Laura tells Vicky that she thinks written documents detailing Sacajewa’s life exist, and are to be found somewhere on the Arapaho Indian Wind River Reservation. Charlotte’s journal and other papers indicate the key to finding these documents is to make contact with a person Charlotte refers to as Toussaint. Laura intends to talk to several of the older Indians on the reservation, hoping that she will discover the real name of Toussaint, meet with him, and find written records of Sacajewa’s life.

For several days Vicky is unable to make contact with Laura. Her phone calls are unanswered, and messages left for her to contact Vicky elicit no response. Finally, Vicky goes to the place where her friend had rented a room, and convinces the landlady to open the door for her. She finds Laura’s room ransacked, and stains that look suspiciously like dried blood. Questioning the landlady, Vicky learns that a large man with curly dark hair who drove a sports car lad visited Laura in her room shortly before she disappeared.

Vicky enlists the help of her good friend and confidante, Father John O’Malley, to locate her missing college friend. Father O’Malley is eager to help, although he is already involved in a mystery of his own. Several days prior, he had been walking his dog when the dog unearthed some bones. The local Indian elders were most upset that Father John had contacted the police for they feared that the bones were the remains of an esteemed ancestor. However, tests proved the skeletal remains were those of a young woman who had met her death about twenty years ago. O’Malley wants to find out who the young woman was to provide some closure for the family she left behind.

The Spirit Woman is the sixth in Margaret Coel’s series featuring Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and her friend, Father John O’Malley. The mystery itself is worth the cover price of the book. The story line is logical and believable and, in addition, one is treated to two mysteries - that of the modern day, and the unknown circumstances surrounding Sacajewa’s life and death. Ms. Coel has created some trying situations for her complex characters, forcing them to make difficult choices where there is no clear-cut right or wrong decision. She allows her characters to grow and change during the course of the book. She has left several issues unresolved which will no doubt be dealt with in subsequent books.

Additionally, Ms. Coel seems to be as meticulous a researcher as Laura and Charlotte are in the novel. She provides glimpses into the lives of the Arapaho people as well as tidbits of information about Sacajewa and the Lewis and Clark expedition. It is interesting to note the different ways that the Arapaho and white men treat history. For the Indian, history is passed down through generations orally through storytelling, whereas for the white man, if information is not written down, it is treated suspiciously. The problems that this creates for the Indian who decides to live in the white man’s society are understandably great.

The Spirit Woman is an enjoyable novel. The modern day mystery can be solved by the reader if he wishes to play detective along with the main characters. It is not that intricate a puzzle, yet not so easy that the reader’s intelligence is insulted. The information on Indian culture is a bonus, and the human problems that Ms. Coel’s characters face easily elicit sympathy from the reader. One is left pondering something more substantial than a clever ending to a mystery story.

--Andy Plonka