A bitter wind blows over a small town in the expanding Wyoming cattle country. Qualified schoolteachers are hard to attract and the new, golden-haired Miss Morrow, while popular with the children, has drawn trouble of her own. A private investigator has followed a woman who supposedly stole from a wealthy Chicago family, and the trail leads to Bitter Springs.

In TRUE TO THE LAW Tru Morrow is the attractive teacher idolised by mischievous young Finn, but the new gambler in town Cobb Bridger, late of the Pinkertons, is keeping a professional eye on her. He sits with her over dinner and they discuss the fact that Bitter Springs has no marshal. Becoming properly friendly, Tru later tells Cobb how she narrowly escaped the Chicago Fire. Once Cobb has her confidence he enquires about a missing brooch - Tru denies having it. But Cobb, however much he admires the young woman, still has his job to do.

Jo Goodman writes with expertise about her historical settings and there is a lot to be learned - Montana was viewed as outlaw territory at this time, the railroad was shrinking the distances and towns which began as mining camps turned to stopping places for cattle drives. Here the teacher has few restrictions compared to those set by school boards in other towns, where an unmarried teacher must not keep company with men or take strong drink, and a comfortable home is supplied to Tru as an incentive; other single teachers might have been obliged to board with a respectable couple. While there is understated tension the plot is slow to move to the final drama and I did think that Goodman might have been so interested in details of frontier life that she forgot to keep up a pace.

TRUE TO THE LAW will be enjoyed by lovers of historical romance and fans of Jo Goodman, a careful researcher and assured writer with other western romances to her credit.