Book Review: Blood Memory

Reviewed By: Webspinner - RAM

Blood Memory     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Margaret Coel
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Native American   Legal Setting   Woman Main Character
Series: Catherine McLeod # 1
Penguin/Berkeley, 2008

Catherine McLeod is divorced from the current heir of one of Denver's founding families. Her job as an investigative reporter is part of the reason for the divorce. Add in the fact that she is a Native American and not wealthy in her own right, the couple had the odds stacked against them from the start. In the process of the divorce, Catherine has become close friends with her lawyer, Maury, although against the best judgment of his partner.

When Catherine realizes she is being followed while out walking her dog late one night, she frantically calls her friend Maury first - and then 911. Maury, unfortunately, arrives first and is wounded critically by an intruder wielding a gun. While the police are looking close to home, Catherine is being stalked. She becomes convinced that she is a target because of a series of articles she is writing about the Sand Creek Massacre. But nothing she has uncovered to date sounds like a secret worth killing for.

BLOOD MEMORY is Coel's first stand-alone book and is a riveting mystery based in both today and 100 years ago when local, peaceful tribes were slaughtered at Sand Creek by a local militia. Coel does a masterful job of creating characters that live and breathe with an intensity that kept me up well into the night.

Webspinner - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Webspinner - RAM