Arapaho Ten Commandments Books in Order
Part ofMargaret Coel Books in OrderExplore Margaret Coel's Arapaho Ten Commandments stories in order, with brief summaries, background on the project, and pointers to related Wind River mysteries.
Last updated: January 12, 2026
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Publication Order
8 books
Nobody's Going to Cry
by Margaret Coel
2006
Taking the eighth commandment, Thou shalt not steal, as its touchstone, this Arapaho Ten Commandments short mystery follows Father John and Vicky Holden as a theft on the reservation grows into a deeper test of trust, loyalty, and what real restitution requires.
Bad Heart
by Margaret Coel
2004
Centered on the third commandment about taking the Lord's name in vain, this Arapaho Ten Commandments mystery brings back a chilling figure known as Bad Heart. Father John and Vicky Holden confront how vengeance and broken promises can twist faith into something dangerous.
My Last Goodbye
by Margaret Coel
2002
This limited-edition Arapaho Ten Commandments story turns on the second commandment against graven images. A haunting farewell forces Father John and Vicky Holden to ask what happens when symbols of devotion become excuses for obsession, control, and danger.
The Woman Who Climbed to the Sky
by Margaret Coel
2001
Built around the ninth commandment about coveting a neighbor's spouse, this Arapaho Ten Commandments tale finds Father John and Vicky Holden untangling desire, resentment, and old promises, as a seemingly private obsession threatens to tear a community apart.
Stolen Smoke
by Margaret Coel
2000
In this first Arapaho Ten Commandments mystery, based on the commandment I am the Lord thy God, Father John and Vicky Holden investigate a troubling case where greed, superstition, and misplaced devotion blur the line between faith and idolatry on the reservation.
Honor
by Margaret Coel
1999
This Arapaho Ten Commandments story focuses on the fifth commandment, Honor thy father and thy mother. A fraught family dispute on the reservation forces Father John and Vicky Holden to consider what honoring elders looks like when past wrongs refuse to stay hidden.
Hole in the Wall
by Margaret Coel
1998
In this Arapaho Ten Commandments short mystery, Father John O'Malley and Vicky Holden confront the human cost of breaking the seventh commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery, as love, loyalty, and betrayal collide on the Wind River Reservation.
Chief Left Hand, Southern Arapaho
by Margaret Coel
1981
An in-depth biography of Chief Left Hand, the Southern Arapaho leader who tried to keep peace as white settlers poured into Colorado. Coel traces his life, the Sand Creek Massacre, and the removal of his people, blending careful research with vivid narrative.
Series background & context
The Arapaho Ten Commandments series gathers a set of short mysteries built around the moral code of the Arapaho people. Each story is a compact case featuring Father John O'Malley, Vicky Holden, and the Wind River community, originally published as signed, illustrated limited editions.
The concept is simple and rich. Each tale takes one commandment, from honoring parents to rejecting theft or adultery, and imagines how that teaching plays out in modern reservation life. The result is not a sermon, but a tight, character-driven mystery with real stakes.
Because the pieces are short, Coel can zoom in on a single family, a single bad decision, or a single broken promise and follow the ripples to their end.
Stories such as Stolen Smoke, My Last Goodbye, Bad Heart, Honor, Hole in the Wall, Nobody's Going to Cry and The Woman Who Climbed to the Sky show up at the edges of the longer novels and again in the collection Watching Eagles Soar. On the page, readers see elders weighing tradition against survival, young people caught between temptation and obligation, and Father John and Vicky trying to help without pretending that answers are easy.
The tone is intimate rather than sweeping. Instead of the wide canvases and multiple subplots of the Wind River novels, these pieces focus on one problem at a time: a theft, a betrayal of trust, a lapse in loyalty, and use that moment to ask what obedience, mercy, or justice really look like.
Read in order, the Arapaho Ten Commandments stories feel like a series of snapshots taken from the same community over several years, filling in corners of Wind River life that the bigger books only glance at. They are a good way to sample Coel's writing, revisit favorite characters in smaller doses, or explore the spiritual ideas that quietly underpin much of her work.
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