Aaron McCaan wakes up in hospital puzzled about why someone has tried to kill him by shooting him when he was pulled up at traffic lights. He knows it must have something to do with the fact that he found the body of an Indian at Biscuit Lake in the Mojave desert. Aaron is from Sacramento. He was trained as an anthropologist and is currently employed as a research specialist for California State Senator Larry Hughes, who has hired him to research possible land claims on Biscuit Lake. The fact that the dead Indian sported a Marine's tattoo also made the find interesting from the point of view of one of his own projects, a book about Indian veterans.

The dead Indian is well known to locals as Indian Bill, a Marine who served for three years, much of it as P.O.W. In Vietnam, and who came back determined to get back to his roots, and live the old life. So why would anybody want to murder him?

SAGEBRUSH KILL is a very readable short novel. I liked the character Aaron McCaan, the insight into the destruction of Indian tribal life, and the concept of "alien [cultural] life" that Bill had been forced into. I thought maybe the plot became a little too complex, forcing me to do a few mental gymnastics to get the stories all sorted in my head. I thought also the complexities, aimed at putting the novel's themes on a bigger stage, had forced the author to paint himself into a couple of corners from which he extracted himself with difficulty. Nevertheless it feels like a good start to a series and the ending certainly seems to promise that. ( )