Five-Dollar Indian: A Sam Chitto Mystery by Lu Clifton

 

Five-Dollar Indian, A Sam  Chitto Mystery (Released 5/15/2020)

Two Shadows Books

978-0-9985284-6-5 (Pprbk)

978-0-9985284-7-2 (Ebook)

Description: Upheaval comes to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma over a proposed Native Theme park. The odd alliance of an Apache and a Sioux promoter attracts the attention of Choctaw officers when a powwow doesn’t seem to be the philanthropic fund-raiser it is touted to be. Then a fourteen-year-old Sioux boy is found dead in the Kiamichi Wilderness. The death looks like a drug overdose, but the country investigator finds other, more baffling evidence that draws in the unauthorized involvement of four tribal officers: one Sioux and three Choctaw, including Lieutenant Sam Chitto.

Lawmen are the “thin blue line” that holds back chaos, but each officer struggles with his own internal demons that put adherence to the code of ethics and the vows he took as an officer at risk. The dead boy’s grandfather, the Sioux officer, believes he has evidence the death was murder and wants to execute his own brand of justice. Meanwhile, Sam discovers one of the promoters is a five-dollar Indian – a white man posing as native to profit at Native Americans’ expense. The imposter is none other than Leon Messina, grandson of old drug lord Victor Messina - the man behind the gangland killing of Sam’s father.

Will mistrust, suspicion, and a deep desire for revenge prevent these four lawmen from working together to ensure justice is served?

About the Author:

Lu Clifton writes adult mysteries set in Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle, with a mingling of Native American cultural beliefs and traditions. She became interested in those cultural traditions while tracing her mother’s Choctaw roots. 

She was born in and spent her early childhood in southeastern Oklahoma, then moved to the Texas Panhandle with her family. She completed an associate degree at Amarillo Junior College in Texas and a B.A. and M.A. in English at Colorado State University. She now resides in Illinois. Her two happily married sons live in Oregon and Illinois and stay in close touch. Her housemate is a gray tabby named Mary Jane that she rescued from an animal shelter.

Writing for adults and children, she is a member of the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Mystery Writers of America, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. The first three books in the Sam Chitto mystery series were finalists for the Oklahoma Book Award for Fiction in the year following publication. Released in 2019, Seeking Grace in Beulah Land, a Novel, was a finalist for the 2020 award.

She has three middle-grade novels in print. Her middle-grade novel, Freaky Fast Frankie Joe, received a Friends of American Writers Award for Juvenile Fiction in 2013, and Seeking Cassandra won the 2017 Oklahoma Book Award for Young Adult Fiction.

Books by Lu Clifton

Sam Chitto Mysteries

  Scalp Dance

  The Bone Picker

  The Horned Owl

  Five-Dollar Indian

Stand-alone Novel

  Seeking Grace in Beulah Land

Children’s/YA Novels

  Freaky Fast Frankie Joe

  Immortal Max

  Seeking Cassandra

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Lu Clifton

https://www.amazon.com/author/luclifton

Hell With Lid Blown Off: New Work by Oklahoma Native Donis Casey

Scottsdale, AZ – Poisoned Pen Press announces the release of Hell with the Lid Blown Off by Donis Casey. Hell with the Lid Blown Off will be available wherever fine books are sold in June.  It has been "hailed" in a Starred Publishers Weekly review and is available June 2014.

The latest mystery by award-winning novelist Donis Casey, Hell with the Lid Blown Off has generated high advance praise, including a Starred Publishers Weekly review which calls the novel “excellent” and adds “as the action builds to a surprising denouement, Casey provides an engaging portrait of the close-knit society that was commonly found in the rural Midwest at the time. Alafair Tucker, her large family, and their friends are a pleasure to spend time with.” 

