1551. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

A departure to non-fiction. Recommended to me by my son, the movie freak. You’ll see why later.

Late 19^th century, the US government is still relocating Native Americans including the Osage, once one of the largest plains tribes. They’ve been relocated south into the Oklahoma territory, to a Godforsaken prairie on the OK-Kansas border in a region already known to have a little bit of oil. Once settled by the Osage, it turns out that oil deposits are among the largest ever discovered anywhere.

Osage Nation is smart. They negotiate not just the land but also water, mineral, and oil rights for each member. The tradeoff is that the government doesn’t think Indians are capable of handling any potential windfall, so guardianships are assigned/bought/sold to whites in the county. The Osage need permission of the guardians to spend any money they might obtain. Ownership of the rights pass only by inheritance and cannot be gifted or sold. Drilling leases are bought and sold at auction with each Osage member receiving monthly checks based on lease payments and oil sales. The Osage become rich beyond anyone's imagination.

By 1920, the members of the Osage are, per capita, among the wealthiest people on the planet. Those who were able to spend their allotments spent freely on housing, clothing, cars, travel, food/liquor. They had servants and some servants had servants. Many of whom were white. A class distinction that wasn’t well accepted.

One by one, Osage natives are dying. Some are obviously murdered. Others are being slowly poisoned. Others die mysteriously with no cause of death determined. One family is wiped out by a bomb as they slept in their beds. Investigations are slow and many deaths are either ignored or the police, juries, and politicians are bought. When questions do get asked, details point to William Hale, a local businessman, as the man pulling the strings on this 'Reign of Terror.'

The plots are truly sinister. The book focuses on the family of Mollie Burkhart who is married to Earnest Burkhart (William Hale’s nephew). With the passing of her mother and then each of her sisters, Mollie inherits their shares of the oil money. If the long-term plot was to go to its fruition, when Mollie dies, Earnest would stand to inherit the entire family allotment.

Some influential Osage convince the US Justice Department to investigate, and the issue is assigned to the new Bureau of Investigation headed by the ambitious J Edgar Hoover. Hoover assigns Tom White, a Houston investigator of some note in Texas. From here, White and his team must peel back the layers of distrust and conspiracy in a region that distrusts Washington.

Yes, Hale leads a widespread conspiracy, but turns out that the couple dozen deaths that White investigates are but the tip of an iceberg of silence. The painstaking research by author David Grann uncovers links not to dozens of deaths, but to hundreds. While not a coordinated effort to exterminate the Osage, many saw an opportunity and the means by following Hale’s blueprint.

Make no mistake. This is a disturbing narrative about just how cruel people can be in the pursuit of riches and power. The Osage were failed on so many levels that still exist today. The book focuses on the 1920s and the role the publicity of the investigation had on the creation of the FBI, but Grann brings the story to current day with interviews of descendants of the original victims who still suffer the effects of that era. One thing that bothered me was that I’d no clue any of this happened. Wish I did. My dad grew up in SW Missouri and would’ve been old enough to maybe have heard about the investigation. I would’ve asked. I wonder how much of this might be in school curricula outside of Oklahoma. Wasn’t in any of mine.

My son the movie nut said I need to read the book in advance of Martin Scorsese’s movie of the same name to be released in October 2023. I’ve said that the real genius being Schindler’s List was the screenwriter who wrote a coherent storyline from the original book (that was one tough read). I’m going to bet the same will be said about this movie (Eric Roth screenwriter). If interested, the cast is loaded: Robert DiNiro (William Hale), Leonardo DiCaprio (Earnest Burkhart), Jesse Plemmons (Thomas White), other A-listers in minor roles (e.g. John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser) and a host of Native American actors playing the Osage members. First screening will be at Cannes in May 2023. I’ll have my ticket for opening day here. This’ll be good. A film without flying superheroes or dependent on CGI. Be it print or film, this is a story not to be missed

ECD

1550. A Cold and Broken Hallelujah

A Cold and Broken Hallelujah is the third novel in a four novel series by Tyler Dilts about Long Beach Police Department homicide detective Danny Beckett and his partner, Jennifer Tanaka. Long Beach is the city in California near Los Angeles. I have written very favorable reviews about these detective murder mystery novels, and this third novel is no less interesting and exciting.

 This is a story about three gang youths who jointly throw large cups filled with gasoline on a homeless man, and then light him on fire. The kids are quickly caught, having failed to clear the area of the murder quickly enough. They were dumb enough to have a video of themselves both preparing for the murder and then actually doing the deed. One of the youths was connected to a gang lawyer, a successful guy who had actually done prison time himself for a triple homicide. While in prison, Benicio Guerra, know was “Benny War” was able to graduate from college, and once out of prison, the lawyer managed to put himself through UCLA law school with a 4.0 GPA. However, rather than lead a straight and clean life, Benny War figured out how to make crime pay the illegal way.

 

The primary plot was driven by the fact that the LBPD had no idea who the victim was. Beckett had no idea and his given street name, “Bishop” did not help them find out who he was, at least not easily. As Beckett was trying to find out Bishop’s real identity, the story took us in and around the Long Beach area, and into the local crime scene as well as the more typical Long Beach residential neighborhoods. Beckett is the guy who suffered from significant burns from an earlier on-the-job injury, and he struggled with his chronic pain and his feelings about the death of his wife who died in a traffic accident when her car caught fire. Detective Tanaka was a most interesting character who could be the primary protagonist  in other novels.

 

1549. Second Term by J.M. Adams

Dateline: September 2012. Benghazi. The US is hearing chatter about threats to the US embassy. DIA operative Cora Walker is dispatched to sort it out. She believes that the threats to the embassy and ambassador are real and recommends getting the hell out of Dodge. The main defensive force is overrun and the ground support where she is stationed is told to stand down.

STAND DOWN! With American lives at stake, she rejects the order and heads in where her team succeeds in saving some lives, but not the ambassador or the main staff. And her reputation as a crafty, creative, and ruthless leader under fire is established.

 

Dateline: December 2028. Washington, DC. Cora has left the military, done some local print and TV journalism near her SW Virginia home, birthed a daughter, and caught the eye of the national level journalism community. A job change puts her close to DC politics where her skills (and reputation) are noticed by Sarah Vasquez, the Speaker of the House, who hires Cora to be her press secretary.

Cora’s hiring is timely for the Speaker. The 2028 election has just been held. Incumbent President Timothy Locke has just been beaten in the general election. Beaten? Try thrashed. By 20 million votes. His policies and self-serving executive orders have been accepted only by the very far far far out right wingers. Tell me if this sounds familiar: the election was a fraud , invalid voting machines, inaccurate counts, foreign intervention, criminal activities by sitting senators and representatives. “God, Guns, and Locke and Load” chants roll across the nation. Weapons have been transported to DC and secured for the faithful to do what is right. Not to mention that a second term to save this country is the will of God to be orchestrated by God’s own chosen Supreme Leader. And that the only proper course of action is for the election not to be certified on January 6, 2029 and to swear Locke in for a 2nd term that evening.

Locke has so many in power in his pocket that he can command an army of loyalist National Guard to ensure that his wishes succeed. Cora’s job (amongst dozens of other tasks) is to protect the Speaker whom Locke has singled out as a primary target. In the days after Christmas, Locke has suspended habeas corpus and arrested numerous members of Congress who oppose him. And Cora has to work out a plan to get the Speaker safely out of the Capital and DC.

The stage is set for the failures of 2020 insurrection to be corrected. The morning on the 6^th dawns cold but quiet. DC and Locke's team of loyalists have no clue about the storm that is Cora Walker in combat mode.

 

Holy crap. If this book doesn’t have you on the edge of your seat, nothing will. The history, the plot, the manipulation, the ‘who can I trust?’ questions in each chapter, the final reckoning. Not a pedestrian page in the book. Now I’ve read books that are so dense with plot-double cross-triple cross that it’s hard to keep the character’s loyalties straight. Where the action is so breathless, bombastic, and improbable to have even a hair’s-breath of reality.

Not this one. The step-by-step of Locke’s plan is frighteningly plausible and Cora’s response seems so realistic. And here’s what’s impressive: The is the author’s DEBUT NOVEL. Seriously? The maturity of writing, plot and character development is unreal. Now I like to read debut novels, maybe in hope of being on the front side of a ‘next big thing’. I remember reading Term Limits by a then unknown Vince Flynn and being blown away. Same for Brad Thor’s Lion of Lucerne and The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson. In the one hour since finishing Second Term, I’m ready to lump Adams in with those heavy hitters.

I’ll plagiarize a line from Bum Phillips (former head coach of the Houston Oilers NFL team). When asked if Earl Campbell what the greatest running back in the league, Phillips said, “He may not be in a class by himself, but it doesn’t take long to call the roll.” Thinking today the class of current political thriller authors has a new student and hero: JM Adams and Cora Walker. In short: one of the very best debut political thrillers I have ever read. Let's just hope he's not a one-hit wonder. 

Another winner in a long line of winners from Oceanview Publishing. Thanks to Netgalley for making the advance reader copy available. 

Publishing date is currently set for 17 October 2023. Mark the date on your calendar.

East Coast Don

 

#1548 Animal Farm by George Orwell

 Off-Genre warning:

 Didn’t we all read Animal Farm in an 8^th grade English class? Have you had a look at that novella since then? I probably read it again when I was in my 20s, but now 50 more years have passed. The book came up in a random discussion with a friend, and I decided to have another look. It’s remarkable how current the book is today. Although it was written in response to the Russian revolution of 1917 and especially in response to Stalin’s dictatorial and violent rise to power, it is an important book regarding the rise of dictatorships in the current world. It is a story about the vulnerability of democracy.  It is a great tale about how power corrupts humanity, no matter how noble were the original intents. It's a short read, and the power of Orwell’s fable remains impressive.

1547. Night Candy by Max Tomlinson

 #4 (of 5) Colleen Hayes mysteries. 

Couple details: It's December 1979. Colleen is an unlicensed PI in San Francisco. She's from Colorado where she served near 10y for murdering her husband when she found out he was abusing their daughter Pam. Near the end of Colleen's sentence, Pam took off for California where she joined up with a cult (the subject of a couple earlier books). When paroled, Colleen took off for California hoping to reconnect with Pam. They did, sort of. Pam was pregnant, lost the baby, and bolted again. Finding Pam remains Colleen's primary obsession. 

But bills have to be paid and she does what so many PIs do, tracking down philandering spouses. Plus she is attempting to get three young girls off the street corners. And she remains a sympathetic shoulder for SF homicide inspector Owens who, even a year later, hasn't moved on from his divorce from Alice. 

And that's the problem. Owens and Alice were making an attempt at reconciliation. They are headed for a romantic weekend at the site of their honeymoon near coastal Sonoma County. That's the last Colleen had heard from Owens until she gets word that that the romantic bungalow had burned down. In the debris is a badly burned female corpse tentatively identified as the former Mrs. Owens, a handgun licensed to Owens, and 2 bullet holes in the corpse. Doesn't take long for the local and county cops to lock up Owens. 

Most would see this as and open and shut case. Not Colleen. She and Owens may have butted heads on  earlier cases, but now, he is her closest confidant. The feeling is mutual. No one believes Owen other than Colleen. 

The trail seemed fairly straightforward. Find out who's framing Owens and why. And the why is where the trail takes a circuitous path toward the truth. An old beau (hers and Alice's), an insurance policy, a less than trustworthy dentist, one of the 3 street hookers and their pimp, SFPD Internal Affairs office, the lack of a corpse for a missing trans hooker. What started off looking to be a straight line investigation is anything but.

As stated, this is the 4th (of 5) Colleen Hayes mysteries (published by Oceanview Publishing . . . there's that name again. Publishers on quality mysteries and police procedurals). About the time I had read 50% of the book, the cards sure looked to be stacked against Owens. The case looked like it was locked up tight. What else could Tomlinson do with this story? Plenty. By comparison, the 2nd half of the book was a ton more interesting and engaging with the rapid fire twists to the story. 

