Review

Watching Eagles Soar is a collection of short stories by author Margaret Coel, a historian and expert on the Arapahos. She is best known for her Father John O’Malley and Vicky Holden mysteries, and also for the Catherine McLeod mystery series. This book includes several short stories, a novella, and two essays. The collection is filled with exciting tales of adventure, love, and the old West. Some of the stories are set in the past, but even those set in the present touch on the colorful history of the West.

My favorite stories in the book are the Arapaho Ten Commandments stories, which were previously published in limited hardback editions. This is the first time these stories have been available to many of Coel’s fans. The stories feature Father John O’Malley, a priest at the St. Francis Mission, and Vicky Holden, an Arapaho lawyer who grew up on the Wind River Reservation. Some of the stories have obvious tie-ins to the corresponding commandment, but some of the connections aren’t as obvious. These stories take place in the present with themes ranging from revenge to loyalty and protecting your family, but all are entertaining. Father John and Vicky have worked together for several years on a wide variety of cases, including divorces, accidents, adoptions, and murders. Theirs is a unique friendship, but they make an excellent team, looking out for the legal and spiritual interests of the Arapaho.

In addition to the Ten Commandment stories, I really enjoyed the short story and novella featuring “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and her sleuthing during Colorado’s gold rush. Molly is a fun main character who won’t give up until she gets to the truth of any matter.  I also like the story called “Yellow Roses” about a determined widow in gold country. It shows how the “wild west” could provide a haven for women looking for independence during that period in history. Many short story collections are uneven, but there are only two stories I didn’t care for in this collection, but others may like them. “St Elmo in Winter” about a young couple skiing has an ambiguous ending I didn’t care for, and “The Man Who Thought he was a Deer” was too bizarre for my taste. The remaining stories, some but not all featuring Father John and Vicky Holden, are very good.

The two non-fictional essays by Coel nicely wrap up this collection. “The Birth of Stories” talks about some of the ways the author get ideas for her stories. For example, she describes how a statue of Sacajawea inspired her to use her imagination and write a mystery novel called, “The Spirit Woman.” The other essay titled, “The West of Ghosts” shows how the past and present are tied together and how people in the present can be haunted by ghosts of the past. Like she does in her novels, Coel makes history come alive with real life examples, such has how I-25 that runs through the Rockies follows a trail made many years ago by the Arapahos and the Cheyennes.

Fans of Margaret Coel’s full-length novels will enjoy this collection of short stories. The collection also provides a perfect introduction to readers unfamiliar with Margaret Coel’s work. Readers who enjoy books by Tony Hillerman or James Doss will enjoy this excellent collection of stories by Coel.

Reviewed by Christine K.