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Montana, "the last best place" of the disappearing American West, is the setting of Peter Bowen's splendid mystery novel, the first in a series to feature Gabriel Du Pré, a cattle brand inspector and occasional sheriff's deputy, moves easily among the ranchers, cowboys, Native Americans, barflies, dreamers, and Eastern dudes who populate what's left of the frontier. A mixed-blood French-Indian, Du Pré prefers the company of his lover, Madelaine, and his daughters, who affect him in ways he can't predict and won't admit, to his less-gentle acquaintances.

Against his will, Du Pré is summoned from Madelaine's bed to a ranch owned by the dissipated Fascelli family, a sloppy clan of rich outsiders whose scandals are local legend. In the desolate hills of the ranch, a skeleton has been discovered, and the sheriff needs Du Pré's long experience in Montana to identify the bones. What he finds leads him on a search through the history of a troubled family, a search that brings him closer to a secret from his own past. Along the way, Du Pré meets a range of interesting folk, some to his liking, some decidedly not.

Colorful characters, sly wit, insights into cattle-branding, fiddling, and Native American myths, and prose that is both spare and richly evocative of Montana make this an exceptional novel.