Black Gold [Mass Market Paperback]

Matt Braun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2003

The Osage Indians lost their ancestral freedom on a windswept reservation in Oklahoma. Now, in the Roaring Twenties, the land is spewing black gold; oil has been found, and every Osage owns a share of the rights. Soon Osage tribal members are being killed for their oil royalties while a corrupt sheriff turns his back on the murders, Special Agent Frank Gordon organizes and undercover operation while working openly with frontier legend U.S. Marshall Will Proctor. Their investigation unearths a string of thirty-three murders, and as they race against death, Osages are still being killed. Gordon is determined to bring down the mastermind behind the ring of cold-blooded butchers. But when one of his own men is murdered and the killers turn on him, Gordon realizes there is a law beyond the law--the law of survival...

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Matt Braun is a titanic credit to Western literature." --Robert L. Gale, Historian

From the Back Cover

The Old Ways Were Scattered To The Wind.
A New Age Was Roaring In.
And A Killer Was Starting A War Of His Own...

The Osage Indians lost their ancestral freedom on a wind-swept reservation in Oklahoma. Now, in the Roaring Twenties, the land is spewing black gold, for oil has been found, and every Osage owns a share of the rights. Soon Osage tribal members are being killed for their oil royalties while a corrupt sheriff turns his back on the murders. Assigned to unravel the mystery and halt the murders, Special Agent Frank Gordon organizes an undercover operation while working openly with frontier legend U.S. Marshal Will Proctor. Their investigation unearths a string of thirty-three murders, and in a race against death, Osages are still being killed. Gordon is determined to bring down the mastermind behind the ring of cold-blooded butchers. But when one of his own men is murdered and the killers turn on him, Gordon realizes there is a law beyond the law-the law of survival...

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (December 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312981740
• ISBN-13: 978-0312981747
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,344,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Workmanlike 1920's thriller, April 3, 2008

By 

F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Gold (Mass Market Paperback)

A note of caution to lovers of the Western lured by the name of genre luminary Braun -it is not really a Western .The setting is prohibition era Oklahoma and horses have long since given way to the car as transportation while machine guns have replaced the six shooter.It is similar to another Braun novel , The Overlords, in being a tale of the FBI against organised crime .

The book is based on true events which took place in Oklahoma in the early 1920's when the discovery of oil on Osage Indian land in Oklahoma triggered a vast increase in tribal wealth .Osage law decreed that oil royalties had to be shared equally among all members of the tribe and the nation's citizens became in today's terms multi millionaires .A series of murders of Osage people attracted the notice of the FBI and Special Agent Gordon is sent to investigate .He meets with opposition from a local law enforcement system riddled with corruption and racism but pursues his investigations doggedly with the aid of a honest US Mashall .He uncovers a wholesale murder plot orchestrated by Big Bill Hicks ,the local political boss acting in cahoots with a ruthless bootlegegr Henry Grammer .There is plentiful action -including a torture scene not for the squeamish among its readers -before its denouement is reached

Braun books still contain a bit too many dollops of ill digested research for my taste but this is slick and satisfying with a decidedly unflattering picture of Hoover ,then the FBI Deputy Director ,here shown as a bureaucrat and political wheeler dealer but wholly lacking in field experience .Satisfying novel of the WEest rather than a Western and a good fast paced read