“The Silent Spirit” 

Author:  Margaret Coel

Publisher:  Penguin Group (USA), Berkley Prime Crime

ISBN:  978-0-425-22976-7

Mystery

Purchase:  www.amazon.com  www.barnesandnoble.com  www.penguin.com 

Author Website:  www.margaretcoel.com

 There is enough suspense in this mystery to keep the reader on the edge of their seat and their hand flipping the pages.

 Reviewed by:  Melinda Elmore at www.melindaelmore.webs.com

     “The Silent Spirit” begins with Father John O’Malley (Priest on the Arapaho Reservation) driving down Seventeen Mile Road where he picks up a hitchhiker, Kiki Wallowingbull, (A young Arapaho) en route to Hollywood CA in search of the truth about his great grandfather, who starred in the silent movies in 1923 but never returned home to his family.  Kiki is found murdered on the reservation, shortly after he returns home from CA.  Now it is up to Arapaho lawyer, Vicky Holden, and Father John O’Malley to trace Kiki’s steps to find out what truly happened to Kiki’s great grandfather and to solve Kiki’s murder. 

     Why had Kiki been murdered?  Was there a link to his murder and his great grandfathers over 100 years ago?  

       “The Silent Spirit” by Margaret Coel is an excellent read.  There are enough unexpected twists and turns in this Wind River Reservation Mystery to keep the reader on the edge of their seats.  “The Silent Spirit” was a page-turning suspense I could not put down until I had read every masterful word.

     Margaret Coel, in my opinion, is an excellent storyteller.  Her expert plotting is wonderful; her characters are complete and descriptive. 

     “The Silent Spirit” is a 5-Star read.  Incredible- Put this on your reading list.

      Margaret Coel takes the reader to the Wind River Reservation.  Through her eyes, you can see the sacredness of the Arapaho people.  Thanks, Margaret for taking us to another time and into the lives of the Arapahos.

      If you enjoy reading about Native Americans and mystery, then you will definitely have a treat with this book.  Margaret Coel’s storytelling: masterful and moving.

 

 I am proud and honored to have New York Times, Best Selling Author, Margaret Coel here with us. She is the outstanding author of The Wind River Reservation Mysteries, and her latest installment of the series, “The Silent Spirit.” So, Margaret lets get started

 

 

 

                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                           

 

 

 

1. Tell us something about you and your books

 

I’m a not-wholly recovered historian who writes mystery novels set among the Arapahos on the Wind River Reservation. There’s lots of mystery in my novels, and a lot of history. I’m fascinated with the past the way it keeps creeping into the present and forcing us to deal with all over again.

 

2. Are there any new authors who have grasped your attention?

 

If you haven’t read Lisa Unger and Craig Johnson, get going! They are both great.

 

3. Do you have any advice for other writers?

 

Never give up. Keep writing, work on your craft, get better and better and never let the rejections discourage you. Keep going.

 

4. What’s your latest book “The Silent Spirit” about?

 

In “The Silent Spirit,” a young Arapaho, Kiki Wallowingbull, is found murdered on the reservation. When my main characters, Jesuit priest Father John O’Malley and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden, realize that Kiki had recently returned from Hollywood where he had gone to find out what happened to his great-grandfather in 1923 Hollywood, they follow Kiki’s trail, both to Hollywood and into the past. They soon find another murder, one committed almost a hundred years ago when the Arapahos were in Hollywood to appear in the silent Westerns. In order to solve Kiki’s murder, Father John and Vicky must first figure out what happened long ago in Hollywood and why someone is willing to kill to keep it secret.

 

5. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

 

I do a lot of reading, and I spend time with my Arapaho friends on the reservation For “The Silent Spirit,” I had a good time reading about 1920s Hollywood, which was a crazy, anything goes kind of place. A columnist from that time, Walter Winchell, called Hollywood a place that had to be seen to be disbelieved. Since my character, Vicky, goes to Hollywood, I spent some time there, visiting the museums, walking Hollywood Blvd., going to Grauman’s Egyptian and Chinese theaters, and generally soaking up the atmosphere. I ate at Musso and Frank Grill, just as Vicky does, and just as actors did in the 1920s. Charlie Chaplin’s booth is still there.

 

 

 

                       

 

 

6. What promotional ideas can you give to other beginning authors?

 

This is tough. The internet today is the most important place to promote your book. Keep an e-mail list and send out a notice when the book comes out. Tell people how to get it. Visit blogs. Start your own blog. By all means, get yourself a website, make it interesting, and keep updating it. Work with your publisher and try to fill in the things they are NOT doing. Hopefully they will send out review copies. It’s tough to get reviews on your own. They may even set up signings for you, and send you on a tour (although don’t expect that on the first book.)