I tend to read books envisioning whether it has TV/Movie potential. The best thing about this series is Colleen Hayes. Ex-con, tough as nails, not quite middle aged, unconcerned about chain of evidence, B&E, carrying a firearm (a felony), or any number of things that might get tossed out of court, her hippie/cowboy/surfer lawyer, and Tomlinson's attention to late 1970s detail. Lot of fun characters. What's not to love for Hollywood? And I'm the right age to identify with the 70s.

Check out the Colleen Hayes books. I will find #5 and get back to you. Confident they'll be a hit with you.

East Coast Don

1546. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

After reviewing nearly 1550 books over the last 14 years, most of which are thrillers and murder mysteries, I thought it might be fun to read one of the original authors in this genre, The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. It was published in 1939, and movies of the same title were made in 1946 (screenplay by William Faulkner, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Becall), and 1978 (starring Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, and Richard Boone). Chandler’s private detective was Phillip Marlowe, and there was also a television series about Marlowe that ran for two seasons in 1983 and 1986 (of which I have no recall).

 As is typical of so many modern day sleuths, Marlowe was a flawed character who drank to excess, but who was honest and capable of solving complex crimes. The story is based in L.A. and portrays a dark side of life in the 1930s  which is rife with violence and dishonesty. On the one hand, this was not good literature and there were problems with the plot as the characters jumped from one scene to another. There were too many coincidences for the plot to be taken seriously. Chandler wrote nearly nonstop similes that were supposed to represent the tough language of the way his bad guys talked to each other, and thought to themselves. Really, the characters were impossible to be believed. His mistreatment of minorities and gays would not be tolerated in the current world of publishing. On the other hand, there was still a charming quality to the book that I enjoyed. However, I’m not tempted to read any more of the seven book series that Chandler wrote. There is no denying that he was one of the early masters of this genre.

1545. Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships by Nina Totenberg

This is an off-genre topic, not our usual murder mystery/thriller.

 Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships has been written by Nina Totenberg about her friendship with Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the recently deceased Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. She was nominated by Bill Clinton and served on the court for 27 years. It’s my opinion that Ginsberg was a once-in-a-lifetime character who constantly showed grace and wisdom in her decisions.

 

This was more of an autobiography by Totenberg than a book that strictly focused on Ginsberg. Totenberg was an interesting woman who had some important differences from Ginsberg, such as the fact that Totenberg dropped out of Boston College in her third year. To write that Totenberg lived a less strict live than did Ginsberg would be a vast understatement. Totenberg came from wealth and it was her mother’s friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt that led to her internship at the White House and subsequent rise to being an insider in Washington political circles. Ginsberg gave from jews who escaped the holocaust in 1935 and who started life in the U.S. as paupers, although her father had already been recognized as a world-renowned virtuoso violinist. Both had to contend with careers in which women had not yet found a place, Ginsberg in the law and Totenberg in journalism.

 

As the subtitle suggests, this was a story about friendships. The friendships were not only Totenberg and Ginsberg, but Totenberg’s circle included other women who were fighting their way through female-resistant corporate structures, including Cokie Roberts and Leslie Stahl. Totenberg’s life was interesting enough on its own, and her relationship with Ginsberg only added a significant richness to the story. It’s remarkable that both Ginsberg and the author maintained rigid professional standards throughout their relationship, never revealing information to one another that was protected. The same can be said about Totenberg’s relationship with her husband, a physician who was treating Ginsberg and her friends, but never broke their doctor-patient confidentiality, so she did not learn of Ginsberg’s last and fatal bout with cancer until the very end of life.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it a high rating. It is a powerful story about love. I consumed this one in audiobook format, and it was Totenberg who read her own novel, which surely enhanced the experience for this reader.

1544. The Night Fire by Michael Connelly

I’m stunned that there is no review of Michael Connelly’s The Night Fire in this blog. I’ve read it before and just listened to it again in audiobook format (via Libby, the library app). This story is, once again, Connelly at his best. It’s the third of five novels in his Renee Ballard series. Ballard is a compelling character who Connelly could develop into his primary protagonist.

 

Briefly, in this novel, Bosch has been forcibly retired from his LAPD detective job, and he is temporarily working on cold cases for the San Fernando PD. He engages Renee Ballard’s help with getting data from LAPD that he can no longer access as he does cold cases for San Fernando as well as his own list of cold unsolved cases from his years with the LAPD. For the most part, he continues to be shunned by the LA detectives because of their misperception that he has gone over to the dark side by not blindly supporting all police work and actually assisting his half-brother defense lawyer Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer).

 

There was a nighttime fire in the tent of a vagrant that resulted in the guy’s death, and it was written off as an accident, a theory that did not sit right with Bosch. As is typical of Connelly, while the main plot develops, Bosch and Ballard solve some other cases while trying to disguise the fact from the other detectives that Bosch is involved. It’s one of the peripheral stories that unexpectedly gets tied to the main plot. The book is a rapid page-turner, and it gets a 5/5 rating from me. It was a pleasure to listen to this story (which also got some airtime in the tv series).

1543. Red London by Alma Katsu

Russian oligarch Mikhail Rotenberg is one of the richest Russians on the planet. Been in London for years and has an English wife, Emily, and toddler twins. They live on a street referred to as Billionaire Blvd. Residents are so rich that many have full-time live-in security to go along with the requisite live-in house staff. Emily’s background is kind of plain. One of 3 daughters and had there been a vote, she’d win the ‘least likely to succeed’ award. This despite being of a family with a mostly dotted-line lineage to some low-level royal. A nondescript university student, she’d had a series of middling jobs before getting a gig in fine art gallery, which is where she met Mikhail. Her family was against the marriage on multiple levels, but Emily succumbed to Mikhail’s charm.

Five years of marriage has left her kind of numb to the ways of the uber wealthy. Endless parties, pay dates, fund raisers, and gallery openings has left her friendless. The book opens with a failed armed attack on the compound by professionals. Given Russia’s habit of getting rid of dissidents on foreign soil, the UK government is very skittish.

Enter Lyndsey, CIA agent on a new assignment. Her last assignment was in Beirut and that went kind of foul as she had a fling with an MI6 agent. The Brits look at affairs as somewhat bemusing; not so the CIA. Lyndsey was brought home, put in a series of paper shuffling jobs before being tasked to London to be the new babysitter of a Russian military officer who provides useful information to Langley. Her primary task is to get inside information on the new Russian President, Victor Kosygin, who took over after Putin disappeared at the tail end of the unfortunate Ukraine war.

MI6 is looking closer to home. They want details on just how much fortune Mikhail has amassed and how he got so wealthy. Word is that Russia in low on cash because of the war and economic sanctions and Kosygin is pressuring all the ex-pat oligarchs for money, especially Mikhail who is the biggest fish out there. The CIA is also interested and offers Lyndsey to act as CIA support if needed. One proposal is the do an end run and try to get Emily to provide information. Lyndsey takes on the task of trying to get Emily to be an asset about Mikhail’s business dealings.

Lyndsey goes undercover to first meet and become friends with Emily and then to work out just how to get at Mikhail’s books. But she becomes more than just a friend. She becomes a confidant to Emily. Even to the point of accepting Emily’s offer for Lyndsey to live in their mansion. In doing so, she’ll have multiple options beyond just Emily. Like Mikhail’s accountant Weston, the head of security, the nanny, and housekeeping. All the while watching the disintegration of Emily’s marriage.

Full disclosure here: I finished the book, but it was a slow go for me. A really slow go. Never read much more than 10-15’ at a sitting because the story just didn’t interest me. Emily was presented as a milk toast wife, protective of her kids who did little to raise them. Didn’t like Lyndsey much either. Mikhail is a philanderer and a cruel businessman. And the supporting characters were hardly developed. It’s probably just me given what I’ve read over the years and my expectations. The Lyndsey character was featured in a previous book (Red Widow) and the end of the book was a cliffhanger one could see from a mile off. Maybe this is the way actual ‘espionage’ goes, but the middle 75-80% of this book read more like a story about a marriage gone stale, which is a far cry from what we’d normally expect in a political thriller.

