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Killers of the Flower Moon

Written by: David Grann
Narrated by: Will Patton,Ann Marie Lee,Danny Campbell
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Publisher's Summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z, “one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."—New York Magazine • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

“A shocking whodunit…What more could fans of true-crime thrillers ask?”—
USA Today

“A masterful work of literary journalism crafted with the urgency of a mystery.” —
The Boston Globe

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered.

As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

Look for David Grann’s latest bestselling book,
The Wager!

©2017 David Grann (P)2017 Random House Audio

What the critics say

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK 

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR:
Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, GQ, Time, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly, Time Magazine, NPR, Vogue, Smithsonian, Cosmopolitan, Seattle Times, Bloomberg, Lit Hub, and Slate

“Disturbing and riveting.... Grann has proved himself a master of spinning delicious, many-layered mysteries that also happen to be true.... It will sear your soul.” —Dave Eggers, New York Times Book Review

“A marvel of detective-like research and narrative verve.” Financial Times

Editorial Review

Killers of the Flower Moon describes a series of murders investigated haphazardly by various law enforcement personalities, until the arrival of a young J. Edgar Hoover—barely 30 years old—and the birth of the FBI.

From journalist David Grann, this gripping book investigates a series of murders of wealthy Osage people that took place in Osage County, Oklahoma, in the early 1920s—after big oil deposits were discovered beneath their land. After being awarded rights in court to the profits made from oil deposits found on their land, the Osage people prepare to receive the wealth to which they are legally entitled from sales of their oil deposits.

The Osage are viewed as the “middle man”, and a complex plot is hatched to eliminate the Osage inheritors on a one-by-one basis by any means possible. Officially, the count of the full-blooded, wealthy Osage victims reaches at least 20, but Grann suspects that hundreds more may have been killed because of their ties to oil. The book details the newly formed FBI's investigation of the murders, as well as the eventual trial and conviction of cattleman William Hale as the mastermind behind the plot.

Killers of the Flower Moon is being adapted into a film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Brendan Fraser, Jesse Plemons and Eric Roth. It will be released in theatres by Paramount Pictures and stream on Apple TV+ in 2023.

Featured Article: 20 Best True Crime Audiobooks for Your Inner Detective

There is nothing more thrilling than the unfolding tale of a true crime story. Whether an unsolved mystery, a deep dive into a criminal mastermind, or a look at an infamous serial killer, true crime is gripping, captivating, and engrossing. The best true crime audiobooks will have you on the edge of your seat, anxious for more. Add to that an emphatic and powerful narrator, and you simply won't be able to stop listening. Here are the 20 best true crime audiobooks to satisfy your inner detective.

What listeners say about Killers of the Flower Moon

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  • Rob
  • 2017-12-04

A real drag

I found this book to be a major task to be accomplished. The underlying story is of considerable interest but what kills this book, is it's narration. Ann Marie Lee is to be sure a master of the spoken word but the story is told as though she is a librarian reading to a group of sixth graders. To ensure that this was not an unfair assessment, I asked my wife to listen for a few minutes. That was more than enough. Eventually I skipped through that portion of the book but found that the next narrator (Danny Campbell) had taken a 180 degree approach to Ann Marie and was painfully overacting. Alas, life is to short for a book such as this. Hello Audible, this is comin' right back at ya!

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8 people found this helpful

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Remarkable, Genocide For Hire

Research detail presented thoroughly and factually. Becoming apparent the duration and depth to which killers and accomplices clouded.

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Oh my goodness....

I really, really, really tried to get through this - I'm very interested in the topic and I know this book had a wealth of information but the narration is horrendous. The majority of the beginning felt like story time in kindergarten and then the abrupt switch to another narrator surprised me and I really couldn't understand the point of that - his narration was extreme in the other direction. I just can't finish this book.....still trying to figure out how to return it.....

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Sooo Dull

This was so boring: I could not finish. It reads like a combination of a newspaper article and a high school descriptive writing assignment. The topic had such potential, but the story did not deliver, and the monotone narration did not help.

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Definitely worth a listen

I think this book leans more to the FBI and the investigative side of things, than it does to the Indigenous people’s history and giving voice to their experiences then and now. Things like referring to residential schools as ‘boarding schools’ or leaving out the fact that a lot of Osage Head Rights belong to non-Osage descendants now and the convoluted legal barriers that prevent those rights from being returned to the Osage nation make it more about the FBI and the failures of the investigation than anything else. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I just think people should be aware of that going in.

Will Patton is an amazing narrator. Danny Campbell was great too. Ann Marie Lee I did not enjoy because no white woman should a) be saying the n-word, period; nor b) should she be saying it in a casual, almost perky tone. As a Black woman, I found it jarring and it really made me almost stop listening.

