The Shirt Wearer (Paperback)

Retired Manhattan detective Joe Macy visits an old friend, Billy Wolf, sheriff of Brule County in rural South Dakota. Disenchanted with life in the city and attracted to the serenity of the high plains, Macy believes he has found his future. Romance with a Lakota woman and a burgeoning interest in Native American culture add to his optimism. The idyllic setting is shattered by a series of gruesome murders. Beset by racial tension, state bureaucracy, and FBI interference, Wolf appeals to his friend for help. Aided by a Lakota holy man, Macy studies Indian records and tradition, uncovering evidence linking the murders to a nineteenth-century conspiracy. Ultimately, he solves the murders, but not before braving life-threatening rituals. Based upon historical fact and Lakota tradition, The Shirt Wearer offers a glimpse of the past and present of one of this country's proudest and most respected native cultures, leaving readers to wonder about the accuracy of the history and religion they have been taught.