with the Arapaho and their neighbors.
