The Stick Game

Gabriel Du Pre #7

by Peter Bowen

With their exceptional characterizations, evocative setting, and smartly plotted mysteries, Peter Bowen's Montana novels have always fascinated readers and critics alike. In The Stick Game, Bowen's lyrical, spare writing carries us once again to a part of the country few of us know much about.

The latest installment in this unique series finds amateur sleuth and cattle rancher Gabriel Du Pre uncovering the dirty secrets of an industrial gold mine and searching for a troubled teenage boy. At a trading fair in rural Montana, Du Pre and his longtime love Madelain run into Jeanne now worries about the disappearance of her sixteen-year-old son, Danny. Meanwhile, Du Pre befriends a musician from Fort Belknap Reservation who introduces him to disturbing parallels between the huge incidence of birth defects in the Indian population there and the activities of the persephone gold mine located near the reservation. With some reluctance, Du Pre agrees to look into both problems.

But then Danny's body is found in a well, and Du Pre discovers a link between the boy's life and what goes on at Fort Belknap. Working with a doctor who's long been concerned about Persephone's practices, Du Pre dangerously confronts the indifference and recklessness of the industrial mine.

Perfectly capturing the cadences of Metis life, Peter Bowen beautifully depicts the people and landscape of remote Montana.

Genres: Mystery, Westerns, Fiction, Native American, Mystery Thriller

282 pages, Hardcover

First published April 9, 2000

About the author

Peter Bowen (b. 1945) is an author best known for mystery novels set in the modern American West. When he was ten, Bowen’s family moved to Bozeman, Montana, where a paper route introduced him to the grizzled old cowboys who frequented a bar called The Oaks. Listening to their stories, some of which stretched back to the 1870s, Bowen found inspiration for his later fiction.

Following time at the University of Michigan and the University of Montana, Bowen published his first novel, Yellowstone Kelly, in 1987. After two more novels featuring the real-life Western hero, Bowen published Coyote Wind (1994), which introduced Gabriel Du Pré, a mixed-race lawman living in fictional Toussaint, Montana. Bowen has written thirteen novels in the series, in which Du Pré gets tangled up in everything from cold-blooded murder to the hunt for rare fossils. Bowen continues to live and write in Livingston, Montana.

Reviews

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tale of two books, by one of my favorite authors. No idea what Peter Bowen was thinking but his 7th book in the Gabriel DuPre` series just did not satisfy me. I love this series, the setting and characters and this book had it all for the first 200 pages. A good story - Indians on the reservation are either dying or are born with birth defects that appear to be linked to environmental poisoning of the water by a gold mining conglomerate that pollutes the water and land with harmful heavy metal runoff.
It also deals with alcoholism on the reservation and the difficulties in successfully treating the addiction. Like I said, really good topics with lots of potential.
However those last 70 pages were a true clunker. This is one time that Bowen could and should have expanded this normal book length by at least 75 pages to give these topics a proper treatment. The ending is unsatisfactory and a head scratcher to put it mildly, and while there is a lot to like in this book, in totality it is a middling effort for such a good writer who has something to say to us about Montana, Indians, environment and the multiple issues that are encountered in each book. Let us hope that he got back on track in his next book in the Gabriel DuPre` mystery series.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, the strength of this book is the characters who are mostly Native American folks. The storyline has been pretty well visited before but the culture that the author presents is quite interesting. It makes me wonder if there is a book written by one of these people.

[Rick Bostian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it

[M. Sprouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Bowen's style in the Gabriel Du Pre series seems genuine, and authentic for the Metis people. Du Pre is more wise than smart and his interactions with whites, and the different tribes demonstrates this and his underlying honesty. The plot falters in the last third and other things distract, making the ending feel rushed and anticlimatic.

The more I read of the series (this was number 7) the more charmed I find the stories and Du Pre himself. This ones not necessarily a mystery or a thriller, but its worth the read.

[Monica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of the seven books in the series, in my opinion, this is the weakest so far. The subject matter is important – mining activities polluting the water supply and causing birth defects, but the book disappointed. One issue is that I was reading an ARC that had serious editing problems, general sloppiness, typos. It was distracting. More to the point, I found the characters and the dialogue flat, which is very unusual for these books, and I hope a final rewrite addressed some of this.

[Doctor Science · Rating 4 out of 5]

More complex and realistic than earlier books in the series. The "bad guy" is a corporation, one of the very few sources of good jobs in the area. People are being poisoned by pollution, but they're also being poisoned by alcohol and despair. No solution comes quickly or completely.

I continue to really, really wish there was a song collection to go with this series.

[Jane K. Stecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a Fun Series

This is the seventh book in the Gabriel Do Pre series. Each one gets better. You will come to love these zany characters from Montana. Each book in this series explains, teaches, and describes the Metis and Indian peoples. And Gabriel is at the head of all the action. Keep writing Peter. We want more.

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good commentary on pollution.

[Barbra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a departure from the rest, and darker in tone, but something that needed to be told. As with all of Bowen's books it is told with wry humor and blunt crude voices.

[Shoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 bumped up to 5.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gabriel Du Pre in Montana again. This time it's gold mines.

[Kenalea Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story of ways for success of the struggle for sobriety and mystery solving.
Kenalea Johnson

[Kerry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a story I enjoyed. Business is evil. While like many stereotypes there is truth in it, I don't enjoy that concept. Sad story, with a pathetic ending. Did not develop characters into someone you wanted to meet.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heavy metals from mining are poisoning the water on a reservation, and children are born deformed. Now, people are being poisoned by water that should be safe. Du Pre assists in the investigation. This series is profane, irreverent, and chock-full of truth. I love it.

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Bowen's Du Pre mysteries. This one is a little different - instead of seeking a murderer, he's seeking the source of poisoned/polluted water. Bowen has a talent for picking up the flavor of eastern Montana that make his books appealing.

[Jaye Sudar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blew through this one! Ahhhh! Second reading.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love that Gabriel Du Pre

[Mellodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was vwey enjoyable and thought provoking. Highly recommend.

[Mary Stenvall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a favorite, still it's Du Pre and time well spent.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an acquired taste. I'm very glad I was patient and continued until my taste improved.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely love the voice of these characters!

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audible Audiobook
October 2020
August 2022

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Billy drank the gold