I think the story does lose something by not being told from an Indigenous perspective, but it does seem well-researched and the final section does offer a bit of insight from current tribe members and descendants which was impactful.

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U.S.A. -What’s so Great?

David Grann draws back the thick curtains that have for so long covered the terrible crimes, coverups and injustices done to the Osage people during the early part of the last century. America is not the land where dreams can be pursued and realized by anyone- in the case of the Osage, the Federal Government and the FBI and other levels of law enforcement did not do the events Grann chronicles justice. This is a very revealing read of what goes on when a minority is marginalized and then exploited. As we see with American’s current administration, not much has changed. Excellent read.

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  • SNM
  • 2023-11-17

Informative but a struggle to get through

I really enjoyed the content and the overall knowledge of what happened to the Osage but the found the narrators and the writing style made my mind mind wander. Given the content I wish the book had been more captivating, but it was lacking.

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Just ok

I thought there was too much character development of the FBI and unfortunately this deviated too much from the core of the story.

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eye opening

It is so sad how human beings can behave. I realized we haven't changed or learned from our mistakes. I was in tears as I finished the last chapters. God help us all.
This book is a must-read. The narrators were impeccable. Thank goodness the voices were so soothing and kind.
Now I can watch the movie.

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Devastating Read

I have not seen the movie. I’m not ready to relive the trauma after listening to this incredible journalistic tour de force. It is phenomenal and painful. My only criticism , and it is minor, is I’m not sure why there was more than one narrator.

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  • S. Blakely
  • 2017-06-22

An outstanding story, highly recommended

Yes, the series of narrators is confusing. More on that later. The important thing is that this is a great story, an important story, an amazing story that has been hidden from you. Everyone should read or listen to it. This is a true American crime story, a story full of villains and honest to god heroes. If you loved Boys in the Boat or Unbroken, don't miss this one. It's top notch research and story telling. I couldn't put it down.

Now, about the narration. First, you have Ann Marie Lee reading it. Her enunciation is perfect, but she hasn't got a dramatic bone in her body. I'm sorry Ann Marie. It's like listening to a kindergarten teacher reading Dick and Jane. No character. No drama. What the heck? Next Will Patton comes along.He has read a number of Stephen King books and is a marvelous dramatic reader. He can do the voice of evil really well. The transition is all the more jolting for the listener. From Romper Room to Stephen King. Suddenly you're listening to a totally different book. But you'll want to continue on because the story is that good. At the end there's Danny Campbell -- another fine reader, and another adjustment for the listener. It's a double shame that this story of a conspiracy to murder the Osage tribe and cover up the crime is bungled by Random House Audio. Are they part of the conspiracy too???

I highly recommend this book in spite of Random House's unfortunate production.

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  • Margaret
  • 2017-11-13

1 author, 3 narrators, 3 books

This book is read by three different narrators. In this case, the narrators make or break the story. The first narrator walks us through the mysterious murders that keep happening to the Osage tribal members - but she combines singsong and monotone with a dash of schoolmarm in a way that it was all I could do to hang on for Will Patton's section.

Will Patton comes riding in on his dark horse, just the way he does in every James Lee Burke masterpiece, to bring the narrative to life with his whispering snarl and resonant emphases. Suddenly you're the lawman in the 10 gallon hat shaking up J. Edgar Hoover's bureau out where the law gets slippery, and the narrative picks up and takes off.

The third narrator is an elderly fellow who reads the first-person segment about how so many more Osage were killed than were previously thought. He's fine.

Overall, the story is a compelling tale about the lengths to which greed and institutionalized racism will go to nearly eradicate a people, and how whether energy is clean or dirty, it exploits the land and the people on it.

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  • Phil
  • 2017-04-21

Poor Narrator

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would not recommend this book to a friend. Sorry to say that, because I loved Grann's "The Lost City of Z." But the narrator reading this book is not good. She reads very slowly, she over-articulates, and you literally get the sense she is smiling when she reads things that are not remotely happy. She seems to be reading to a kindergarten audience. I actually couldn't get more than an hour into this book because her reading didn't seem to be connected to the words. I will have to read this one.

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  • jaspersu
  • 2017-11-13

Not put off by narration

I read the reviews before buying so I guess I was forewarned and ready for the accents of the changing narrators. I didn’t find this distracting. It just seemed like they were trying to use the speaking style of the person and time period that was the focus of their section of the book.

The topic is really affecting. I knew l little about it from a high school history class, but iI found it so incomprehensible back then that I hardly believed it. After reading this, the part I find hard to believe is that those in power didn’t know exactly what they were setting up when they created the guardian system.

AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

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  • L. O. Pardue
  • 2018-08-26

All Should Know this Little Recorded History

How could I have never heard this story about the Osage Indian Tribe before? I am well-read and curious, but it is a history that while not covered up, is little known. I am so glad I read this book. I am telling all my friends to read this book for the history -- none of them knew this story either.

I picked it up as I wanted to know more about how the FBI was created. What I got was a riveting murder mystery (my favorite genre), excellent history that includes oil, homesteading, tribal history and how the FBI was created.

Some are complaining about the narration. I am fine with the narration. My complaint is that the story feels like it came to a halt when it changed to the first person in the final act. That portion of the book should have been inter-woven throughout the book as it slowed down the momentum of a great middle section of the book.

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  • Robert R.
  • 2017-05-21

Book was worth ignoring bad reviews

So narration wasn't perfect. The 1st one sounded like she was just reading words off the paper, as did the last one, but the narration wasn't terrible. It hardly affected me. I almost didn't give the book a chance because a review from "Lance", which was the first review you read, claimed the 2nd Narrator was making a joke of the performance and was talking like a stereotypical prohibition era gangster. Lance even falsely included quotes that were not in the book.
The second Narrator sounds like an older man from the south, and when you Google him, that's exactly what he is. He wasn't overacting. All he did was emphasize the emotions of some of the readings. I thought the second Narrator (Patton) gave a great performance.
Book was great. Not as good as 'Lost City of Z' but not because of the writer. A story about surviving the Amazon vs surviving Oklahoma is just more interesting to me.

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  • Lance
  • 2017-04-20

Is this narrator doing performance art, or is he really that bad?

This has to be a joke. A really bad one. The first part of the audiobook is interesting, engaging, and the lady reading it does a very commendable job. Then, out of nowhere, the narrator changes to a guy who sounds like he is doing a late night comedy routine satirizing a third rate Bogie doing Phillip Marlowe routine, with a little James Cagney thrown in, see, cuz the dames like that, yeah... It is ABSURD, and so wildly distracting I actually had to stop listening to the book because I have no idea what is being said. The buffoonish vocal caricature of the narrator (cuz it's about the FBI, see, the G-men, the Feds, they're onto a racket, see...) makes it impossible to follow what the hell he is actually supposed to be saying. If I were David Grann I would track him down, see, yeah and make him eat hot lead, give him the business, for doing that to the book. Literally the worst narrating I have ever heard. Which is bad enough, but given that the first narrator was JUST FINE - completely incomprehensible.

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  • Ryan Perry
  • 2017-04-24

Great book; beware terrible narration

The book itself is great, as expected. Grann is a master.

The first narrator is a bit slow for my taste. The second narrator (why is there more than one???) arrives unannounced as the story heats up and feels like a cruel joke. He can't decide whether he's doing a bad Sam Elliott impression or a worse Humphrey Bogart impression -- both of which distract from and diametrically contrast Grann's storytelling style.

Just read the book instead.

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  • ibillinsly@gmail
  • 2018-02-09

A History Lesson: 2.85 Stars

The story was okay, and some of it was interesting. Maybe it's because I normally read fiction and took a chance on some non-fiction, but Flowers of a Killer Moon failed to keep my attention at times. I found myself having to back the performance up because I would drift off and think of something else.

There are 3 sections to the book, and a different narrator for each section. Will Patton was good. Danny Campbell was decent, but Anna Marie Lee was not good. She narrates the entire first section of the book, setting the tone for the first half of the novel. While her vocal performance was not all that good, there was also something wrong with the production. It sounded as if a speaker was busted when pronounced certain words. When Will Patton takes over, this problems goes away, and the narration and the book get better for awhile.

All in all, this book was average at best, and I probably wouldn't have finished it if Anna Marie Lee narrated the entire novel. On the other hand, if Will Patton had narrated the entire novel, I think it would have been a bit better.

There are many better performances on Audible. This is not one I can recommend.

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  • Gifter
  • 2017-04-28

Every American should read this book

This book is an easy read in that I finished it in 2 evenings. The first section jumps around a bit so it was hard to follow, but by the time I started the second section I realized I needed to reread the first section to catch all the names and relationships I had missed. By the end I wanted scream.

Our schools teach such white washed versions of history and we really need to start uncovering "the original sin" of our country. Though this may be an extreme for the time, it is not an extreme for how the Native Americans have been treated from the first interaction to today and the #noDAPL movement. America and the government do not care about Native Americans and only when it suits the people in charge, as in founding the FBI, does anything get done for them.

I will probably re read this book very soon and I've been telling everyone I know to read it.

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53 people found this helpful