Saturday, August 7, 2010

The Spider's Web-Margaret Coel

The Spider's Web
Margaret Coel
Berkley, Sep 7 2010, $24.95
ISBN 9780425236604

In Wyoming on the Wind River Reservation, someone murders Arapaho Ned Windsong with his white fiancée Marcy Morrison as the only alleged witness. Marcy accuses Ned’s punk friends Lionel Lookingglass and Dwayne Hawk as his murderers. Suspicion also falls on Ned’s former girlfriend, Roseanne Birdwoman.

Though he has doubts about her veracity, Father John O’Malley provides a safe location for Marcy and also hides Roseanne. Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden is irate with Father John for doubting Marcy’s account as the lawyer assumes her friend would not challenge a Native American’s story, but did that of an outsider. Ned’s family believes Marcy killed their son; so her televangelist father hires Vicky to protect his daughter's interests. However, both Father John and Vicky are stunned when someone kills Lionel and Dwayne as the case spins out of control with someone behind the scenes twirling The Spider’s Web that engulfs everyone else.

The fascination with this exciting entry is the usual partners are on opposite sides of the murder investigation. As always in this series, readers obtain a taste of modern day Arapaho life wrapped inside a murder mystery. Fans of the Holden-Father John whodunits will enjoy the latest entry due to the disagreement between the friends that adds freshness to what would otherwise be a fun but familiar Wind River mystery.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: