WIFE OF MOON

By 1907, the Native American way of life is vanishing. Photographer Edward Curtis comes to the Arapaho Wind River Reservation to document these fading people. He reconstructs a village and stages an attack. During the shooting with blank bullets, Bashful Woman, daughter of Chief Sharp Nose, is murdered. As the story shifts to the present, Denise, a descendant of Sharp Nose, is murdered, and her husband, J.T. Painted Horse, is the prime suspect. Stephanie Brush's pacing weaves together these two distinct eras into a cohesive mystery. Flashbacks are integrated so expertly that the shifts between the present and the past flow like gossip through the "moccasin telegraph." Brush keeps the story moving at a good pace, presenting the clues skillfully enough to reward the careful listener and serving up the villains with an element of surprise. K.A.T. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 05]