Of all the many children of Tony Hillerman--Native American investigators walking in the sizeable moccasin-steps of his Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee--Jean Hager's Molly Bearpaw is certainly one of the most interesting and believable. As major crimes investigator for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Molly has a one-room office in the lovely university town of Tahlequah in the Ozark foothills, a gun that she keeps locked in the glove compartment of her car, and a part-time assistant, a law student named Natalie Wind. It's Natalie's eccentric aunt, Talia Wind, who gets Molly's latest case started, when the former New Age disciple turned Cherokee medicine woman is found murdered in a haunted jailhouse. It wouldn't be a modern mystery if Molly didn't have a rich personal life, and in this one she's troubled by past and present relationships. Other Bearpaw stories in paperback are Ravenmocker, The Redbird's Cry, and Seven Black Stones.


From Library Journal
Molly Bearpaw, major crimes investigator for the Cherokee nation, is drawn into the murder of her assistant's aunt, killed while trying to put a ghost to rest in the Tahlequah Native American Research Library. The mystery, and murderer, are guessable, and the Cherokee element seems less pronounced than in the three earlier novels. Nevertheless, the characters of Molly and her love, Sheriff Deputy D.J. Kennedy remain appealing. for series fans.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Molly Bearpaw, investigator for the Cherokee nation, is realistic, tough, practical, and down to earth. Good thing, too, because when Talia Wind, a New Age channeler with a penchant for crystals and visions, turns up murdered, Molly can't afford to let any hazy, feel-good philosophy get in her way. Meanwhile, Molly's real dad, who disappeared when Molly was a baby, has just shown up, throwing Molly into complete emotional turmoil. At least she's got rock-solid, sensible D. J. Kennedy, the county sheriff and her longtime lover, to keep her anchored. As Molly tries to deal with her conflicting feelings about her father's reappearance, she struggles with a demanding case that proves every bit as gritty as the New Agers are airy. Hager offers readers a clever, well-written mystery that also provides an intimate and edifying look at Native Americans' beliefs, traditions, and lifestyle. A recommended acquisition for all collections. Emily Melton


From Kirkus Reviews
A fourth adventure for Molly Bearpaw (Seven Black Stones, 1995, etc.), recently appointed Major Crimes Investigator for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, who's soon faced with a puzzle worthy of the hefty title. Talia Wind, whose niece Natalie works in Molly's office, has been found strangled, just outside the old Native American Research Library near Tahlequah. Talia, a self- proclaimed seeress, and husband Dell Greer had arrived in Eagle Rock from California a year ago, guided by Talia's channeler, and had bought land for their trailer from tribal leader Agasuyed Beaver. By year's end, Talia and Dell were divorced, and Talia, with her New Age views, meditation groups, and growing influence on women in the community, had made an enemy of Agasuyed and others as well. Talia's mission at the library, in the dead of night, had been to exorcise the ghosts rumored to inhabit the place. Molly, meantime, must investigate the case with little help from a hostile Sheriff while coping with meeting the father who'd left when she was four, unheard from all those years. Despite it all, Molly finds the murderer, barely escaping with her life in the process. Tidily plotted and mildly entertaining, with special appeal to aficionados of Native American lore. (Regional author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Talia Wind was all crystals and spirits, a flamboyant New Age devotee who followed a channeler in California to the land of her ancestors and her own eccentric spiritual vision. The aunt of Molly Bearpaw's assistant, Natalie, Talia was also a woman with a secret...a secret that may have cost her her life. The killing happened on a dark night in Tahlequah's Native American Research Library, an old building that was a jail in the Indian Territory days, and one many believe to be haunted. The murder of Talia Wind seems inexplicable to the logically minded Molly Bearpaw and her boyfriend, Sheriff Deputy D. J. Kennedy. It is only when Molly looks into the colorful life of Talia Wind that she finds plenty of suspects, ranging from the Native medicine man Agasuyed, who saw Talia as a rival, to Talia's bitter ex-husband, Dell. Immersed in this baffling case, Molly Bearpaw must suddenly come to terms with yet another drama: her long-lost father has come back into her life - with a new version of a dark, long-held family secret.

FROM THE CRITICS

Boston Sunday Globe

Hager comes closer to justifying the inevitable comparisons to Tony Hillerman than any other writer of Native American mystery novels I have encountered.