ECD

1542. The Rescue by T. Jefferson Parker

Bettina Blazak, is a young, savvy journalist who works for the local Laguna Beach newspaper, “The Coastal Eddy.”  She is researching a human interest series on street dogs when she comes across a wounded stray dog at a vet clinic in Tijuana.  She adopts the dog, names him Felix and begins featuring him in her blog.  Apparently, Felix has led and interesting life.  Felix, a/k/a Joe was first owned by a boy who had to give him up after his parents died, was then trained by the DEA for stiffing out illegal drugs, then was sold to a dog trainer, Dan who used him to help one Mexican drug cartel steal from another.  It was during one of these missions he was wounded. Bettina’s blogging about her pet places Joe/ Felix in the limelight.  Everyone who once owned him wants him back and the cartels want him dead.  The story takes an interesting twist when parts are told from the dog’s point of view.  Nothing complex just basic canine needs… I’m hungry, I’m horny, who’s in my pack. Dan takes the role of the bad guy but he develops a romantic interest in Bettina.  His conflicts in his character create real danger for Bettina and her dog.

I’ve read a lot of T. Jefferson Parker’s work all the way back to Laguna Heat in the late 1980’s and this is his first attempt to include a dog in the plot.  As I read this book I kept thinking about Robert Crais’s venture into canine land when he wrote Suspect.  Amazingly in the acknowledgements Parker credits Crais for the inspiration.  Both books are good entertainment especially for dog lovers.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance look.

1541. The Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver

The Sleeping Doll is a 2007 novel by Jeffery Deaver. Although he’s a prolific author of bestselling and award winning murder novels, I only found three such reviews in this blog. Perhaps he’s best known for The Bone Collector which was published in 1997 and subsequently became a 1999 movie with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. He’s probably underrepresented in the blog.

 

However, while I finished The Sleeping Doll, I was not enthused about the characters or the plot, at least not as much as I was in his other novels. This book is the first in a series with Katherine Dance as the protagonist. She is an investigator who is a very compelling character. In this novel, Daniel Pell, who is compared to Charles Manson, is a serial killer who escapes from prison, but he’s not the only psychopath that is involved in the story. The question becomes which psychopath is dominating the other. The title comes from Pell’s murder of four of five family members, leaving a young girl who slept through the ordeal. Pell did not find her in the house because the sleeping child was buried under the covers of her bed and stacks of stuffed animals. Much like Manson, he had a “family” of followers who were involved in the escape. I just found the character development and plot to be too unbelievable, too unrealistic. For those of us who are fans of this genre, we do have to suspend reality testing to a certain extent, but in this case, the author just expects too much for this reader to be enthused about the story. Too many times, I found myself thinking, “Oh, come on, give me a break.”

 

I give this novel a 3/5 rating, and it does not get my recommendation. It is far from being Deaver’s best work.

1540. The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

Sulari Gentill is best known for her Rowland Sinclair Mysteries, but if you're looking for a delightful stand alone novel, pick up The Woman in the Library. Ms. Gentill takes the reader to Boston, specifically to the Boston Public Library, and introduces us to an author visiting from Australia. (Ms. Gentill alsolives in Australia.) Hannah is writing a novel and receiving feedback on "the dailies" from a local colleague Leo who mostly critiques her country-specific language. We share in the novel, which centers around Hannah represented by Winifred (nicknamed Freddie) finding three new friends at the library, who she names Freud Girl, Heroic Chin, and Handsome Man. They hear the scream of a woman being murdered. The character development through the newly evolving friendships is balanced perfectly by the central and side mystery plots. Overlaying this like a well-crafted sauce is the correspondence from Leo to Hannah. 

The "book within a book" concept is difficult to execute well, but in The Woman in the Library it feels natural, almost as if one can't imagine the novel any other way. This is my first Gentill mystery and I can't envisage it being my last. And not just because I was born in Boston and she writes nicely about my city. I can say I'll be giving this book to an author friend of mine with my highest recommendation. 

Thanks for reading,

Curtis

P.S. This review was written and published while travelling 450 miles per hour, 34,000 feet in the air, in an aluminum tube. Books can never be replaced but technology can really help discussion about them.