The Handless Maiden: A Lakota Mystery
4/5
()
About this ebook
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)
Dorothy Black Crow
An award-winning poet, fiction writer and former professor of literature at Oglala Lakota College and the University of Michigan, author Dorothy Black Crow explores the reality of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation, from her own experience as a woman married to a Lakota Sundance leader, as well as from an outsider's perspective. She writes with a blend of understanding, experience and knowledge.
Related to The Handless Maiden
Related ebooks
The Wolf at Twilight: An Indian Elder's Journey through a Land of Ghosts and Shadows Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chindii Woman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brown Dog Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lakota Way of Strength and Courage: Lessons in Resilience from the Bow and Arrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Ravens: The Life and Teachings of a Spiritual Warrior Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasing Crazy Horse: A Wasichu Interpretation of the Lakota Tragedy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn My Father's Footsteps: My Journey into Lakota Country Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalking with Grandfather: The Wisdom of Lakota Elders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Walking in the Sacred Manner: Healers, Dreamers, and Pipe Carriers--Medicine Wom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Neither Wolf nor Dog 25th Anniversary Edition: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Voices in the Stones: Life Lessons from the Native Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo: A Child, an Elder, and the Light from an Ancient Sky Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wild Card Quilt: The Ecology of Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Visiting With the Ancestors: Blackfoot Shirts in Museum Spaces Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Mountain Time: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The First Raven Mocker: Book One of the Cherokee Chronicles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Boy Who Made Dragonfly: A Zuni Myth Retold by Tony Hillerman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Into the Canyon: Seven Years in Navajo Country Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Friday on the Rez: A Pine Ridge Odyssey Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Native American Stories of the Sacred: Annotated & Explained Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Wisdom Walk: Nine Practices for Creating Peace and Balance from the World's Spiritual Traditions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Richard Wagamese Selected: What Comes from Spirit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dream Wheels: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Country: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Cultural Heritage Fiction For You
Salt Houses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Island of Missing Trees: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frying Plantain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Tales: Fairy Tales and Stories of Enchantment from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, and Wales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows: A Reese's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Golden Notebook: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of the Moon Goddess: A Fantasy Romance Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Confessions of Frannie Langton: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mules and Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lovecraft Country: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Daughters of Madurai: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Convenience Store Woman: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Space Between Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Woman Is No Man: A Read with Jenna Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Against the Loveless World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secrets Between Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pavilion of Women: A Novel of Life in the Women's Quarters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Final Revival of Opal & Nev Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alas, Babylon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Memory Keeper of Kyiv: A powerful, important historical novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: An Oprah's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Town: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stationery Shop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Lives We Never Lived: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another Brooklyn: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prodigal Summer: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I, Claudius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Handless Maiden
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Handless Maiden is a fascinating read that illuminates a period of time most whites know very little about. I was in high school during the siege at Wounded Knee, and I remember the news coverage making it sound as though AIM was completely in the wrong. Even at that age, I knew that there was a lot more to the story than we were being told. Author Dorothy Black Crow tells some of that story here.This story is compelling and strengthened by the fact that Black Crow splits up her two main characters. Alex Turning Hawk has never lived off the reservation, yet he goes to Rapid City to learn what he can. It's not easy, and he has to learn how to fly beneath local law enforcement's radar to avoid problems. Alex's wife Tate was raised in a city as a white person. She stays behind on the reservation, and her task isn't easy either. Many of her fellow Lakota do not trust her and go out of their way to make her life more difficult. Despite any and all roadblocks put in their paths, Alex and Tate do learn the truth about Joanna's death.As a white, I found reading The Handless Maiden often made me feel like an outsider. I had no problem with that. Some of the Lakota spiritual happenings were difficult for me to accept, and sometimes the language seemed a bit jerky and had abrupt transitions, undoubtedly to show that English was a second language to many of the Lakota in the book. Black Crow pulls no punches in telling us what law enforcement and government officials were doing on the reservation, but this is not a story in which all whites are evil and all Lakota are saints. This is a powerful tale that shows this woman is a writer. I look forward to her next book and recommend this one to any fellow readers who enjoy Native American-themed crime fiction.