Cruzatte and Maria (Montana Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Peter Bowen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Montana Mysteries | Publication Date: March 14, 2001

In his eighth outing, Metis-Indian fiddler, tracker, and amateur sleuth Gabriel Du Pre is called upon by his daughter Maria and her fiance to act as historical advisor for a documentary film about the Lewis & Clark expedition. Du Pre is the descendant of Pierre Cruzatte, one of the scouts who accompanied Lewis and Clark during their expedition, and has the relevant know-how to authentically recreate props.

When Du Pre arrives at the shooting site, located in a remote region of Montana along the Missouri River, he finds himself in a volatile situation: major trouble is brewing between the local community and the tourists and the film makers of the documentary who are descending upon the historical site with increased frequency. The hostility takes its toll on the film production: the star quits and someone has set fire to the props. Then two bodies, that of a photojournalist and his companion who were retracing Lewis & Clark's route, are fished out of the Missouri -- shot to death. A disgruntled local? Or someone with even more insidious intentions? Meanwhile, Du Pre stumbles upon a secret cache left behind by the original Lewis & Clark expedition, containing Merriweather Clarks' journals. Suddenly, the backwater locale is swarming with media, and tensions rise to a boiling point.

Peter Bowen combines a thorough knowledge of our national history with local atmosphere and a slew of offbeat characters to create an infatuating read.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The fierce and fiercely guarded independence of Montanans is always on display in Bowen's series about Gabriel Du Pr?, the Metis-Indian fiddler whose sleuthing talents and survival skills often take surprising turns. In his eighth outing (following 2000's The Stick Game), the thirst for independence, coupled with antipathy toward outsiders, leads to murder. Du Pr?, otherwise a strong, willful character, is usually putty in the hands of even stronger, more willful women, including daughter Maria, who persuades him to serve as a consultant to her boyfriend's film crew making a movie about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Du Pr? also finds himself trying to fend off requests from a federal lawman to investigate the disappearance in Du Pr?'s vicinity of nine Missouri River boaters in three years. Bowen's exuberant storytelling mines the rich cultural history of the West (Du Pr? discovers a hidden cache buried by the Lewis and Clark expedition, which includes journals kept by Meriwether Lewis, with amusing results). But as filmmakers, environmentalists and others threaten to flock to Montana to exploit or celebrate or appropriate its resources, a dark side emerges. Some Montanans will do anything to protect their lives and their way of life. Beneath Bowen's delightfully extravagant characters lurks a warning: the inevitable clashes between outsiders and natives are sometimes funny, sometimes violent, but ultimately tragic.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This time out, series sleuth Gabriel Du Pr? (The Stick Game) serves as historical consultant for a documentary film about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Trouble erupts between movie people and locals, with mayhem and murder close behind. More finely crafted Montana scenery.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (March 14, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312262531
• ISBN-13: 978-0312262532
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #343,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bowen Brings Northern Montana to Life, June 16, 2001

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cruzatte and Maria (Montana Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Peter Bowen has been writing his tales of Gabriel Du Pre, a Metis Indian, master fiddler, detective and righter-of-wrongs extraordinaire for some time now. Du Pre, his mate, Madelaine and his many dear friends in Toussaint, Montana have acquired a loyal following during that time. Bowen's new book, "Cruzatte and Maria" is his finest yet, and will greatly please all readers, new and old.

When Du Pre's old friend in the FBI, Harvey Wallace, asks him to look into a series of disappearances in the White Cliffs area of the Missouri River Gabriel is troubled and refuses to become involved. Residents of that area, mostly ranchers, have been under continuous attack by environmentalists and encroachment by yuppie wilderness seekers. Du Pre understands the ranchers' struggle and senses an underlying, irresolvable tragedy.

Unfortunately, Du Pre's is unable to maintain his distance. His daughter Maria has returned to Toussaint with her boyfriend to help with the making of a television special on the Lewis and Clark voyage. Maria is descended on both sides from the four Metis Indians that accompanied the adventurers and Gabriel is dragged into the production as a consultant and advisor. Naturally, the movie is to be filmed on the banks of the Missouri, in the same location as the disappearances. Gabriel smells a set up, but concedes gracefully (actually he curses a lot) and undertakes both missions. As the story progresses Du Pre's worst fears and greatest hopes are realized. Metis life and history, politics, Hollywood and the rancher's struggle for recognition and independence mix together in a heady, sometimes disquieting, stew.

