THE DROWNING MAN (Margaret Coel)

Are you like me in that there are certain types of books that just don't appeal to you?  I "feel" this way about novels set in certain places and cultures: Asian, Native American, jungles, and desserts, to name a few.  It almost never fails, though, that as soon as I pick up one of these (usually for a book club), I end up loving it!  It happened with Pearl Buck's The Good Earth and  Da Chen's Colors of the Mountain, and now I've fallen in love with everything about Margaret Coel's Wind River Reservation and The Drowning Man.  Father John O'Malley is a perfectly believable and appealing priest (I can say this because I'm a life-long Catholic and have known a lot of excellent priests), the kind that every parish needs.  O'Malley's relationship with Vicky Holden is human, true, and appropriate.  He is obviously a man with a calling to God and service, and the fact that he aids the police in solving crimes makes him even better!

The theft of an ancient sacred petroglyph from the Wind River reservation is devastating to the Arapoho who live there, especially since it appears to be an inside job.  Travis Windsong is in prison for the murder of the man with whom he is believed to have stolen a similar piece from Wind River 7 years ago, but he has always insisted on his innocence.  Vicky is asked by Travis's grandfather, Adam Lone Eagle, to represent him in a possible new trial, and soon Vicky is convinced that there is a connection between the two thefts and the murder.  Someone obviously doesn't want the old case re-opened or Travis's guilt questioned.

Margaret Coel spends time each year on the Wind River reservation doing research and spending time among the Native Americans who live there.  Her thorough research shows in this excellent novel, especially in her depiction of conditions and attitudes on the reservation.  She also researches her Catholic clergy and the sub-plot involving the elderly pedophile priest add a lot of additional human interest to the story.  Will I be reading more of these?  I believe I will!