Publishers Weekly - Cahners\\Publishers_Weekly

In a slow-moving fourth appearance, Molly Bearpaw, major crimes investigator for the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service in Tahlequah, Okla., contends with a cantankerous sheriff and the disconcerting appearance of her father, who deserted the family long ago. Talia Wind, a self-appointed New Age Shaman hoping to communicate with a Cherokee ghost at the local Native American Research Library, is found hanging from an ancient gallows. Hager assembles a gaggle of possible suspects: Talia's disgruntled ex-husband, Dell Greer; Agasuyed Beaver, a Cherokee medicine man who feared Talia threatened his leadership; Ina, Agasuyed's wife; a local minister with whom the dead woman argued; Talia's married lover and his wife; a confused Alzheimer's sufferer; even Molly's father. Molly argues with the sheriff and conducts fruitless interviews, aided by her boyfriend, Deputy Sheriff D.J. Kennedy, and her assistant, Natalie, who happens to be Talia's niece. It doesn't take much to identify either the culprit, who stands out like a giraffe in a cow pasture, or the motive, a coyly persistent subplot. Molly, who relies on imagination more than facts, is almost killed while solving the case in an action-packed finale that is an anomaly in this generally deliberate series (Seven Black Stones, 1995). Hager's other series protagonist, Mitch Bushyhead, is far more astute.

Publishers Weekly

In a slow-moving fourth appearance, Molly Bearpaw, major crimes investigator for the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service in Tahlequah, Okla., contends with a cantankerous sheriff and the disconcerting appearance of her father, who deserted the family long ago. Talia Wind, a self-appointed New Age Shaman hoping to communicate with a Cherokee ghost at the local Native American Research Library, is found hanging from an ancient gallows. Hager assembles a gaggle of possible suspects: Talia's disgruntled ex-husband, Dell Greer; Agasuyed Beaver, a Cherokee medicine man who feared Talia threatened his leadership; Ina, Agasuyed's wife; a local minister with whom the dead woman argued; Talia's married lover and his wife; a confused Alzheimer's sufferer; even Molly's father. Molly argues with the sheriff and conducts fruitless interviews, aided by her boyfriend, Deputy Sheriff D.J. Kennedy, and her assistant, Natalie, who happens to be Talia's niece. It doesn't take much to identify either the culprit, who stands out like a giraffe in a cow pasture, or the motive, a coyly persistent subplot. Molly, who relies on imagination more than facts, is almost killed while solving the case in an action-packed finale that is an anomaly in this generally deliberate series (Seven Black Stones, 1995). Hager's other series protagonist, Mitch Bushyhead, is far more astute. Author tour. (May) FYI: Also in May, Mysterious Press is publishing the latest Mitch Bushyhead title, The Fire Carrier (1996), in paperback.

Library Journal

Molly Bearpaw, major crimes investigator for the Cherokee nation, is drawn into the murder of her assistant's aunt, killed while trying to put a ghost to rest in the Tahlequah Native American Research Library. The mystery, and murderer, are guessable, and the Cherokee element seems less pronounced than in the three earlier novels. Nevertheless, the characters of Molly and her love, Sheriff Deputy D.J. Kennedy remain appealing. for series fans.

Kirkus Reviews

A fourth adventure for Molly Bearpaw (Seven Black Stones, 1995, etc.), recently appointed Major Crimes Investigator for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, who's soon faced with a puzzle worthy of the hefty title. Talia Wind, whose niece Natalie works in Molly's office, has been found strangled, just outside the old Native American Research Library near Tahlequah. Talia, a self- proclaimed seeress, and husband Dell Greer had arrived in Eagle Rock from California a year ago, guided by Talia's channeler, and had bought land for their trailer from tribal leader Agasuyed Beaver. By year's end, Talia and Dell were divorced, and Talia, with her New Age views, meditation groups, and growing influence on women in the community, had made an enemy of Agasuyed and others as well. Talia's mission at the library, in the dead of night, had been to exorcise the ghosts rumored to inhabit the place. Molly, meantime, must investigate the case with little help from a hostile Sheriff while coping with meeting the father who'd left when she was four, unheard from all those years. Despite it all, Molly finds the murderer, barely escaping with her life in the process.

Tidily plotted and mildly entertaining, with special appeal to aficionados of Native American lore.