Bowen is an absolute wizard with characters. Not only Du Pre, but many other characters come brilliantly to life, even in the short space of this novel. Bart, Du Pre's billionaire friend and Benetsee, the mad/wise holy man who drives Du Pre crazy with riddles stand out. A new and special character is Pallas, one of Du Pre's eleven grandchildren. She will totally charm the reader with her seven-going-on-thirty attitude and her sharp, accurate tongue. The ranchers, members of the movie company and countless bit players are all unforgettably painted.

Perhaps the best thing about Bowen's writing is his insight into the Metis Indians. They are a tribe mostly forgotten to American and Canadian history, who played a great part in the fur trade in Canada and Montana. As a multi-tribal mixture of indigenous, French and Scottish blood they have had great difficulty gaining recognition as an independent culture. The are strong folk, with a rich musical tradition and an indomitable spirit. Bowen's Metis are people of great character, wry, fun loving, and deeply respectful of their people, their friends and the land they live on. Bowen captures their language and dry sarcastic wit perfectly. The reader will leave "Cruzatte and Maria" delighted to have spent time with these remarkable people.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New fiddle. Same tune., January 16, 2002

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: Cruzatte and Maria (Montana Mysteries) (Hardcover)

"Cruzatte and Maria" is basically a replay of Bowen's earlier "Wolf, No Wolf," where the noble ranchers are pitted against the eco-ninnies, and in this book, the Yuppies who putter up and down the far reaches of the Missouri in their canoes and stinkboats. The local residents defend their rural stretch of the Missouri against all intruders, and shoot a couple of guys who were actually writing a pro-rancher, anti-ecoNazi book. This is where Harvey Weasel Fat Wallace, the Blackfeet FBI guy calls on Du Pré to find the murderer.

Another FBI guy, Ripper sums up the plot:

"These people out here have had it, basically, with the twentieth century, and who can blame them? But potting passing canoe paddlers is, and I must make this perfectly clear, like the late Tricky Dick, not going to be the protest of choice. It's illegal. It's also wrong."

Everyone leans on Du Pré in this book, including his daughter Maria. She persuades him to help a group of filmmakers (her boyfriend is the assistant director) who are shooting a documentary about the Lewis and Clark expedition. As it happens, Maria and her father are Métis descendants of the fiddler, Cruzatte who was a member of that famous 1805 expedition.

Even Du Pré's long-term mistress Madeleine gets into the act, and tricks her man into trying on glasses:

"`Du Pré,' said Madelaine, `I think you maybe got eyes like a hawk, see things far away, up close you got eyes like a pocket gopher.'

"Du Pré grunted.

"`Put a bead on that ...needle,' said Madelaine.

"Du Pré picked up a bead, poked the needle at it, and missed.

"...'Okay, Du Pré,' said Madelaine. `You try these on, yes.'"

Madelaine whips out a bag of dime-store reading glasses and Du Pré is made to realize that he hasn't seen her face or her beadwork in years. The dialogue in this book is up to Bowen's best standards, and I love these scenes between long-time friends. The author telegraphs just enough information to give us readers a warm, fuzzy sense of involvement.

The scenes I don't like usually take place in a bar, where the ranchers gather to literally and metaphorically bash guitar-playing, expensively-attired Yuppies, eco-Nazis, and film-makers. Too much drinking. Too much smoking. Too much high cholesterol. Too much violence. Bad for sensitive Yuppie stomachs like mine. Don't read this book if you have the flu.

Otherwise, read it. "Cruzatte and Maria" is the latest in Bowen's excellent, tough-love series of not-so-hard-to-figure-out mysteries.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DU PRE MAKE FINE MOVIE CONSULTANT-SOLVE MYSTERY, April 1, 2001

By 

Kenri A. Mugleston - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cruzatte and Maria (Montana Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Du Pre's daughter Maria comes home from school with her boyfriend Ben who is the assistant director on the movie being made on Lewis & Clark. Maria asks Du Pre to be the historical consultant on the set and Du Pre reluctantly agrees. Harvey Weasel Fat asks Du Pre to check into the disappearances of several people at the White Cliffs area of the Missouri River. These two tasks come together and make for murder.

The local residents don't like newcomers and somebody is making sure that strangers don't stay. Two environmental journalists are found in the river and it doesn't look like it was an accident. Du Pre must find out who is doing the killing before anybody else gets hurt.

Peter Bowen does an excellent job bringing out the local customs and mannerisms of the Metis people. Du Pre is an offbeat but thoroughly engaging sleuth. Makes you maybe want visit for a while.