“A fiercely entertaining mystery story and a wrenching exploration of evil” (Kate Atkinson)
From the best-selling author of The Lost City of Z, soon to be a major film starring Charlie Hunnam, Sienna Miller, and Robert Pattison, comes a true-life murder story that became one of the newly created FBI’s first major homicide investigations.
In the 1920s the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And this was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered.
As the death toll climbed, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations, and the bureau badly bungled it. In desperation its young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. Together with the Osage, he and his undercover team began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
Masterful. A disturbing piece of history wonderfully told. This one I couldn’t put down. What an incredible period in Oklahoma history that I never learned about until now. The author captures an era of lawlessness and greed in frontier life and shares a piece of history that almost remained untold. Thank goodness David Grann didn’t let this one die. I really enjoyed this book and hope this story is included in future history classes. A cautionary tale demonstrating the level of greed and heartlessness that can sometimes take hold in people’s…
First rate! This is one of the best true crime historical accounts I’ve ever read. From start to finish it is compelling reading that didn’t let me put the book down. A darkly fascinating subject well rendered.
It’s almost impossible not to become emotionally involved while reading this book Author David Grann spent years doing research and uncovering new evidence in writing Killers of the Flower Moon. Since I was a fan of his from reading The Lost City of Z, I expected this latest book to be the sort of non-fiction I love: the kind that reads like the best fiction. I was not disappointed. What I did not expect was just how infuriated I would become by reading it.Â