 

7. What advice would you give to somebody trying to get a literary agent?

 

Pick up one of the great books on the subject and follow their advice. Many are written by agents, and they are very current on how to approach an agent today. I also like going to conferences and meeting agents face-to-face. A lot of connections are made that way.

 

8. Are there any thing you would like to say to other aspiring writers?

 

          Write, write, write.

 

9. As a child what did you want to do when you grew up?

 

Be a writer. That was my goal. I started writing stories when I was about 6, I think.

 

10. As a writer and published author how do you feel about e-publishing

 

E-publishing is a big term. My novels are available as e-books, which is arranged by my publisher. I think any way that books can become more easily available is good. However, in the case of e-publishing where the writer publishes her own book, you’re looking at a lot of problems in marketing and selling the book.

 

11. What advice would you give to other aspiring authors about getting their work placed with a big publishing company?

 

Get an agent. Spend the time and effort in getting an agent to handle your book. An agent can open the doors to a big publishing company. You can’t, at least not easily.

 

12. Please give us a list of all of your books currently available.

 

Oh, my. Here goes: Including The Wind River Reservation Mystery Series:

 

 

                                                                     

 

The Eagle Catcher

   The Ghost Walker

      The Dream Stalker

          The Story Teller

             The Lost Bird

               The Spirit Woman

                 The Thunder Keeper

                   The Shadow Dancer

                      Killing Raven

                        Wife of Moon

                          Eye of the Wolf

                            Drowning Man

                              The Girl with Braided Hair

                                  Blood Memory

                                    The Silent Spirit

                                         

                                           

 

And two non-fiction books:

                    Chief Left Hand (biography and history of the Arapahos.)

                      Goin’ Railroading, a book on railroading in early Colorado for Railroad buffs.

 

 

 

          

                     

                                  

 

13. How long does it take you to do research on the books you write?

 

I spend a couple of months doing general reading, then I plunge in and begin the writing, As I go along, I realize the specific things I need to learn about. Then I go and research that. Sometimes that means doing more reading. Other times it means talking to experts.

 

14. How do you give credit to any research you do?

 

I always acknowledge the people who help me with my research in the front of the novels.

 

15. What inspired you to become a writer?

 

Wonderful stories that my parents read to me with I was a kid. Alice in Wonderland, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, David Copperfield. The list is long.

 

16. How did you go about getting published?

 

Followed the advice I gave above. First: Wrote the best book I could. Second: Went looking for an agent. Read books on how to find an agent to conferences to meet them. Then contacted those I thought I would like to work with.

 

17. Where do you do most of your writing?

 

In my study. I have a wonderful view of the Rocky Mountains and a beautiful expanse of hillside where all kinds of wild animals might show up, from herds of deer to fox, coyote and even a bear or mountain lion.

 

18. Are you working on other things, if so what are they?

 

I write short stories. A collection of my stories will be published in March.

 

19. What do you enjoy most about your writing?

 

Absolutely, hands down, the most fun is the writing process itself. Getting lost in the story that is unfolding on the screen in front of me, living with the characters, laughing and crying with them—it’s all wonderful.

 

20. What is your website address:

http://www.margaretcoel.com/

 

Well Margaret, I am so delighted to have learned so much about the Arapahos and all of your amazing books. I cannot wait to read the whole series of your Wind River Mysteries.

 

 

 

         

 

Walk in peace and harmony,

 

Melinda

 Today I am happy to have you here Lyn.  Thanks so much.  We have alot to cover so let’s get started.

 

                                                                   

 

                         

 

I’m a free lance writer, newpaper columnist, and third generation rancher whose business card reads, “purveyor of horse sense, nonsense, and occasional wisdom.” I was a closet poet until age 50, when I was widowed, went back to school, began my column, and got invited to perform at the national Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko NV. The next year I helped coordinate a local poetry gathering where I met my current husband and a lady who has been a business partner and soulmate ever since. Deb Carpenter-Nolting and I have recorded two CDs of original poetry and music with an historical emphasis. The Heart’s Compass is based on diaries of pioneer women, and Leaders and Legends chronicles the lives of characters like Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, and Clara Brown. We travel for the Nebraska and South Dakota Humanities Councils, presenting these stories, as well as offering programs in schools and writing workshops.

 

 

My first poetry book, Downwind From The Smoke, was published in 1994; the second is Ground Tied, which won a Will Rogers Medallion award from the Academy of Western Artists in 2004.

 

My Sister Mariah is a daybook of short essays relating to lessons gleaned from a lifetime on the land.

