The Spirit Caller

I am a German pupil of English in the 13th form who had to read The Spirit Caller in class in 1999. I found the novel easy to read because Hager uses a lot of direct speech and short main clauses which make it easy to understand. The characters are described with a lot of details. Those are helpful to visualize the persons. I believe the novel is exciting, because the reader is hooked by the plot. You get to know almost nothing about Talia Wind's murderer at first. The investigator Molly Bearpaw has got several suspects, but the murderer is only found at the very end. It is interesting, too, that the storyline has got several parts. Molly Bearpaw sees her father for the first time after 25 years plus the unravelling of Wind's gruesome death.

I believe this novel is very interesting. It contains elements of love, crime, Cherokee culture and a lot of mysterious details. Hager vividly describes the lifestyle and the tradions of the Cherokees. Most of the details taken from culture and geography which are used in the novel are realistically drawn and not ficticious. There are numerous dialogues which help us to understand the characters' motivations. The plot of the story is full of suspense. Until the end you never know who the murderer is. The mysterious element is provided by the ghost in the library. I believe the novel is a good one because it contains so many different topics.

We are two students of a 13th form at Hilda-Gymnasium Koblenz, Germany and from September 99-November 99 we read The Sprit Caller in class. In this context we also worked with different material to get more information about the Cherokees. It was a great pleasure to read this novel and speak about it, because our teacher additionally gave us newspaper articles, maps, recipes etc. We are fascinated by and interested in the novel. Jean Hager describes the plot with a lot of helpful details, such as many lively dialogues. The author employs good methods to describe the characters and their relationships. It is a very good book, easy to read and highly recommendable.

Talia Wind is a New Age follower, who plans to talk with a reported Native American ghost haunting the local library in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Instead of finding what she sought, Talia is found hanging from the rafters. Major Crimes Investigator for the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, Molly Bearpaw begins to investigate the inexplicable murder. She is helped in her inquiries by her boyfriend DJ Kennedy and her assistant Natalie, who is the niece of the deceased. ....... They quickly uncover several suspects with motives, including Molly's father, a person who deserted his family years ago. As Molly leads them into a deeper investigation inside the eccentric life of the colorful Talia , she finds even more suspects. Molly may find more than she wants to know as she comes to learn some bitter truths about her own family history while trying to uncover the identity of the culprit. ....... The fourth Molly Bearpaw is a very good who-done-it that fans of the series and other Native American detective stories will immensely enjoy even though the identity of the villain seems quite obvious early in the story. Though THE SPIRIT CALLER seems more like a cub when compared to the previous three great books that comprise this series (SEVEN BLACK STONES, THE REDBIRD'S CRY, and RAVENMOCKER), it is still a fun reading experience that will be enjoyed by all. This reviewer recommends both this series and Jean Hager's other series (the Mitch Bushyhead tales) because the lead protagonists make both collections extremely interesting. .........Harriet Klausner