Coel's new thriller

Review:  Margaret Coel takes a new direction with latest thrillerAuthors of popular series sometimes find themselves locked into the worlds and characters they've created, simply because that's what readers, and therefore publishers, want.

Nothing wrong with that, especially when a series is as consistently excellent as Boulder writer Margaret Coel's "Wind River Reservation Mystery" novels featuring the intrepid Father John O'Malley and Arapaho Indian attorney Vicky Holden.

But after 13 consecutive novels in that series, Coel has earned the right to stretch her wings a little. Her new novel, "Blood Memory"--due in stores Tuesday--doesn't stray too far from her Wind River formula--there is an Indian issue at stake, and the tough-yet-vulnerable protagonist Catherine McLeod, a Denver investigative journalist, bears a passing resemblance to Holden--but it's a suspenseful, page-turning change of pace.Comment:  For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Books.