I recently discovered Coel and am reading in order. This one has a HUGE surprise. I did not see that coming and am now impatient to get the next book. Coel is getting better with each book and she has added more depth to her characters. Very easy to read, and engaging.

Neither Vicky nor Fr. John knows how much they care about each other. But they know how well they work together, she as an Arapaho laywer, he as the Jesuit priest at the St. Franscis mission on the Arapaho Reservation. Fr. Joseph returns 35 yrs after leaving, and 2 wks later is murdered. Why? Does it have to do with his abrupt departure in 1964, the year the babies died from contaminated water? Sharon Davis, Indian movie star, born that year and adopted into a white family, never told of her Native roots, is sure she's Arapaho, and comes to Vicky for help. At first Vicky doesn't want to help, thinking it's a publicity stunt. Then when Fr. Joseph is murdered, and Sharon, Vicky, and Fr. John are threatened, they begin to take it seriously. Fr. John's superior wants him to leave, thinking he's taking it all too seriously, and that he's getting too involved with Vicky. Finally he insists, sending a young Boston Irishman. Fr. John caves in, and heads to Milwaukee to finish the long-deferred PhD and teach at Marquette, leaving Vicky behind. At the last minute, his boss lets him stay; Vicky leaves, knowing the res. needs him more than it needs her. One of the best in the series.

I really enjoy this author's books about Father John and the Wind River Reservation. While they are not as complex as some other mysteries, like those of Patricia Cornwell or Elizabeth George, they are more involved than say, Dorothy Gilman's books or those of Lilian Jackson Braun. Coel's books are fun mysteries with just enough difficulty in trying to figure out "who did it" that they keep your mind busy trying to find out who the villain is before the book ends! I like the tension of the relationship between Father John and Vicky, the lawyer, as they try to figure out just what they both want out of their friendship. I also like the suspense and the danger that is always implicit in her books. She is a good writer, her plots are well thought out, and her characters are well developed, and their motivations believable.