The strange team of Father John O’Malley and attorney Vicki Holden in this latest Wind River Mystery follows dissimilar paths to arrive at a similar but unproven conclusion. It begins when an Arapaho man is shot and killed, the only witness a white girl who claims she was his fiancée. Vicki is retained by the girl’s father to “protect her interest,” Father John providing refuge for the woman while authorities hunt the two men she accuses of being the murderers.
Father John suspects something is off about the woman, but can’t quite come up with the reason. Vicki, on the other hand, cannot believe the woman could have committed the crime, which many of her fellow Arapahos believe, pitting her against them and Father John’s instincts. Usually working together, this time they march to the beat of different drummers.
“The Spider’s Web” reads somewhat differently from its predecessors; perhaps it’s just that the story is a lot less complex than those in the past. Still infused with Arapaho legends and rituals, the flavor of the novel retains at the same high level of interest. But somehow, this mystery is less involved with Arapaho and western culture and peoples, than just ‘ordinary’ human frailty. Nevertheless, it is a well-done effort and a good read, and is recommended.
