The
Silent Spirit
A
Wind River Mystery
Margaret
Coel
Berkley
Prime Crime (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-425-22976-9 (0425229769)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-22976-7 (9780425229767)
Publication Date: September 2009
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): In 1923, Arapahos from the Wind River Reservation were
recruited to appear as extras in the silent film The Covered Wagon.
But Charlie Wallowingbull never returned home, leaving people to
believe he abandoned his wife and unborn son.
Kiki Wallowingbull, Charlie's great-grandson, went to Hollywood
determined to uncover the truth behind his great-grandfather's
disappearance. But Kiki has been murdered -- his frozen body discovered
by Father John, and his supposed killer confessing to Vicky that it was
self-defense. Together, they must find the connection between two
deaths separated by nearly a century.
Review:
Margaret Coel weaves a real event, the making of the 1923 silent film The Covered Wagon,
into a murder mystery spanning nearly 100 years, in The Silent Spirit,
the 15th book in this series set on the Wind River Reservation in
Wyoming.
Kiki Wallowingbull is a troubled young man, spending nearly half of his
25 years incarcerated -- juvenile detention, tribal jail, and most
recently, state prison for dealing drugs. To atone for the trouble he's
caused his family, he sets out for Hollywood to solve a family mystery:
the disappearance of his great-grandfather, Charlie Wallowingbull, who
left on a promotional tour for a film featuring "real" Indians but
never returned, his whereabouts unknown and largely forgotten. But soon
after Father John learns of Kiki's return to the reservation, he sets
out to find him, only to discover his body in an area known where drug
deals go down. The case seems closed when someone confesses to attorney
Vicki Holden of killing him. But when Father John reads an old letter
written by Tim McCoy, the star of The
Covered Wagon,
to express his concern over Charlie's disappearance, he realizes "the
truth was here [on the reservation] all the time." And that Kiki's
death may not be drug-related after all, but the result of something
that happened in Hollywood so many years ago.
The
Silent Spirit is a strongly
compelling, seductive even, mystery, one that draws the reader in,
knowing there's more to the disappearance of Charlie Wallowingbull and
the murder of his great-grandson than meets the eye but, like the
snow-covered landscape that is the setting for the story, not sure
where to look to find it. The plot is clever, the misdirection subtle.
The author includes several chapters set in 1922 and 1923 during the
filming of, and later the promotion of, The Covered Wagon,
which provide historical context to the story as well as giving clues
as to circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Charlie. But it's
Father John's tenacity and belief in Kiki that prevails, culminating in
a denouement that will likely come as a surprise to most readers.
Special thanks to Penguin Group for providing a copy of The Silent Spirit for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read The Silent Spirit? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
The
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Univ. Press of Colorado (Hardcover), May 1995
ISBN-10: 0-87081-367-6 (0870813676)
ISBN-13: 978-0-87081-367-2 (9780870813672)
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Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), October 1996
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ISBN-13: 978-0-425-15468-7 (9780425154687)
The
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Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), October 1997
ISBN-10: 0-425-15967-1 (0425159671)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-15967-5 (9780425159675)
The
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Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), October 1998
ISBN-10: 0-425-16538-8 (0425165388)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-16538-6 (9780425165386)
The
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Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), October 1999
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The
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Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), September 2001
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The
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Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), September 2002
ISBN-10: 0-425-18640-7 (0425186407)
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The
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Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), September 2006
ISBN-10: 0-425-21171-1 (0425211711)
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The
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Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), September 2007
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Blood
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Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), September 2008
ISBN-10: 0-425-22345-0 (0425223450)
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The Silent Spirit
Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), September 2009
ISBN-10: 0-425-22976-9 (0425229769)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-22976-7 (9780425229767)
Omnimystery
keywords for The Silent Spirit
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Location(s) referenced: Riverton, Wyoming.
