Reissued from 2000, when Patricia Hagan was writing under the name of Maggie James, this lively historical romance starts in the Shenandoah Valley where the bitterness wrought by the Civil War still divides communities. Kitty Parrish has just been orphaned and finds herself almost friendless. She decides to up stakes and leave for the Arizona Territory, where in a town named Tombstone her stepfather is prospecting for ARIZONA GOLD.

Ryder McCloud is a half-Apache scout, who hopes to lead some people fleeing a reservation across the border to Mexico. Here they can lead their own lives. His father, a partner with Kitty's father, had struck gold but both prospectors have been killed. If Ryder can find the gold it might make all the difference to his family. He rides in to Tombstone looking for clues. Boot Hill, the cemetery for ordinary folks, is busy as rowdiness causes fights and shootings nightly. Opal Grimes, the lover of the dead man Parrish, works at the saloon owned by Wyatt Earp. She's not looking for another man, and she's sent a map of the claim to Kitty. But Ryder learns that Kitty is on her way to Tombstone.

I was cheering for Kitty from the start, as she dresses like a boy and calls herself Kit to journey without trouble. She's a good shot with a pistol and endures the hardship of the stage trail. She's used to handling horses at home, but the good horses are changed for mustangs then mules as they cross the broken country. Life out here isn't gentle but she is determined to cope. Then the valiant girl - who refused to condone slavery at home - is captured by Apaches and enslaved in her male guise.

A girl dressing as a boy in historical times always makes for a great tale. Life among the Apaches is hard work and at times brutal, but the well-researched details give us an appreciation of the skills that it took to live off the land. The life of miners, with basic food and dynamite in their brush camp, isn't easy either. There is good contrast and character development in the carefully written tale by Patricia Hagan, with an adult romance between two people who have both led double lives. Try ARIZONA GOLD to look behind the scenes and find a heroine to love.