help. Hale presented himself as a “law and order” man who strove to protect his neighbors. His past was shrouded in mystery, and he once worked as a cowboy. Hale’s energy and drive made him a success in the cattle business, and he changed his image from cowboy to wealthy businessman. Hale served as a reserve deputy sheriff, and he held great power in the community, even calling himself “Reverend” and serving as benefactor for many local causes. He was titled “King of the Osage Hills.”

Now Hale told Mollie that he would make sure Anna’s killer was brought to justice. The local investigation into her death continued, and Mollie gave her testimony, answering every question with an eager confidence. The prosecutor also interviewed Bryan, who firmly maintained that he brought Anna home between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. and did not see her again. Ernest supported his brother’s story. Both Bryan and Ernest were briefly detained, but there was no evidence to show their guilt, so they were soon released.

With the investigation stalling, many people began to think that the murderer was an outsider. Robbers and violent criminals were all too common in the West, and Osage County was often chaotic. Gangs of crooks roamed the area, led by the likes of Blackie Thompson and Al Spencer. Others, however, were sure that the murderer was living in their midst. Many suspected Anna’s ex-husband, Oda Brown, and one criminal even claimed that Brown hired him to kill Anna. The man’s story, however, did not match the evidence.

Hale’s connections to county officials—and his support for their elections—gave him special access to Anna’s case. The prosecutor ordered an exhumation of Anna’s body to carry out one more search for the missing bullet, but again, the Shoun brothers found nothing. Finally, the justice of the peace closed the investigation with the vague declaration that Anna’s death was at “the hands of parties unknown.”

Lizzie, meanwhile, grew more and more ill, and Mollie turned to both white doctors and Osage medicine men for help. Nothing worked, and Lizzie died in July. Her son-in-law, Bill Smith, decided that she had been poisoned and that Charles’s, Anna’s, and Lizzie’s deaths were all somehow connected to the Osage oil reserves.

Analysis

David Grann uses the first three chapters of Killers of the Flower Moon to set the scene for his narrative, introduce some of the major players, and plunge readers directly into the conflict. He begins with a description of an Oklahoma spring that allows readers to catch an imaginative glimpse of the book’s setting and also offers an overarching symbol that informs the whole story. There were flowers on the Oklahoma prairie that were native to it yet smaller than the tall plants that eventually overshadowed and killed those little blooms. They broke, disintegrated, ended up buried. These flowers stand as a symbol for the Osage, who had long lived in Oklahoma but were now being overshadowed and crushed by outsiders more powerful than they were.

The flowers are especially symbolic of Mollie Burkhart and her family, and the author introduces them in these first chapters, providing personal details and background context for each family member. Mollie was the responsible one, educated, organized, devout, truly in love with her husband, Ernest, and devoted to caring for her family even when they irritated her. Anna, in contrast, was wild, drinking, carousing, quarreling and making a nuisance of herself. Lizzie held fast to Osage traditions and was weak yet wise. Ernest appeared to care about Mollie, even learning the Osage language to better communicate with her and caring for her in her illness. Readers get to know these characters well through the author’s succinct yet detailed introductions, and they are quickly drawn into an emotional connection with this family that stood at the center of a brutal crime spree.

Grann supplies a relatively small amount of background material before plunging readers directly into the drama of his narrative. Anna had disappeared, and Mollie was worried. Only three years before, Mollie lost her sister Minnie to a sudden death, and now Anna was nowhere to be found. To build suspense, the author then presents a bit more context, discussing the wealth of the Osage tribe due to oil dividends. He paints a picture of a lavish lifestyle and then flashes back to Mollie’s last encounter with Anna. He even introduces the discovery of Charles Whitehorn before finally—when readers are at the edges of their seats—describing the dramatic discovery of Anna’s body.