Book Review: Winter's Child by Margaret Coel

Winter's Child: A Wind River Mystery by Margaret Coel, September 6, 2016,  courtesy of Berkley

Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and Father John O'Malley discover a centuries-old mystery tied to a modern day crime on the Wind River Reservation.

Plot: An Arapaho couple hire an attorney, Clint Hopkins, to help them adopt a child they had been caring for over five years. The child had been left as an infant on their doorstep and the couple had taken her in. But while working on the adoption case, the attorney is killed in a suspicious hit-and-run, and Vicky Holden steps in to solve a crime involving the past and the mystery of the child.

My comments: The book has an intriguing and suspenseful plot. It appears to be a straightforward request from the lawyer, Clint Hopkins, to Vicky, asking her to be a cocounsel in the adoption of a five-year-old girl by an Arapaho couple. But the case quickly involves murder, and Vicky is left on her own to solve the mystery. The ending, which I won't give away, is not a clear cut solution, but realistic.

My rating: 5/5

Book beginning:

Snow had fallen all day, dense cotton fluff that cocooned the brick bungalow in a white world and obscured the small sign: Vicky Holden, Attorney at Law. Now the snow dissolved into a white dusk as Vicky drove through the side streets of Lander, tires bumping over ruts and ridges. The heater kicked into gear, and warm air streamed into the frosty cold that gripped the Ford. She hunched over the steering wheel. She was late.

Page 56:

 "Come on, Uncle John." She stopped in her tracks and was looking up at him. "No one in my generation believes in fairy tales. Ever after just doesn't happen. It never did, really. Your generation was the last to cling to that belief...."

Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

Sunday Salon: Good Taste by Jane Green

The Fortress: A Love Story by Danielle Trussoni, published September 20, 2016 by Dey Street Books. 
I am three-quarters of the way through this book, billed as "a memoir of love and transformation in France." It is about married foreigners in a 13th-century fortress in a small town in France, Aubais. The marriage is falling apart, and I'm not surprised given the bad vibes from the residence - a former fortress that may have seen a lot of bloodshed and death in the old days. The couple have even seen the same ghost at different times, albeit a friendly one, a woman in blue. Ghosts and violence in the past of a residence are not conducive to a happily married life,  in my opinion. 

Jane Green's new cookbook, Good Taste, came in the mail, thanks to NAL.

Good Taste: Simple, Delicious Recipes for Family and Friends by Jane Green, October 4, 2016, NAL
There are fairly simple, uncomplicated recipes that I'd like to try - 
- Daily Baby Back Ribs, with only six ingredients and five easy steps. 
- Slow Braised Onion Chicken, with seven ingredients (including three different parts of the chicken) and easy prep for an oven baked dish. 
- Plum Tart Tatin looks delicious.

I am still reading two novels about children "adopted" by Native American Indian couples in complicated scenarios.
In LaRose by Louise Erdrich, a tragic accident leads one family on a North Dakota reservation to give up their precious young son to another Indian family. 
In Winter's Child by Margaret Coel, an Arapaho couple on a reservation hopes to formally adopt a white child left by a stranger on their doorsteps years before. 

What are you reading this week? 

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.
Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date. 

Sunday Salon: Midsummer Reading

A mystery novel set in Arapaho land features a local attorney and a priest who are the major investigators of a crime. I have started this one and find the characters interesting and the plot unusual.

Winter's Child (Wind River Reservation #20 by Margaret Coel, to be released September 6, 2016, Berkley
Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and Father John O’Malley discover that a centuries-old mystery is tied to a modern-day crime on the Wind River Reservation…

Next on my list to read....

Letters from Paris by Juliet Blackwell, to be released September 6, 2016 by Berkley.
The bestselling author of The Paris Key writes a story of a mysterious work of art and the woman inspired to uncover its history in the City of Light.

Whispers Beyond the Veil by Jessica Estevao, to be released September 6, 2016 by Berkley. First in a new historical mystery series featuring Ruby Proulx, a psychic who reads tarot cards who suddenly finds her future most uncertain.. Canada, 1898.


I have just finished reading Commonwealth: A Novel by Ann Patchett, published 2016. Here is my goodreads review: 
Heart breaking in so many parts - the effects on children and marriage partners of infidelity, broken marriages, divorce, blended families, especially when there are lots of children involved plus neglectful, self-absorbed parents. Quite a strong statement. But the novel is even more than that- several of the members go on to help other members of the commonwealth or extended family in later years, those not related to them biologically. Another strong statement. 

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.
Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date. And Mailbox Monday.