Sixth in the series featuring Metis brand inspector Gabriel Du Pre, and just as atmospheric as the rest, with really interesting dialect. There's bad things happening at the Messmer ranch, and Du Pre is cautiously watching it all until FBI agent Harvey Wallace gives him a call. The plot really kind of wanders along, dipping into Metis stories hundreds of years old, tales of great-great-great grandparents, the evils that whites did to Indians, lots of drinking and music and more drinking, and... where was I... yes, it's like that. Bowen gives the broad outlines of what's happening, but for much of the book I was irresistibly reminded of dreaming - people do things that don't make any sense, but everyone just keeps acting like it does. This is a book to read for the characters, stories and language, and for the imagery, but not so much for the solving of a crime. Most of the bad guys get what's coming to them, anyway. That sounds as if I didn't like it, but I did. A unique voice for sure.

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