Specimen Song

With misgivings, cattle inspector and sometime deputy Gabriel Du Pr? has left his hometown of Toussaint, Montana, for big-city Washington, DC, where the M?tis Indian fiddler has agreed to play his people's music for a Smithsonian festival. But like the frightened and confused horse galloping wildly down the National Mall, Du Pr? is very much out of his element. He does know how to catch and calm a runaway horse, however.

If only catching a killer could be so simple. When a Cree woman from Canada who came to sing in the festival is found murdered, her death is just the first in a series of fatal attacks on Native Americans. Each killing is foretold by a shaman, and each time a primitive weapon is used. As the body count rises, Du Pr? fears he might be the serial killer's ultimate target.

New York Times-bestselling author Ridley Pearson says about Peter Bowen's Montana mysteries: "The best of Tony Hillerman meets Zane Grey . . . Du Pr? is a character of legendary proportions." And Booklist calls Gabriel Du Pr? "one of the most unusual characters working the fictional homicide beat."

Specimen Song is the 2nd book in The Montana Mysteries Featuring Gabriel Du Pr? series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.