"A real treat"

In the 1870s New Orleans, wealthy Walter Malloy parades potential husbands past his daughter, but Hanna rejects each of them until he informs her she will wed Louis Beauchcamp, merging the two biggest shipping firms in the area. Walter hires a chaperone to guard his daughter so Hanna concludes she will never be free of her domineering father or his hand pick lackey of a spouse unless she marries someone else. She decides her choice must be a wanderer who would never be home to order her to do things. Hanna escapes and flees to Fort Smith, Arkansas.

She selects half-breed Cale Elliot as her mate based on his reputation as a deputy working for Judge Parker, and his work as a bounty hunter will keep him away from her. Cale accepts her plan because he believes that a wife could be the key to gaining entrance to the notorious gang who killed his brother. As her father and her "fiancé" come to collect her, the newlyweds fall in love, but both remain in deadly danger if the outlaws learn who he is.

Though some readers might scratch their heads on the relative ease of Hanna's transformation from a life of opulence to that of a frontier woman, Americana fans will relish the adaptation to her new life because she is a brave admirable individual. Cale has his own demons to contend with, but knows he would die for his bride. The lead characters are deep and their adventures are typical of a Carol Finch reading riot as the BOUNTY HUNTER'S BRIDE is a stirring western romance that entertains the troops.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 28, 2002