Coyote Wind and Specimen Song: The First Two Montana Mysteries Featuring Gabriel Du Pre [Paperback]

Peter Bowen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 2000

Featuring Montanan cattle-brand inspector and occasional sleuth Gabriel Du Pré, Peter Bowen's spare and lyrical mysteries have always received the critics' highest praise. Now, the first two mysteries in the series, Coyote Wind and Specimen Song, are brought together in one volume.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bowen has taken the antihero of Hemingway and Hammett and brought him up to date....As the best literary novels are able to do, Coyote Wind brings many worlds together and hones the language to create a fresh, memorable character and a profound vision." -Jonis Agee, The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Peter Bowen, a Montanan, writes of the West. Cowboy, hunting and fishing guide, folksinger, poet, essayist, and novelist, he's written the picaresque Yellowstone Kelly historical novels, humor columns and essays on blood sport as Coyote Jack, and the Gabriel Du Pré mysteries.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (May 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031226514X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312265144
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #990,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First two volumes of a unique Big Sky Country series, August 7, 2001

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Coyote Wind and Specimen Song: The First Two Montana Mysteries Featuring Gabriel Du Pre (Paperback)

I think it was a mistake to bundle these two books together, even though they are the first two in a series of Montana mysteries featuring Gabriel Du Pré---and even though I saved money by not having to buy them separately. "Coyote Wind" is a definite 'five stars.' "Specimen Song" drops down to 'three stars.'

"Coyote Wind" is a darn near perfect specimen of a mixed-genre mystery cum western. Gabriel Du Pré is laconic, honorable, and wise to the ways of the Big Sky Country---a throwback to the noble cowboy-hero of Zane Grey's novels. He is a vulnerable hero, a Métis descendant of the French Voyageurs and Plains Indians. He has problems with his teenage daughter, who has shaved off part of her hair and dyed the rest of it a weird color. His mistress won't marry him because in the eyes of the Church, she is still married to the sleaze who deserted her many years past. He is plagued throughout the book by an alcoholic Métis prophet.

Du Pré's voice is unique, and perfect for this story. His dialogue is short, punchy, flicked with mordant barbs---an arrow in your heart when you are least expecting it. Two chapters into the book, found myself talking, thinking like Du Pré. Sounds like this:

"Du Pré knelt, looked, crossed himself. Some days he didn't believe in God, but he did believe in crossing himself.

"Maybe this let you sleep now," said Du Pré. He picked up the white skull, the color of the giant puffball mushrooms that came up in pastures in the wet years. The mushrooms were bigger, and startling in the green.

"'Now I got someone's head in my hands, I thinking on frying mushrooms,' Du Pré said aloud. `Dumb bastard'."

The mystery of who killed whom in "Coyote Wind" is fairly easy to unravel once you get to know and care about the characters. It almost had to occur, considering the people involved. It becomes more important to see if Du Pré can help a friend stop drinking, rather than to figure out who murdered his friend's brother. As Du Pré keeps telling everyone who will listen: "I ain't a cop...I am a [brand inspector]."

Nevertheless, it is Du Pré who is tapped to solve a thirty-year-old murder. He goes about it in a style that is perfectly tuned to his character. Not a single false note from Du Pré or his fiddle.

"Coyote Wind" is a very satisfying read.

"Specimen Song" features the same cast of characters as its predecessor. However, their personalities are exaggerated to the point of disbelief. The Métis prophet performs magic tricks. Du Pré goes jaunting back and forth to Washington D.C. in his friend's private jet, after turning the brand inspection business over to his son-in-law. He also canoes through the Canadian taiga, following the river route of his Voyageur ancestors. All of this traveling is in search of a killer, but somehow Du Pré seems more blustery than heroic when he is removed from the land where he can read the turn of a leaf.

Or the body language of an enemy.

I very much hope that Du Pré returns to Big Sky Country in volume III.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good mysteries and great characters!, August 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Coyote Wind and Specimen Song: The First Two Montana Mysteries Featuring Gabriel Du Pre (Paperback)

If you enjoy character development, these are the stories for you. Gabriel Du Pre' and his cohorts are delightful---people you'd like to meet and spend time with---and you learn to know them as you get deeper into these novels. These are mystery stories written with a wonderful ear for dialogue and a wry take on life. Buy this book and enjoy these novels; you won't be disappointed.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Primo intro to Montana thought processes, September 28, 2007

By 

Mikey53 "WordButcher" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coyote Wind and Specimen Song: The First Two Montana Mysteries Featuring Gabriel Du Pre (Paperback)

Coyote Wind and Specimen Song: The First Two Montana Mysteries Featuring Gabriel Du Pre (A Montana Mystery Featuring Gabriel Du Pre)

First of the MANY books in this series I have read, but only the first of many since. A bit formulaic in its approach and story line, but good character development and interesting plots. I enjoyed the Montana setting and the introduction to Montana politics and peoples. I did not agree with all of the notions and lifestyle choices expressed but found the two works worth the read!