Customer Reviews

The Tumbler (Gabriel Du Pre Mystery)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Violence is never far removed from Gabriel Du Pre's life. It starts when an angry girlfriend breaks in on Du Pre's band and starts shooting the bass player. But things get worse when someone attacks one of his friends and maces the friend's daughter. And the legal troubles Du Pre finds himself in over the journals he's discovered from the Lewis and Clark Expedition suddenly explode when someone starts offering big bucks for the journals--no questions asked. Du Pre isn't selling, but Indian wise man Benetsee tells Du Pre that his troubles are only starting. Before long, there will be death. And Du Pre and his friends will be in the middle of it.

Author Peter Bowen tells a fascinating story of old treasure, modern greed, Indian wisdom, and the west. Du Pre, Benetsee, and several of the other characters ring absolutely true and Bowen paints a vivid picture of rural life in Montana.

As with the other books in the Gabriel Du Pre series, THE TUMBLER is both a fascinating mystery and an even more fascinating look into character and the land. Du Pre and the other characters don't speak much and when they do, their dialect takes a bit of getting used to, but I found charm, wisdom, and a nice sense of humor combined in what they had to say. THE TUMBLER is a definite winner with plenty of red herrings, lots of people with more money than sense, and an ending that is exciting and satisfying, while being as wistful as is Bowen's picture of the dying west.

It is easy to get accustomed to Peter Bowen's mysteries starring Gabriel Du Pre. In a sense, the Metis Indian is someone we all want to be. Smart, deeply in tough with his community and its environs, a man with strong relationships, good friend, and a wry, penetrating wit. Equally at home with the mysticism of medicine men and FBI agents. And very determined to see his way to the truth.

The truth is what is most elusive in The Tumbler. Du Pre and Benetsee (the ageless medicine man) have discovered some important Lewis & Clark artifacts (or have they?) and the government is suing to get them, people are dropping money in an effort to buy than, and someone seems perfectly willing to murder to get their hands on them. In the midst of this Julie, the niece of Bart Fascelli (Du Pre's rich friend) shows up in Toussaint to work on her own issues. All this makes for a rich, multi-layered stew of motives and priorities.

In retrospect, the story is even more of a tapestry than Bowen's previous efforts. Thieves, murderers, the law, sorcerers and gymnasts are the threads, and Du Pre, with the help of his companion Madelaine and the mysterious Benetsee must find where the knot is and untie it before the worst happens. Bowen's stories are noted for luring you in with light banter and intriguing characters only to his you firmly over the head at the end. And The Tumbler is no exception. Be prepared.

One thing I had not realized is that Peter Bowen is a private person. I was curious about why this particular title was chosen. Young Julie and her boyfriend are gymnasts, which is part of it, but my intuition tells me that there is more. Something like the sacred clowns of the Navaho. After scouring the web I can report that other than book reviews and short bios, Peter Bowen has a very light network footprint for this day and age. Yet another mystery in a book that asks more questions than it answers. In many ways this is the most thoughtful and, perhaps, the best written of the Du Pre stories. Enjoy.

Peter Bowen has a knack for capturing the language and customs of the Metis in a way that makes you feel you are really there -- then throws in a mystery that keeps you guessing until the last page.

Retired Brand inspector Gabriel Dupre hoped to live out the rest of his life in peace and tranquility but his ability to sniff out wrongdoers always seem to land him in the middle of a homicide investigation. This time Dupre is being sued by the U.S. government who wants him to turn over the lost journals of Louis and Clark that he dug out of the ground. When he goes to court Benetsee, an Indian mystic, persuades the judge to issue a six month continuance because the documents are needed in another case.

Dupre receives phone calls asking him to sell the documents for a handsome sum of money. Letters with thousands of dollars are left in his car and Benetsee's cabin as an incentive to get them to talk to the agents of the buyer. Reporters flock to the town of Toussaint sensing a juicy story but things start turning violent when someone beats up DuPre's friend Bassman. One of the reporters who got too close to the source of the trouble is killed and one of the private security agents guarding Julie, who was almost kidnapped, simply disappears. DuPre is determined to find out who the perpetrator is or die trying.

