Dee Anna is leaving her NY apartment, hoping to avoid
paying the back rent. Only she's not Dee Anna, she's taken
another girl's identity. And the real girl has a relative
on a ranch in Montana, who's written to say she would be
pleased to see her. Well, this Dee Anna thinks she's in
for an easy ride.
Dana Savage has new twins and lives on the Cardwell Ranch.
With her best pal Hilde from the sewing shop in Big Sky,
Montana, she goes to the airport full of excitement at
meeting her cousin. Meanwhile the two local lawmen, Colt
and Hud, consider scaring off black bears all in a day's
work. Hud is Dana's husband and Colt silently admires
Hilde. But Colt has been too fond of the ladies in the
past for Hilde to take him seriously. Dee Anna, the
CARDWELL RANCH TRESPASSER, sizing up her prospects, decides
that the observant Hilde is in her way. Maybe an accident
could happen on a canyon rafting trip....
This is a finely tuned western with a difference, the
cynicism of the New York con girl contrasting with Montana
hospitality and neighbourliness. Seen through the fake's
eyes, the ranch folks are far too trusting. But that
doesn't mean they're slow, or defenceless. The suspense is
nicely heightened by having an old partner in crime arrive
from New York, and before long the lawmen have all the work
they can handle. The twists and stresses kept me reading
while the backdrop of the small town, homely ranch houses
and awe-inspiring scenery never failed to anchor the novel.
My minor quibble is that I got tired of characters
saying "What. Do. You. Want?" and other similarly
punctuated lines. This is creeping into a few American
books lately and it only serves to draw the reader's mind
out of the situation and back onto the printed page. But
mainly CARDWELL RANCH TRESPASSER by BJ Daniels is a good,
absorbing, up-to-the-minute read, following on from a
couple of other tales by this prolific western writer, and
it will be enjoyed by romance lovers as well as fans of
western tales or suspense.
The Cardwell clan has a new, mysterious member. Dana
Cardwell warmly welcomed her Justice cousin into the family
fold and to the ranch for a reunion. But this cunning kin
has other plans for Dana… and designs on her husband,
Hud.
Hilde Jacobson has known Dana too long to let her best
friend get conned—or worse, killed. Unfortunately Hilde is
no match for a skilled impostor who's duped everyone in the
canyon. Only Deputy Marshal Colt Dawson believes Hilde's
claims about the phony relation; only his strong arms have
saved her from "accidents" intended to get her out of the
way. Together can they convince the Cardwells that a
predator lurks in their happy home?
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