Review
For fans of: Tony Hillerman, Earlene Fowler
When Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden is hired by collector Trevor Pratt to oversee the purchase of some priceless Arapaho Indian artifacts – items worn by Chief Black Heart in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and by his ancestors before him in battle – she’s excited; once Pratt takes ownership of the items, he intends to donate them to the museum on the reservation, which means she’ll be helping to return Black Heart’s long-lost possessions to his people. Unfortunately, however, when the shipping crates show up at the museum, they’re empty. And not long thereafter, Vicky and the reservation’s resident priest, Father John O’Malley, find Trevor with a bullet in his chest. Who stole the artifacts, and how does the theft relate to Trevor’s murder? Can Vicky and Father John solve the mystery and help recover Black Heart’s belongings, or are they destined to wind up among the missing, themselves?
Buffalo Bill’s Dead Now is the latest installment in Margaret Coel’s Wind River Reservation Mystery series, and it’s kind of a slow burn. For the first 150 or pages or so, I just couldn't get into the flow of the story; the setup is interesting, and Coel does a nice job connecting past events to the present mystery, but while her narrative point of view and careful attention to detail suggest she cares deeply about the subject matter, her prose is rather matter-of-fact and is largely devoid of passion or emotion. This, coupled with the fact that most of Coel’s supporting cast is overly stoic and underdeveloped, makes for a rather odd and somewhat disconcerting reading experience – a personal story impersonally told.
Things pick up in the back half, however. The more you learn about the history of the artifacts and how they came to be separated from the Arapaho people, the more invested you become in their return. Coel works a little more action, tension, and drama into the story (three components largely absent from the first half of the book), and then throws in some nice plot twists and red herrings for good measure. You learn more about what makes Vicky tick, why Father John decided to become a priest, and why their relationship is destined to become a whole lot more complicated in the next Wind River Reservation Mystery. The end result is a slightly too quiet, yet still largely satisfying read. If you’re a fan of Native American history and/or mysteries set in the American West and don’t require that your books be a thrill a minute, I suggest you give Buffalo Bill’s Dead Now a try.
Reviewed by Kat N.