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
--
Lu Clifton
