Publisher's Synopsis
With The Handless Maiden, the first of the Lakota mysteries, Dorothy Black Crow joined the ranks of today's top crime novelists. She has written a "no-holds-barred, knock-your-socks-off unforgettable story of the South Dakota Badlands." (William Kent Krueger, Edgar Award winner & NYT bestselling author of Ordinary Grace) Joanna Joe was murdered, her body dumped in a ditch on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Her hands - tattooed with her allegiance to the American Indian Movement - have been stolen. A killer's trophy? Or a message? Lakota medicine-man-in-training Alex Turning Hawk is determined to find the truth and stop a bloody showdown between AIM warriors thirsting for justice and the FBI intent on control. The trail twists and turns leading Alex away from the reservation and away from his new wife, Tate. Tate Turning Hawk, born Native American but raised White, struggles to learn and accept the old ways as she pursues her own investigation on the Reservation. Will the path of the Sacred Pipe prevail - or the gun? What people are saying: "With The Handless Maiden, Dorothy Black Crow has produced a no-holds-barred, knock-your-socks-off unforgettable story of the South Dakota Badlands and those who, for centuries, have called it home. Like all classic novels, conflict is at the story's heart - the brutal conflict of cultures, white and red; of the urban Native experience and reservation life; of the world of the flesh and the world of the spirit. Black Crow paints the landscape with lyrical strokes of stunning detail. Her characters speak with authentic voice. Her language is rich and full of the power of truth. And the thread of mystery she's woven into every page is a taut and twisting beauty that will, I guarantee, keep you riveted until the end." (William Kent Krueger, NYT bestselling author - Ordinary Grace) "The Handless Maiden is something unique: a realistic and nuanced portrayal of modern-day Lakota culture that brims with authenticity and verve by an author who knows her material and doesn't pull her punches. Alex Turning Hawk and his wife Tate are welcome additions to the world of crime fiction. Dorothy Black Crow deserves to be read and appreciated." (C.J. Box, NYT bestselling author - Endangered) "The Handless Maiden is not like any mystery you have ever read in your life. It takes place in 1977 on the Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation in the Badlands of South Dakota. Here, the memory of the massacre at Wounded Knee in December, 1890 still burns hot in the tribal memory. Here the ghosts of long dead ancestors are still seen walking in the moonlight. Here there are sweat lodge ceremonies that produce astounding visions. And here, 300 FBI agents have been sent to put down a rebellion by a few dozen young Lakota Warriors and they aren't about to waste their time reading you your rights. Now Tate Turning Hawk, a young woman recently married to a young medicine man and new to the reservation, is led by a ghost she does not believe in to the body of her friend Joanna Joe, brutally murdered and her hands chopped off. The local police and the FBI could care less. Joanna Joe was a trouble maker. It's up to Tate and her medicine man husband, Alex, to bring justice. They go after the killers the Lakota way, the spiritual way. This is one of those timeless books that stands apart, likely to be read and talked about a hundred years from now." (James N. Frey, international bestselling author - How to Write a Damn Good Mystery) "Bravo!" (Cara Black, NYT bestselling author - Aimee Leduc Series) Grab a copy today.
