The book opens with a re-enactment related to Custer--and the man playing Custer is killed and the Native Americans get blamed--Vicky is hired by the relatives of the dead man nad is unavailable to represent tribal members, so that is a different twist--overall this has been a consistant series, and this is no difference from that. The thing I found interesting was the depiction of the enactment mentality--which is very much to be wrapped up in it in an almost delusional way. While I have no experience with this crowd, that would have been my guess. I liked the premise of this mystery, that a Custer impersonator gets shot and killed during a Wyoming tourist re-enactment of the Battle of the Little Big Horn and that Arapahoes participating in the staged battle are assumed guilty out of historical revenge. Father John O’Malley, who ministers to the tribe on the nearby Wind River Reservation, and Vicky Holden, a Native American attorney are motivated to investigate in order to assure that justice is served with the right culprit prosecuted. The victim, named Garrett, was obnoxious enough to have stirred up a lot of resentment. He totally identified with his character, to the point of channeled Custer’s racism and cavalier attitudes such as over his role in the massacre of Cheyennes at the Battle of Washita River six years before the “Last Stand” debacle. The Arapaho playing the Sioux Crazy Horse in the re-enactment, Colin Morningside, becomes a prime suspect for the sheriff and the tribal police, with a young tribal expert in horsemanship a second suspect due to his coordination of the Indians in an aggressive riding pattern during the show.O’Malley and Holden are friends with these suspects and so work on discovering an alternative culprit. Could it be that the white impersonators of Major Reno and Captain Benteen had a grudge against Garrett (as their characters did over events prior to the Last Stand battle). Also, a local investment consultant disappears who had some kind of connection with Garrett, leading the priest and the lawyer to pursue economic motivations. Some break-ins and further violent crimes provide some surprising twists and turns and amp up the danger in their unofficial investigations. Ultimately, I didn’t feel a keen sense of engagement with the main characters. Maybe after 16 other installments in the series Coel felt the reader should already be well attached to O’Malley and Holden (I have only read one). I also didn’t appreciate a plot seemingly devised as a moral lesson. I missed the level of portrayal of Native American culture or a keen evocation of Western places found in mysteries by other writers such as Tony Hillerman and James Doss.This book was provided by the publisher through the Goodreads Giveaway program.
What do You think about Killing Custer (2013)?
Good novel, but felt ending just sort of dropped off into nothingness.
—summayyabaig
One of Margaret Coel's best in the Wind River series!
—harukoizaki
