Margaret Coel

Father John is called to say last rites at a scene where a young woman discovered a hand protruding from the ground. Vicki, struggling to gain enough clients to stay afloat now that she's back in Lander, receives an offer to assist the Lakota lawyer handling contracts for the Arapaho casino. A discrepancy in the mission's bank funds causes Father John and Father George to investigate. The story lines intertwine as it becomes clear casino loan sharks are making it hard on locals and that the tribe isn't getting all the money it should be. This is better than many in the series, and I like the fact that Vicki appears to be moving on in her relationships with other men and realizing Father John will remain true to his calling for the foreseeable future. I listened to the audiobook read by Stephanie Brush.… (mere)

He was at home with the Arapahos, a Plains Indian tribe he had once thought of as a footnote in a history book. Strange that he should be in this place. God worked in mysterious ways. Years of struggling with the thirst, in and out of rehab, stumbling through life teaching, or pretending to teach, in a Jesuit prep school in Boston. Then the assignment to an Indian reservation in the middle of Wyoming. He'd had to look up the place on the map. He had no idea where he was going. To the middle of nowhere, to the ends of the earth.… (mere)