The Osage Rose takes place in and around Tulsa, Oklahoma, just after the First World War. Daugherty, an American transplant from Chicago, is operating as a private detective who has built a reputation based on discrete investigations for wealthy clients. He is given a case of finding the daughter of a client, a young woman who has disappeared and probably has run off with an Osage Indian, with whom she has had an affectionate friendship. J.D. employs his assistant, a Cherokee Native and war veteran, Hoolie Smith, to seek the missing woman through the Osage connection. Both characters split, J.D. searches for leads in Tulsa, while Hoolie visits Osage country. The most interesting character in this novel is Hoolie Smith. It is his cultural way of the Native American that gives this novel its unique story. When Hoolie visits Osage country, he doesn't speak their language. They speak in English, except when the Osages want to talk privately with each other. .
Furthermore, their customs and traditions are different but similar in a way across different cultures. When Hoolie meets an attractive Osage woman, named Myrtle, the daughter of Ben Lookout. He offers to help Hoolie in his case. Myrtle and Hoolie began to flirt and bond. The Natives in the Osage country are tied in between the law enforcement which is run by a sheriff who is secretly exploiting the oil business in the Osage country. Tom Holm explains to us how Hoolie's experience is with the Native healing ceremony for the war veterans: "The Osages, Otoes, Poncas, and Pawnees were still holding men's dances for the boys returning from the trenches in France. He [Hoolie] had gone to one of them near Pawhuska a year before, and it had really made him feel good. One of the Osage elders had found out that Hoolie had been wounded in the war, and the old man led him around the dance grounds, speaking Osage in a loud, high-pitched voice. One of Hoolie's friends told him later that the elder was making a speech about how honored they were to have great warriors; brave warriors were back among them once again " (p.
