Bitter Creek

Description

In the latest installment of Peter Bowen’s acclaimed mystery series| Gabriel Du PrE investigates a century-old crimeLieutenant John Patchen has come to Montana to persuade Chappie Plaquemines| his former gunnery sergeant in Iraq and the son of Gabriel Du PrE’s girlfriend| to accept the Navy Cross. First| however| Du PrE and Patchen must find the wounded marine| who was last seen drinking heavily in the Toussaint Saloon. They locate him soon enough| disheveled and stinking of stale booze| but a sobering visit to a medicine man’s sweat lodge reveals a much greater mystery: the unsolved case of a band of MEtis who were last seen fleeing from General Black Jack Pershing’s troops in 1910 before disappearing. Strange voices within the sweat lodge speak of a place called Bitter Creek| where the MEtis encountered their fate. To find it| Du PrE tracks down the only living survivor of the massacre| a feisty old woman whose memories may not be as trustworthy as they seem. But when Amalie leads Du PrE to Pardoe| an out-of-the-way crossroads north of Helena| he senses that they are about to uncover long-buried secrets. Discouraged by the US military| their lives threatened by locals whose ancestors may have played a role in the murders| Chappie| Patchen| and Du PrE bravely pursue the truth so that the victims of a terrible injustice might finally rest in peace.