Priest murdered, movie star finds Arapaho roots....good read with several diversions and moving parts. Wyoming landscape, the history, characters, mysteries, and Arapaho culture are all woven into the story. I'm into the series and looking for #6. ( )

Father Joseph Keenan returns to the mission after a 35 year absence and his promptly murdered. A big movie star, Sharon David, comes to the reservation believing she had been adopted from the reservation and she wanted to find her biological parents. Thirty-five years ago the reservation had been devastated by the deaths of several newborns. As it turns out, it is all related.

It's probably not fair to jump into a series after four volumes and expect believable personal development and a real sense of place, but I do and I didn't find those qualities. What I found was a somewhat clumsy rough cut product for the tourist trade, not anything close to real craftsmanship. The mystery itself was interesting enough and completely heartbreaking, but the writing, well it could have used a lot of editing. ( )

Coel's Wind River series is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. In this installment, Father John and Attorney Vicky Holden, after his assistant Father Joseph is gunned down and a famous actress seeking her birth parents hires Vicky, uncover a black market adoption ring which operated years before. The year in question was 1964. The Arapaho remember it as the year all the babies died. As a librarian and genealogist, my favorite part of the book was when Vicky went to the library to research, even if the author did kind of poke fun at the genealogist who wondered when Vicky was going to be finished. However, the entire book and story, including the introduction of Father John's niece who comes to visit from Boston, held my attention. As usual I listened to the audio version read by Stephanie Brush. ( )

Complex and complicated, with a lot of moving parts. Old relationships, new relationships, past crimes and current ones all blended nicely into a fast paced story line. ( )