About Hell with the Lid Blown Off:   In the summer of 1916, a big twister brings destruction to the land around Boynton, Oklahoma.  Alafair Tucker’s family and neighbors are not spared the ruin and grief spread by the storm.  But no one is going to mourn for Jubal Beldon, who made it his business to know the ugly secrets of everyone in town. It doesn’t matter if Jubal’s insinuations are true or not: in a small town like Boynton, rumor is as damaging as fact. But as Mr. Lee the undertaker does his grim duty for the storm victims, he discovers that even in death Jubal isn’t going to leave his neighbors in peace.  He was already dead when the tornado carried his body to the middle of a fallow field. Had he died in an accident or had he been murdered by someone whose secret he had threatened to expose? There are dozens of people who would have been happy to do the deed, including members of Jubal’s own family. As Sheriff Scott Tucker and his deputy Trenton Calder look into the circumstances surrounding Jubal’s demise, it begins to look like the prime suspect may be someone very dear to the widow Beckie MacKenzie, the beloved music teacher and mentor of Alafair’s daughter Ruth.  Ruth fears that the secrets exposed by the investigation are going to cause more damage to her friend’s life than the tornado. Alafair has her own suspicions about how Jubal Beldon came to die, and the reason may hit very close to home.

Donis Casey is the author of the Alafair Tucker Mysteries, including The Old Buzzard Had It Coming, Hornswoggled, The Drop Edge of Yonder, The Sky Took Him, Crying Blood, and The Wrong Hill to Die On.  Donis has twice won the Arizona Book Award and has been a finalist for the Willa Award and the Oklahoma Book Award. Her first novel, The Old Buzzard Had It Coming, was named an Oklahoma Centennial Book. She lives in Tempe, Arizona.

Founded in 1997, Poisoned Pen Press is an independent publisher specializing in the highest quality mystery books. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Poisoned Pen Press is one of the largest publishers of hardcover mysteries in the world. Titles from Poisoned Pen Press are distributed by Ingram Publisher Services, and are available through wholesalers such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Brodart, and directly from the publisher. Visit the new Poisoned Pen Press author blog and Discover Mystery™ at: www.poisonedpenpress.com

Hell with the Lid Blown Off will be published in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1-4642-0298-8, $24.95) trade paper (ISBN:  978-1-4642-0300-8, $14.95) large print trade paper (ISBN: 978-1-4642-0299-5, $22.95) and eBook editions.

Members of the news media wishing to request additional information about author Donis Casey an advance review copy of Hell with the Lid Blown Off are kindly asked to contact Maryglenn McCombs by phone – (615) 297-9875, or by email – maryglenn@maryglenn.com

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Two New Books Take A Look At The Other Side of Oklahoma History

Oklahoma author Marilyn A. Hudson, announces the publication of two new books that explore some of the history that did not make it into the history books!  "These are two fun titles," noted Hudson, " I found some really interesting stories and one thing led to another."

TALES OF HELL'S HALF ACRE, is 100 pgs., softbound, and looks at some true stories from the period when the thriving center of OKC life was an area known as "Hell's Half Acre."  Roughly located in the area of the current Cox Convention Center and the Myriad Gardens it was a wild and wooly place filled with some fascinating characters and activities before and after statehood.

WHEN DEATH RODE THE RAILS is 180 pgs., softbound, and follows the trail of some strange and true deaths along Oklahoma railroads between 1900 and 1920 and asks, "Did a serial killer stalk early Oklahoma?"  Along the way some interesting facts about Oklahoma railroads and some insights into life 'in the good ole' days.'

Both titles will be available on Amazon June 20, 2011.  For other works, or to read about forthcoming titles, visit Whorl Books.

MEET THE AUTHOR: Cullan Hudson

Cullan Hudson is a freelance graphic designer, writer, and author of Strange State: Mysteries and Legends of Oklahoma, (ISBN: 3780977885084) a nonfiction collection of strange-but-true tales from the Sooner State. At over 200 pages, the book covers a vast amount of Oklahoma's more unusual history. His short story, "The Iron Door: Curse of the Sierra Jumanos" was included in the 2005 Red Dirt Anthology and his op-ed pieces have been read on several websites. He also does a highly popular blog on the subject at Strange State Blog. Currently, Hudson is working on the supernatural thriller, The Mound, a novel set in Eastern Oklahoma.

UPDATE: Copies of STRANGE STATE will be available at the FULL CIRCLE BOOKSTORE in Oklahoma City (4/21/08).