 

 

I’m currently beginning, Family Matters, mostly memoir, but including stories about people in the community where my grandparents homesteaded and where I have lived all my 70 years, whose lives have shaped me and grounded my values. It may contain both poetry and prose, but who can tell? If I have learned anything at all about writing, it is this: one must let the writing tell you what it wants. And that would be my primary advice for aspiring writers. But what do I know? I am self taught, and self published! Still, I totally believe that after finding one’s personal voice, a writer’s main responsiblity to him/herself is to hone the craft and be true to that voice. For that reason, I avail myself of all opportunities to learn from other writers, whether local workshops or more formal retreats.

 

 

Newer authors whose work I particularly admire are Stanley Gordon West, Kent Meyers, Elizabeth Berg, Barbara Kingslover, and Wallace McRae. But I keep coming back to Robert Frost, Charles Badger Clark, and Ivan Doig, for inspiration, laughter, and healing.

 

 

My ideas come from the land, animals, conversations overheard or participated in, a song lyric, a line from something I’m reading; in other words, whatever I take time to pay attention to. Songwriter Andy Wilkinson says if the piece you are writing takes off in a direction you hadn’t intended, it simply means you are paying attention. Songwriter Billy Joe Shaver says, “write it so you can pull a string through it,” and Wallace McRae says, “write it as short as it will allow itself to be.”

Simply put, I have no real advice for writers other than what I steal from my mentors!

 

 

As for research, I’m hooked on it! Sometimes I have to force myself to stop and just write, based on what I have gathered. I don’t write scholarly pieces, nor many news articles, but for the historical work I gather any material which will give me a sense of the person, and after taking extensive notes, I choose one incident or period in that person’s life which seems to show who they really were, and build my poem on that, usually in first person voice.

 

 

I queried approximately 60 publishers for My Sister Mariah, and all I got was experience in writing good query letters and a sense of how difficult it is to break into the markets. But it was good experience, and I wouldn’t discount any of it. The book is mainly aimed at rural women, and I knew that is a limited market, and that publishers are looking for big sales.

I have worked with a good printer for my self publishing, and the only downside of that is personal expense and having to do your own marketing. And I dislike marketing, so have no advice to offer about that! E publishing may be the wave of the future, but I still like a book I can carry in my hands! Print on demand may be worth investigating, and I will probably look at that in the future.

 

 

I have no memory of ever wanting to be anything but a writer and a rancher. My actual experience in both fields has been very different that imagined, but then isn’t life always so? I am blessed to have had the best of both worlds. When you love what you do you never really work a day in your life!

 

 

Thanks, Melinda, for inviting me along on your journey, it has been a pleasure.

 

 

 

 

Your welcome Lyn, and thank you for your insight on writing.  Hope to have you back again real soon.  I have a copy of your book “Ground Tied,” which I truly enjoyed.

 

If you are interested in Lyn’s books, here is how you can get your hands on them

 

Book list:

Downwind from the Smoke

Ground Tied

My Sister Mariah

 

With Deb Carpenter-Nolting

The Heart’s Compass book/CD

Leaders and Legends CD

 

 

Available by contacting

Lyn Messersmith

4241 269th Trail

Alliance, NE 69301

ezrein@bbcwb.net

 

Walk in peace and harmony,

 

Melinda 

 Hi Ken, I am so glad you can be here with us today.  Please lets get started on our interview.

 

 

 

1. Tell us something about you and your books

 

I am a person who has spent his life trying to understand the minds, hearts, and souls of humans  including myself. The avenues I have used have been liberal education, psychology (I have a PhD), religion (I’m an ordained minister.), travel (extensive), living my own life (including a marriage of 41 years and a great adult son), and writing. Not surprisingly my writing deals with personalities and with the questions of faith and religion that these characters must face. My first novel, Widow’s Walk, was just released by All Things That Matter Press. It is the story of a woman who decides that it is time to start over, her relationship, and her grown children. Immediately after Widow’s Walk was released, the publisher offered me a contract of Memoirs From the Asylum, a powerful novel of mental illness and of the human spirit. There is yet a third completed novel for which I am seeking a publisher. Songs For My Father, an anthology of my work was published by Inkwell Productions in 2002, and a great many of my poems have been published. Recently my first play, Right Number was workshopped to very positive reactions.

 

2. Are there any new authors who have grasped your attention?

 

Cormac McCarthy is very important to my development as a writer. Tim O’Brien’s, The Things They Carried is also important. I studied with Ron Nash so of course he has my attention.

 

3. Do you have any advice for other writers?

 

Write. Then write some more.  Second, relate to your characters and let them help tell their own story. They are more than extensions of your ego.

