Stewball

by Peter Bowen

Book Overview

Investigating the murder of his eccentric aunt's latest husband, Gabriel Du Pr turns for help to old friend and FBI agent Harvey Wallace and uncovers a host of suspects in Montana. By the author of The Stick Game and Thunder Horse. 10,000 first printing."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031227730X
• ISBN13: 9780312277307
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

"Good country, this."

We're back in another trip to the world of the Metis, who inhabit Montana and parts north, and have a culture uniquely their own - full of music, a love for the independent life, and a fractured grammar that makes backwards, everything. Peter Bowen has spent a lifetime telling the stories of Gabriel du Pres, cattle inspector, brilliant fiddle player, and solver of mysteries. Don't get the idea that Gabriel is a superman. He is carefully herded and guarded by his woman Madelaine, his daughters, madeliane's daughters, and Benetsee the shaman. In Stewball, Gabriel sets out to find Auntie Pauline's latest boyfriend, and finds a corpse instead. Badger, Gabriel discovers, was doing the FBI a favor, and apparently ran into something bigger than he expected - big stakes horse racing and right wing militancy. Gabriel decides to get involved. Soon he and Booger Tom are the front men in a sting operation that seems to involve the FBI, the ATF, and any other law enforcement organization in the neighborhood. As always, this story is more about the people than it is about the crime. Of everyone who appears though, the star of this story is Lourdes, Madelaine's oldest daughter, a natural horsewoman, and every bit as frightening as the other women in our hero's life, including Lourde's sister, Pallas, 10-year-old genius and evil spirit. It is Lourdes' riding skills on Stewball that enable Gabriel and Tom to appear as wealthy horse racers so as to infiltrate the secret brush races and expose the doings of a closed circle of plotters. But men have died already, and the members of the club are wealthy enough to buy their way clean. The forces are evenly matched, but never count a determined Metis out of any fight. For all its serious moments, Bowen tells this story with a very light touch and vivid characterization. I have come to love all the du Pres stories, but Stewball is special, full of all the things that makes this series entertaining. For all that this is the twelfth book in the series, you could easily start right here. Most likely you will go back and read them all.

Stewball's fast paced and perfect Gabriel du'Pre

All of Peter Bowen's books are a fast, furious, and a fun read, including Stewball. I love Gabriel's friends and family. I also love the focus on Metis and their culture, because I am familiar with it, and also with the geographic areas the stories tend to be set in. The characters are pretty much like real people seen though a sardonic eye, with a bit of poetic license thrown in. They are real enough to draw you into their concerns but exaggerated enough to make it fun. May the ink never dry in Mr. Bowen's pens.

terrific Montana mystery

Gabriel Du Pre meets with his Aunt Pauline at the Toussaint Saloon. She tells him her latest husband Badger has gone missing for two weeks and that the FBI is somehow involved. She wants him to call his FBI friend to find out what happened to her spouse. Du Pre does exactly that and finds Badger was caught coming across the Canadian border with ten thousand valium tablets. Badger agreed to infiltrate a white supremacist and the charges against him will be greatly reduced. There is heavy gambling at these races and the FBI supplied him with marked money that turned out to be counterfeit. The group killed Badger but the Feds still wants someone to infiltrate the urban theorist group. Du Pre has his granddaughter ride a horse in the races in the hopes that he will be accepted by the group and learn who the real leaders are. It is a dangerous situation but Du Pre has it under control until the leader escapes during an FBI raid. Du Pre is determined to be the one to find him no matter how long it takes. Du Pre is a unique, independent and ageless protagonist who goes his own way and doesn't let anyone stop him from doing what he wants. It is lucky for law enforcement that he is on the side of Justice because he would make an untouchable crook. Peter Bowen does for Montana what Tony Hillerman does for New Mexico. Perhaps the most delightful character in this novel is STEWBALL, the horse that is in love with Du Pre's granddaughter Lourdes. Harriet Klausner