Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Montana cattle-brand inspector Gabriel Du Pr is banging on the door of archeologist Aaron Morgenstern's apartment in the historic Baxter Hotel, the tallest building in Bozeman. The old man who opens the door asks Du Pr: "Are you the goddamned Red River Breed with the damn dinosaur tooth that fool Burdette called me about?" The growing legion of fans of Bowen's first four Du Pr books (most recently, 1997's Notches) will recognize the tone and the territory. After a serious earthquake shakes up the local topography, Du Pr, the part-Metis Indian who frequently serves as deputy to county sheriff Benny Klein, gets involved in a story of greed that links ancient Indian residents of Montana with a present-day Japanese consortium's plans to turn a bucolic spring into a commercial trout farm. There's a murder too: a snowmobiler is shot while carrying a valuable fossilized tooth of a T-Rex. Along the way, Du Pr gets to drive his old pickup too fast along Montana's back roads, drink gallons of cheap wine with a brace of fascinating friends (including his wise lover, Madelaine, and a wonderful old rascal called Benetsee who's part medicine man and part con man), play his fiddle and radiate an immensely charming sense of enhanced reality. Idiosyncratic, convincing and marked by thoroughly distinctive rhythms of dialogue, Bowen's Du Pr series claims unique territory in the genre. (Apr.)
Library Journal
A Japanese company purchases an isolated patch of Montana called Le Doux Springs with plans for opening a trout-fishing resort. An earthquake changes things, at least temporarily, by draining the springs and exposing an ancient burial site. Good-guy Gabriel Du Pr and friends (Notches, St. Martin's, 1996) remove the contents for study but are interrupted by the discovery of a murder victim. Oddly enough, the victim possesses a large Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth, which of course ignites media attentionand covert attention from the Japanese. Bowen imbues his tale with the strong flavor of colorful characters, Native American legend, and regional dialectsa heady mix destined for all collections. This latest Western mystery by Havill (Privileged To Kill, LJ 2/1/97) is a three-parter. First, unknown vandals burglarize the home of Bill Gastner, aging undersheriff of New Mexico's Posadas County. Second, Gastner's nearest neighbor, who is in his eighties, buries his dead wife on Gastner's property, thus instigating suspicions of murder. Finally, a three-year-old disappears from a mesa campground. Although recuperating from surgery and under the watchful eye of his visiting daughter, Gastner handily deals with all three problemsin addition to personal ones that arise. Crisp writing and clarity of focus make this a pleasure to read and essential for any collection.
Marilyn Stasio
Peter Bowen's strange, seductive mysteries are set in the cattle-ranching country of eastern Montana....Characters contribute dreams and ghost sightings, speaking in rough poetic tongues that are guaranteed to draw you to the campfire....The wonder of these voices is that they are also blunt and crude, soaked in whisky and raspy from laughter, but still capable of leaving echoes. -- Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
Kirkus Reviews
A fifth adventure for Gabriel Du Pr‚—Montana's M‚tis Indian fiddler and cattle-brand inspector (Notches, 1997, etc.). Here, Du Pr‚'s rich friend Bart has been hired by a Japanese company to dig trout ponds (for a theme park, maybe?) at Le Doux Springs in the rugged foothills of the Wolf Mountains. The work has barely started when a minor earthquake turns up some ancient bones in the rock, possibly of the little-known Horn Star people. There are also rumors of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in the area—which would be a find worth millions. Then comes the discovery of the body of archaeologist Robert Palmer—shot to death, a stolen snowmobile and a prehistoric tooth nearby. Du Pr‚, looking for answers, makes a trip deep into the mountains near the sheriff's ranch and is held for a while by members of a Crow tribe guarding a sacred site of their ancestors. He also has numerous conversations with resident archaeologist Dr. Burdette, aged Indian guru Benetsee, old Professor Morgenstern in Bozeman, and best friend Madelaine, all accompanied by heavy drinking and eating, and liberally laced with obscenities, before those answers emerge. Determinedly oblique goings-on—of interest, perhaps, to students of ancient cultures and the American West—but meager fare for puzzle lovers.