 

 

 

4. What’s your latest book about?

 

Widow’s Walk, which is the novel that I’m hoping folks will buy now, is the story of a middle-aged woman who decides it is time to start her life over. It is also the story of her romance with a great guy and the stories of her two adult children and their attempts to have full lives. The two adult children are both unique. One works in a hospice and is very embittered. The other is a quadriplegic who is neither bitter nor sorry for himself.

Widow’s Walk is also a very strong exploration of religion and of faith, which are not necessarily the same things. This is a book that investigates human values.

 

5. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

 

I must admit that some of my characters are drawn from years of practice as a psychologist and a pastoral counselor. Situations, plot ideas, dilemmas, and emotional concerns: all come out of life as I experience it. However, I should add that once characters and situations have been started into the universe of a novel, they each take on their own unique qualities and dimensions.

 

6. What promotional ideas can you give to other beginning authors?

 

The only advice I dare give is don’t be ashamed to talk about your work and to ask others to support you. If you are not for yourself, who will be for you?

 

7. What advice would you give to somebody trying to get a literary agent?

 

Since I haven’t got one and wish I did, I can only say keep trying. I have been told that getting published in literary magazines helps, but getting into them often seems like trying to break into the proverbial Old Boys Network.

 

8. Are there any thing you would like to say to other aspiring writers?

 

Inspiration is usually not enough. This is a difficult trade, and perspiration is also very necessary. That means rewriting, deciding to throw away material, and editing. I might write a ten line poem and take three days to do it. When I’m finished I then ask others for their reactions and do some more rewriting if necessary.

 

9. As a child what did you want to do when you grew up?

 

I wanted to be a writer. Family pressures and expectations produced a professional, somebody with the first name of Doctor. Now I’m doing what I always wanted.

 

10. As a writer and published author how do you feel about e-publishing?

 

Writers deserve a decent wage for our efforts. I have no problem with any method of reproducing my work as long as I get paid in a reasonable manner. For myself, I like the smell and feel of paper in my hands and the look of a well-designed book cover.

 

11. What advice would you give to other aspiring authors about getting their work placed with a big publishing company?

 

Give me a call and tell me how you did it. While All Things That Matter is great to work with and the management has become good friends, I would much prefer to have the cachet of the big house imprint.

 

12. Please give us a list of all of your books currently available.

 

Right now only Widow”s Walk.

 

13. How long does it take you to do research on the books you write?

 

Since I’ve been writing fiction it isn’t so much an issue. I do sometimes have to do a little digging on a specific. For example, in my next book there is some action in Machu Picchu. I used not only photographs but also some archeological papers to develop the idea I wanted.

 

14. How do you give credit to any research you do?

 

In fiction that isn’t really necessary. If it were in a specific instance, I would probably resort to a foot note unless I was using a first person narrator who could tell somebody in the story.

 

15. What inspired you to become a writer?

 

As a child I read and read and read some more. The world of books became my reality.

 

16. How did you go about getting published?

 

I sent out copies to publishers until one gave me a positive response. I must admit

with some pride that once I got off the fantasy of the big houses it didn’t take too many letters.

 

17. What is your novel Widow’s Walk about?

 

Widow’s Walk is the story of a middle-aged woman who decides it is time to start her life over. It is also the story of her romance with a great guy and the stories of her two adult children and their attempts to have full lives. The two adult children are both unique. One works in a hospice and is very embittered. The other is a quadriplegic who is neither bitter nor sorry for himself. Widow’s Walk is also a very strong exploration of religion and of faith, which are not necessarily the same things. This is a book that investigates human values.

 

18. Where do you do most of your writing?

 

I write at my computer and I write in quiet places outside my home. For example, I still go to libraries, and I love to sit in coffeehouses with pen, notebook, and latte.

 

19. Are you working on other things, if so what are they?

 

I’m tuning up my next novel, Memoirs From the Asylum. There’s another novel that is written but will need some work, Times to Try the Soul of Man. I am just starting a play, one that has me obsessed and helpless for the moment. Then, perhaps a non-fiction.

 

20. What do you enjoy most about your writing?

 

That is like asking me what enjoy about breathing. It is the very life-force of my day. I love my wife, son, grandkids, friends; but from writing I obtain sustenance for my brain and nourishment for my soul.

 

Here is Ken’s Links, check them out 

http://widows-walk.webs.com/

http://www.allthingsthatmatterpress.com/buynow.htm

 

Well Ken your book is a must read.  Again thanks for being here today and hope to have you back in the near future.

 

Walk in peace and harmony,

 

Melinda