margaret coel
about margaret

novels

        Winter's Child
        Man Who Fell from Sky
        Night of the White Buffalo
        Killing Custer
        Buffalo Bill's Dead Now
        The Perfect Suspect
        The Spider's Web
        Silent Spirit
        Blood Memory
        Girl w/ Braided Hair
        Drowning Man
        Eye of the Wolf
        Wife of Moon
        Killing Raven
        Shadow Dancer
        Thunder Keeper
        Spirit Woman
        Lost Bird
        Story Teller
        Dream Stalker
        Ghost Walker
        Eagle Catcher
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wind river

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Winter's Child

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The Spider's Web The Spider's Web
Awarded the Hillerman Sky Award for the novel that best describes the Southwest landscape!

It is the time of the annual Sun Dance on the Wind River Reservation, the ancient sacred ceremony that unites Arapahos in prayer and peaceful renewal. Yet when a blond, beautiful outsider arrives on the rez, murder, suspicion and recrimination follow in her path. Marcy Morrison claims to be engaged to Arapaho Ned Windsong, even though Ned never mentions a fiancé or plans to marry anyone—before he is found shot to death. Marcy, brutally attacked at the scene, identifies two Arapaho troublemakers as the men who burst into Ned's house and shot him. Nothing ties Marcy to the murder, yet all eyes on the reservation turn to her—the outsider—and Ned's family is convinced she is responsible. When Vicky Holden agrees to represent the outsider, she finds herself at odds with her own people.

Soon Vicky also finds herself at odds with her long-time friend Father John O'Malley who has glimpsed something in the beautiful outsider that shakes him to his core and convinces him that Marcy Morrison may not be the innocent victim she claims to be. When the men Marcy has accused are found murdered in an abandoned barn, another suspect surfaces, Roseanne Birdwoman, Ned's former fiancé. Except that Father John fears Roseanne may be the killer's next intended victim.

As Father John and Vicky are drawn into the web of lies and deceit cast over the reservation, they realize they are up against a master—a psychopathic killer determined to play out the game to the deadly end.

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Penguin Group (USA), September 2010, ISBN: 9780425236604



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Praise

"...another satisfying sojourn through all that has made Coel a best-selling writer."
   —Denver Post (read more here)

"The Spider's Web is a tangled web weaved of lies, coveting, and blackmail. This story covers it all while showing a picture of what life is like living on a reservation. The story is fascinating, hair raising, and intriguing. Although you figure out early on that something big is happening on the side, until the end, you have no idea how huge it is. If you like captivating mystery stories that are a little off the beaten-path, you will love this one by Margaret Coel. I am looking forward to the next Wind River Mystery release."
   —The Romance Readers Connection

"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."
   —Genre Go Round Reviews