Montana breeds rugged individualists and nobody is more ornery and determined than the protagonist of THE TUMBLER. He has a lust for living life to the fullest that many people twenty years younger than him would envy and he needs no Viagra to enjoy his loving with Madeline who returns his attentions in full measure. The who-done-it is fascinating and author Peter Bowen deserves an award for creating a vivid sense of place that readers can easily imagine.

Harriet Klausner

The latest installment in the DuPree mysteries was a little more convoluted than I expected. Even when I finished, I had to go back and reread parts of the story to figure out just why/what happened. Bowen never spells it out, he leaves you to work it out for yourself, much like Benetsee does to DuPree.
As far as the mystery goes, it's not my favorite in the series, Ash Child and Notches worked better in that department. But for pure enjoyment,the storytelling was superb, the humor wry, and the people so real you feel you could eat at the roadhouse next friday.
As to the other reviewer who disliked the book, I think this story would be more enjoyable to people who are already somewhat familliar with the series than to a first timer. The relationships of the characters are more important to the story than the mystery. If you can start with the first book and work your way through, you'll get far more out of it.
I did like the cast of players in the front. Finally we have a count of and names for Madaline's 4 (+-) children (Although I have to wonder what happened to Stephanie, her oldest from Coyote Wind, Simon and little Sebastian, and the two or three other children named earlier in the series...maybe I'll just chalk it up to DuPree or possibly Bowen having one too many ditches...)
But as for The Tumbler, fans of the series will definitly enjoy this latest installment. I look forward to the next book.

First Line: "She was some pissed," said Bassman.

It is said the lost journals of Meriwether Lewis are somewhere to be found in Toussaint, Montana. It is also said that Gabriel Du Pré is the only person who knows where they are. Technically that's not true, but Du Pré's old friend Benetsee isn't exactly the type of person to do anything he doesn't want to do (which is precisely why Gabe gave him the journals). The federal government believes that he should hand over the journals free of charge, and while Du Pré's lawyer has the Feds tied up in knots, other less pleasant forces make it clear that they want the journals, too.

Du Pré throws back the cash-filled envelopes they leave on his car seat; he has no use for them. Unfortunately the stakes are raised when two friends are kidnapped with the journals sought as ransom. Will Du Pré be able to settle everything to his satisfaction with none of the good guys getting hurt?

I love this series, and I've always been clear about Du Pré being about the furthest away from a Politically Correct character that a reader can find. He drinks too much, he smokes too much, he drives too fast (often all three at the same time), he ekes out a living playing a fiddle in local roadhouses-- even his child-rearing techniques won't pass inspection with today's modern mothers.

What he doesn't lack is a moral center made of flawless diamond. Evidently all that cigarette smoke and alcohol not only fuels his fiddling but adds to this man's unshakable integrity. The beauty of Montana and the history of a small segment of its population are two reasons why I love this series so much, but there's another reason for my love. Du Pré's Montana is shown as a battleground where technology and greed smash headlong into the concept of personal integrity.

Long live responsibility and integrity.

My husband gave me this book for my birthday. It was the only book I took with me on a business trip to Vancouver. I REALLY wanted to like it. I actually wanted to love it. I was completely frustrated by it: not the language, which I found the most interesting part of the whole thing. I just thought the characters were smug and full of themselves and the mystery wasn't very compelling and all the good stuff happened in between the chapters. And if Du Pre went out to see if the wise old Benetsee had come home ONE MORE TIME I think I would have started ripping pages out of the damn thing. Bowen needs to write a book about the music of the Metis (the only exciting parts of the book were when Du Pre and Bassman and Pere Godin were playing their music) and forget about the "mystery" since he's not any more involved in it than we aren't.