Death on the Greasy Grass

This complex procedural, Wendelboe’s third outing for Manny Tanno (after 2012’s Where the Bad Rocks Live) takes the Lakota FBI agent to Crow country. Manny and his tribal cop buddy, Willie With Horn, have traveled to Montana to watch a Little Big Horn reenactment, but end up on the case after Harlan White Bird, local auctioneer and participant, is shot and killed during the “battle.” Willie returns home to the Pine Ridge Reservation, trying to chase down a re-enactor captured on camera loading the responsible firearm with live ammunition. Manny, meanwhile, stays behind to investigate the murder and the possibly related disappearance of a valuable historical document, a Crow scout’s eyewitness account of Little Big Horn. Wendelboe’s years in law enforcement lend verisimilitude to his writing, and the banter between characters adds humor. Fans of Native American mysteries will welcome this new tale. Agent: Bill Contardi, Brandt & Hochman Literary. (June)