Coyote Wind

Disclaimer: Peter Bowen, who died last week, was an old friend of my father's, and I spent some time around him back in the 70s. We sang, drank, and laughed. His hunting Labrador Retriever fathered a litter with my show-class Lab and had some really fine pups who were beautiful and brilliant bird dogs. But I never had gotten around to reading any of his books, though I see them on shelves in libraries all the time. I figured this was a good time to try one, and this one - the first in his Du Pre series - had gotten some appealing reviews.

I liked it. It took me a few chapters (but they're short) to tune my ear to the voice, but once I did, I rolled with it. Idiosyncratic, free-wheeling, thoughts and speech tumbled together. Peter was a show more good songwriter too, and spent a lot of hours sitting in bars, listening to conversations grumbling, muttering, guffawing, ebbing and flowing, and he's assembled that feeling here in a raw musical composition. He hadn't mastered plotting - the plot is almost afterthought, with a not-very-credible solution. I'll see if he got better at that. But the language, the imagery, the characters - down and outers, people saddled with pain and addictions yet sustained by the kindness and generosity of neighbors - and the splendid Montana landscapes that Bowen knew and loved make this a much better-than-average way to spend a few hours. Grateful for Hoopla through my local library to make these accessible while the "real world" is locked down! show less

An interesting, slice-of-Montana-life story that was mildly marred by the last three pages.

The story is ostensibly a mystery, but the hero is a cattle-inspector, and only part-time deputy, and is the sort of half-hearted deputy that thinks most things will solve themselves without an official hand. It doesn't help that the Sheriff is a committed drunk (as in wholly committed to being drunk).

"How come you didn't put this in an evidence bag?'
'Didn't have any,' said Du Pré. 'Remember, I inspect brands. They don't make evidence bags big enough put a cow in.'
The Sheriff looked at him hard, fuzzed up, trying to come back but too much Canadian hooch on his tongue, just sitting there.
'What about that cowboy found this?'
'Oh, no,' said Du Pré. show more 'That dummy, he wasn't even born this happened. No.'"

The narrative is told in a fragmented, almost poetic style, with a sort of refrain coming up again and again. It adds to the mood, but does not add to the sense of resolution or to the story for those who like a more clear-cut narrative (as the mom-reader said, "this is weird.")

'Their work made the FAA inspectors direct.
'You Indian?' one said. Not 'Native American.'
'Some,' said Du Pre. 'A lot, really. But Frenchy enough so the anthropologists don't bother us.'
'A blessing,' said the FAA man. 'My sister was married to an anthropologist for a while.'
The FAA men had come in by plane and a helicopter had been chartered from a local cropduster. Du Pre hated helicopters. The fucking things could not possibly fly, or anyway not long enough. Whack whack whack. I ask you.
Du Pre sat by the pilot to point out the way."

There's solid themes here--that I feel might have been ruined by the ending--and an interesting intersection of Native-rancher-rural life. When it interacts with big-city, big-money, it becomes a bit predictable, but enjoyable nonetheless. show less

Yes, there is salty language. I didn't find it off-putting in the context of Du Pre's character. Nor the parenting style another reviewer found objectionable. Du Pre repeatedly comments that he doesn't know how to be a good father, but I think his instincts help him to do a reasonable, if non-traditional job. He clearly loves his daughters and they return that love & respect. I enjoyed learning about the Metis culture, and listening to the unabridged audiobook was a treat because of the skill of narrator Christopher Lane.

First Gabriel Du Pré mystery set in Montana. Very quick, enjoyable read. The main character has the unique, interesting voice of a French-Canadian Méstit and works as a cattle brand inspector and sometime sheriff’s deputy. This first book involves the solving of a 30 year old murder when an old light plane crash site is discovered and seems to have parts of an extra passenger. It’s not really possible to solve the mystery until late in the book, due to a lack of earlier planted clues, but still a great read.

This is the first in the series with Gabriel Du Pré in them. I have now read both the beginning and one near the end. I can't say I noticed a lot of difference in the writing style or the character's growth, but they are fun books to listen to on audio. Very nice cowboy mysteries. I love the sturdiness, stubbornness and sensibleness of cowboys, and Du Pré is in there with the best of them. This has more strong language than I enjoy, but it doesn't seem out of place in the story.
In this novel, Gabriel faces some ghosts in his past as he is dealing with life in the present. He faces them steadfastly, naturally.

A cowboy has found the wreck of the plane. The sheriff of Toussaint asks Gabriel Du Pre a cattle-brand inspector who doubles as a deputy, to go with the cowboy and see what is what before he opens an investigation. Du Pre sees that the plane with two skeletons has been there a long time as trees and other plants have grown through the wreckage.

What is strange is the Du Pre finds a skull with a bullet hole that does not belong to the plane. He remembers a headless corpse that was found when he was a child, 30 years ago, can it belong to that corpse?

He wants to avoid the matter, but a rich man's demons, another murder and Du Pre's own past keep pulling him back.

I never realized that there is a family of native-American/French Indians in show more Montana, the Metis migrated from Canada more than 100 years ago. The background of this tribe or family was very interesting but the writing/presentation of the mystery and Du Pre’s investigation I found confusing and distracting. Not my cup of tea but it satisfies the challenge I read it for. show less

From Amazon.com review by Nathan W. Casebolt:

Gabriel Du Pré is a simple Métis, descended from First Nation and French Canadian stock. He earns his keep as a Montana cow brand inspector, but sometimes serves as an on-call law enforcer. So when a small, decades-old plane wreck is discovered in the mountains, the sheriff asks Du Pré to check it out. And everything checks out as you’d expect, except for that extra skull with a bullet rattling inside it.

I was looking forward to this new series which was supposed to be a breath of fresh air to the murder mystery genre. Unfortunately, the air is quite rancid with Du Pre’s anti-establishment attitude, his filthy mouth, and his (non)-parenting style, which takes the form of sleep overs show more at his girlfriend’s while his fourteen-year-old daughter stays home alone.

The plot is weak, the mystery disappointing – the solution becomes apparent by half-time and the rest of the book is…what? Boring anyway. Offensive to some – me included. show less