Book detail

	Bootheel Man Author: Morley Swingle Published: November 6, 2007 by Southeast Missouri University Press Category: Historical Mystery/Legal Thriller Main Character: Allison Culbertson, Harry Sullinger When Allison Culbertson takes the case of Joey Red Horse, an Osage Indian charged with stealing a sacred artifact from The Heartland Mound Builder Museum, she finds herself in the middle of a courtroom battle pitting contemporary American Indians against a private museum over legal rights to the bones of "Bootheel Man," a Native American who lived, fought and loved in Cahokia and Southeast Missouri in the year 1050. Morley Swingle combines the historical mystery of the disappearance of the 30,000 souls who inhabited Cahokia ten centuries ago with a contemporary murder mystery and legal thriller in a suspenseful blend of history, law and fiction. David Hurst Thomas, Curator of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, and author of Skull Wars, says: "Move over Tony Hillerman -- Morley Swingle has transformed the contemporary conflicts over deep American history into a page-turning tale that I couldn't put down. As a professional museum archaeologist, I found Bootheel Man to be a nuanced apppreciation of the reburial and repatriation issues now playing out across this country. Swingle is a true storyteller. The conflicts are real and so are Swingle's characters -- no wooden Indians here."