Mail-Order Groom Book

This is a worrisome historical romance from the Harlequin (UK) stable. Basically the plot involves a lawman in 1884 who pursues across the Arizona Territory a gang of extortionists that prey on unwary spinsters, filch their dowries and wealth, and leave 'em without loving 'em. The lawman uses the gang's next victim to bait a trap, only to be ensnared by the female victim's wiles.

Lawman Adam Corwin is introduced as a detective of an agency'we're thinking Pinkertons, right?'only to be identified later as a U.S. Marshall. His outfit is sophisticated enough to intercept correspondence between mastermind Roy Bedell and the victim; they replicate copies to send forward while keeping the originals in Corwin's file (his saddlebags). (How does he duplicate her photograph?) Unfortunately, Adam wasn't smart enough to complete due diligence on the woman; he should have gathered some background on her that might have revealed some of her history while confirming that she had wealth worth stealing. It's not until the climax that he spots a very revealing and very public poster that broadcasts the woman's mysterious life. (Wouldn't the townspeople have seen the handbill and solved her unexplained past a long time ago?)

Savannah Reed is desperate to hide her lurid and larcenous past by latching onto a mail-order groom's surname. Too bad she didn't think like Martha Jane Cannary Burke (Calamity Jane) and simply change her name when she wandered west from Leadville. Local citizens couldn't Google the veracity of her moniker. Plus, she simply could take up with any attractive cowboy and grab his last name through a common law union, which was fairly standard practice in the 19th Century West. Legal marriages would not be promulgated by statute until Arizona would achieve statehood in 1912.

The Savannah-Roy telegraphic schmoozing is troublesome. Telegraphy is serial communication; anyone on the line would be able to listen in on the passing dots and dashes'even the detectives could, if they knew Morse code. One dubious point is that Savannah operates a station nearby the local railhead. If her post is so important, why isn't she more concerned with fixing the damaged instrument? Another point: why would there be a second telegraph office within walking distance to downtown Morrow Creek? (That's where the poster hangs.)

There is enough colorful description to breathe life into this Western tale. There are ample refrains of conversation to accelerate the guilty ponderings of the two lovers before, during, and after the wedding. Their lovemaking scene is quite torrid. The prose of the characters' dialogues is realistic, if not sometimes awkward. The climax, however, has far too much gab and not enough action for a true Western. The denouement verges on the cliché.

Guess I shouldn't treat my niggling mind to romance novels. Better get a mail-order broom to sweep away the clutter.