From Publishers Weekly
Yellowstone Kelly, gunfighter, scout, tracker, ladies' man and legend in his own lifetime, makes his fourth appearance in this rollicking western set in the 1870s that is not so much a mystery as a bawdy comic yarn enlivened by Kelly's own unique take on the period and the place a take often gruffly sympathetic to the Native American point of view. After the discovery of a rare fossil skeleton (the horse of the title), an ambitious professor hires Kelly to lead a party through Wyoming Indian territory in search of further specimens. Along for the trip is a tough, pretty blonde, Alys, who records the finds and finds Kelly pretty hard to resist. Dogging their trail is Blue Fox, a Dartmouth-educated psychopathic Cheyenne who keeps coming up with increasingly bloodthirsty ways to kill off the collection of immoral scoundrels surrounding Kelly. Kelly keeps on thinking Blue Fox is finally dead. Blue Fox keeps on returning for more. And so it goes. The author clearly has fun with these books (Imperial Kelly, etc.), and while period authenticity is not his highest priority, real-life characters like Wild Bill Hickock do show up from time to time. The Old West is a wonderfully wild place in Bowen's hands. (Apr. 6 )Feb. 12) and other Gabriel Du Pr‚ mysteries.
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From Booklist
Luther "Yellowstone" Kelly hires on with paleontologist Jonathan Cope and his stunning assistant, Alys de Bonneterre, to find the remains of a long-extinct three-toed horse. Any expedition in the late-nineteenth-century West is fraught with danger from Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, unforgiving elements, and outlaws. As Kelly, a hunter, scout, and sometimes ambassador to the beleaguered Native Americans soon learns, none of the standard dangers holds a candle to the treachery of ambitious academics. As the adventure progresses, the band is stalked by Blue Fox, a Dartmouth-educated Cheyenne with a homicidal twist, and a romance develops between Kelly and Alys, who, in her own blue-blood fashion, is every bit a match for the rough-hewn westerner. The Kelly novels, loosely based on a real person, reinforce the growing stature of Bowen, who receives deservedly rave reviews for his Montana mysteries featuring Gabe DuPre. Both series feature an endearing, slightly mysterious protagonist who always has one more unexplored trait, unparalleled dialogue that hints at ethnic or regional inflections, and a very sly sense of humor. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
