Late at night Annie Peacock returns home to Gardiner,
Montana and a crime scene. Somebody has taken their message
of her stepping down from the bench as a Judge too far. They
kidnapped her mother, Eleanor Malone, and shot Archie, her
dog. On opposite sides of a previous winter with disasterous
results, it becomes Ranger Will McCarroll's responsibility to
work with the FBI. Judge Peacock won't be bullied into
stepping down. Hearing the evidence against her most likely
suspect, Chadwick Gleeson, on a previous charge, she finds
enough physical evidence to hold him over for trial. His
claim of self defense when he shot number 21, a wolf
reintroduced to the park in 1995, is looking more like
premeditated poaching.
Hank, a local jack-of-all-trades is facing charges of
starting a campfire on park land. From the jailhouse, he
saw a vehicle pull near the judge's residence and heard the
commotion. He wants to deal. Drop the charges, and he might
have a better memory of that night. Annie won't have
somebody play the system under her jurisdiction and returns
him to jail. Somehow he's got to get info to make him look
like a hero. Later, released from jail, he sees the vehicle
and decides a little investigation on his own might be
profitable, considering his fine was still on the books.
Ranger Randy Hannah is approached by young Zach
Knudson with a guilty conscious. He played a prank by
putting personal items into the springs at Orange Spring
Mound. Now he feels responsible for the water line
receding, not over time, but by mere days.
The Church of White Hope's generous donation of
$50,000 for any information on Mrs. Malone's kidnapping
fails to bring any takers. Will has an idea. The keenest
mind he knows is retired Judge Sherburne who is in a
nursing facility recuperating from a stroke. Will
introduces him to Annie. Although his body is trapped by
his health, his mind is still sharp. He thinks he knows
where Annie's mother is, but the answer is locked up.
Trying to communicate his suspicions, the hospital staff
intervenes. For his own good, of course.
How can the wolves, the absent water, and the judge's
mother be connected?
Besides ALPHA FEMALE having a strong suspense element, the
author uses the scenic detail beautifully. I felt I was
actually visiting our national park.
The excitement, suspense, and danger kept me guessing all
the way to the end as to what crime was being committed and
who the bad guys were. I couldn't put it down. It is so
much more than just a romance. I look forward to reading
her other books.
Justice in Yellowstone National Park comes
in two forms: Annie Peacock, a beautiful young judge who is
the head of the park's judicial system, and Will McCarroll,
long-time backcountry ranger who is obsessed with stopping
poachers. Will's willingness to break every rule in the book
has earned him a formidable reputation—and Annie's
disdain.
Then Annie's mother is kidnapped. When Will
tries to help find her, a shocking attraction between Annie
and Will starts to sizzle—and then burn.
But when
Will learns of a plan for trophy hunters to shoot the park's
cherished alpha female wolf, he disappears into the back
country to stop them. And it's there, in the wilderness of
Yellowstone, that Will discovers the true extent of the
danger to Annie's mother and to Yellowstone
itself.
All is not as it seems in Yellowstone
country—where people are far wilder than the park's animals,
danger lurks around every bend of the trail, and passions
between Annie and Will climb as high as the snow-capped
peaks.
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