"Entertaining and Intriguing!"

Gabriel Caine is in a train station in Laredo, Texas waiting for the train. He works for the Pinkerton Agency and has been hired to hunt down a man to bring him back to be tried for murder and assault. Gabriel's interest is piqued when he notices Sophie Madrigal walk in with her entourage. Who is this Junoesque woman and what is she doing out in the middle of nowhere?

Sophie is on a mission. She's out to hunt down and kill a man for what he did to her and her family. She is out solely for revenge. That's all she can think of twenty- four hours a day. To pay for her journey and that of her aunt and their handy man, a Russian midget, Sophie and her Aunt Juniper tell fortunes and hold séances. Dmitri, their man, scouts out where these can be held.

Gabriel finds out where the Madrigals are headed and it just so happens he's headed to the same town so he decides to tag along with them for a while. Aunt Juniper reads Gabriel's cards and believes that he and Sophie are made for each other. She thinks that Gabriel can heal Sophie's broken heart and make her whole again.

This book was quite intriguing. Sophie had a secret and Aunt Juniper kept referring to the big secret but every time she did, Sophie would shush her up. Gabriel was intrigued by the whole family. Aunt Juniper vowed that she saw magic every time Sophie and Gabriel touched each other. Neither Sophie nor Gabriel wanted to be attracted to each other but it was inevitable. This was a most enjoyable read!

Reviewed by Kathy Boswell
Posted November 9, 2001

Summary

When Sophie Madrigal sets out to exact vengeance on Ivo Hardwick, accompanied by her aunt Juniper, her pug dog Tybalt, and the dwarf Dmitri, she doesn't expect to stumble over Gabriel Caine. Gabriel, a Pinkerton man who is also out to get Hardwick, wants to bring the villain to justice. To Sophie, the only justice appropriate for Hardwick is death. Administered by her.

It doesn't help either Sophie or Gabriel that, while on their individual quests, they keep bumping into the magic they inadvertently create whenever they get together. Sophie's family has been in the spiritualist business for ages. Sophie's always reviled the family business, believing it to be so much hokum -- until now.

As for Gabriel, the son of revivalist preachers, he's as cynical as a man can be -- until he meets his fate in Sophie.