Publication Date: July 7, 2026
From the award-winning author of Winter Counts comes a new thriller about life—and death—on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.
Virgil Wounded Horse is desperately trying to escape his past as a hired vigilante on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. But when a legendary figure from the reservation is murdered, Virgil is forced to return to the job. Making matters more complicated, threats are coming from the Pine Ridge 705—a street gang from a neighboring reservation who want to expand their reach into Rosebud—and Mitch Gagnon, a shady politician who will stop at nothing to gain more power.
With a heated tribal council election looming, as well as new revelations regarding past injustices at the local Native boarding school, the stakes grow even higher. Will Virgil find the justice he’s seeking before it’s too late?
David Heska Wanbli Weiden, whose writing “melds the gritty realism of Dashiell Hammett with the lyricism of Tommy Orange” (O, The Oprah Magazine), once again brings us a tour de force of crime fiction—and an expansive look at Native American life in a shifting world.
A Lakota ex-vigilante tries to leave his violent past behind until a shocking murder forces him back into the world of DIY justice in Wisdom Corner by David Heska Wanbli Weiden.
In the much-anticipated return of Virgil Wounded Horse, introduced to readers in Weiden’s award-winning debut Winter Counts, the Lakota Sicangu enforcer is turning over a new leaf and sworn off his old job of hired rez avenger. On South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation, Virgil now earns cash by serving papers for a local attorney, while his girlfriend, Marie Short Bear, is running for election to the tribal council. Living with them is Virgil’s nephew, Nathan, a high school student who is clean and recovering from an earlier heroin addiction.
The story begins at Wisdom Corner itself, a gazebo on the reservation where the elders used to tell stories and dispense counsel to younger Lakotas, now a place where people consume their drug of choice. Virgil and his friend, Pudge Iron Shell, are there to meet with bootleggers from the adjacent Pine Ridge Reservation of the Oglala Lakota—Pudge to listen to their offer to join their ranks and Virgil to ensure Pudge’s safety. But the Pine Ridge bootleggers belong to the local 705 gang and try to force Pudge’s hand…before Virgil steps in and breaks his vow not to fight again.
With this cinematic and pugilistic beginning, Wisdom Corner delves into Virgil’s life and the difficulty of shaking his reputation as the “rez avenger.” He draws wisdom and guidance from Jerome Iron Shell, a local medicine man and Pudge’s uncle, who acts as Virgil’s father figure. Jerome is the beating heart of the Rosebud Reservation, who involves himself with a local Indigenous group on the “Land Project,” an attempt to reclaim Lakota land where the old Rapid City Indian School used to be and where Jerome once attended as a boy. The whites want to bulldoze the land and build apartment complexes and outdoor shopping malls on the land, which Virgil soon learns (to his shock) still contains the buried remains of children who died there…including his Aunt Josephine.
Meanwhile, Marie has her hands full trying to run for election to the tribal council against the well-heeled Mitch Gagnon, a shady politician who wants to pass a law banning tribal members from the Rosebud for any association with criminal activity, even if a person is only related to a criminal. This is a throwback to Weiden’s first explosive novel, where Marie learned some hard truths about her father, Ben Short Bear, and her decision to run for the council reflects her desire to reclaim her name by doing something good for the tribal community.
As Virgil and Pudge receive threats from the Pine Ridge 705 gang, things get dicey at the Wounded Horse homestead. Along with trying to placate Marie, he must dissuade Nathan from following his lead as the former reservation enforcer. But when a legendary figure on the reservation is brutally attacked, and no leads are available, Virgil puts his new life on hold to find the killers.
Weiden writes a cracking good mystery that resonates with Lakota history, culture, and social commentary, entertaining as it is educational. However, it is Virgil’s story arc that is the most compelling part of Wisdom Corner. As he follows the trail of half-answers and chases down red herrings, Virgil is assisted by visions from the spirit world—old Lakota chiefs who help point him in the right direction in times of danger and dead ends. Weiden deftly balances the multiple storylines—the murder investigation, gang retaliation, and land reclamation project—with pitch-perfect pacing. With a virtuoso ending that readers will not see coming, Weiden ends this second novel with the promise of more Virgil Wounded Horse adventures in the future. I, for one, cannot wait!
Wisdom Corner is a whip-smart, adrenaline-laced thriller that will bring readers back to the reservation again and again.
David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota nation, is the author of Wisdom Corner. His debut novel, Winter Counts, was nominated for an Edgar Award and was the winner of the Anthony, Thriller, Lefty, Barry, Macavity, Spur, and other awards. The novel was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, Indie Next pick, main selection of the Book of the Month Club, and named by Time magazine as one of the 100 best mystery and thriller novels of all time.
His short fiction appears in the anthologies The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories 2022, Never Whistle at Night, Denver Noir, and others. His nonfiction appears in the New York Times, Shenandoah, Alta, Poets & Writers, and other books and journals. He was Indigenous Artist in Residence at Brown University and has received fellowships from PEN America, MacDowell, Ucross, Ragdale, Sewanee, and Tin House. He’s Professor of English and Native American and Indigenous Studies at Stony Brook University in New York.
