Tame the Fury was my first historical and contains my first and last poem ever. It is set in the historical area where I grew up in Washington State, though the actual setting is fictional. I was invited to write this lead in the Charter Line, then changed to Diamond at Berkley.
Wild Dawn reflects one of my favorite elements, the western mountainmain, MacGregor. He needs help with his infant son, and "purchases" noblewoman Lady Regina who is in a desperate spot. I loved studying the Paisley shawls of the period, and Mac is wearing one around his hips.
Night Fire is set on the Oregon Trail, and yes, I drove that from St. Jo, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. Really quite the experience and I encourage everyone to try to catch this bit of American's past...
Since women weren't allowed to drive their own wagons and she was on a hunt for a disappeared fiance, Arielle decided to marry a dying man. But Luc D'Arcy had other ideas--he lived and he had revenge on his to-do list.
Since women weren't allowed to drive their own wagons and she was on a hunt for a disappeared fiance, Arielle decided to marry a dying man. But Luc D'Arcy had other ideas--he lived and he had revenge on his to-do list.
DELILAH is a true favorite, and I can just see Tom Selleck in the role of Canadian Mountie Simon Oakes. Set in the Northwest Territory, this Mountie is tracking down a killer, and Delilah is hunting her brother. They follow the Okanagon/Cariboo trail up to Barkerville, B.C. and so did I. (Yes, the spelling is different.) The restoration of the mining town was amazing; the sights along the Fraizer River absolutely breathtaking. At the time I wrote Delilah not much was available to a MO writer, so I really researched, including visiting the Mountie museum. I've always hoped this book would be set in film.
The inset is gorgeous, done by Pellegrino.
The inset is gorgeous, done by Pellegrino.
The Wedding Gamble is also a favorite, set in Montana. Cairo Brown is a professional billiardist who takes all challengers and owns a classy establishment on the upper Missouri River. Montana came to be one of my favorite book settings. The Wedding Gamble is the only book of its kind in the American Congress of Billiards. I had to study antique equipment and games. They were most helpful. I've always wanted to get into billiards. Fort Benton, the setting of this book, was where the Mounties in Canada came to get their supplies and their brides on the steamboats. But all Solomon Wolfe wanted was a woman for one year to help with his niece. When Cairo loses the gamble, she's in for surprises.
In this book, I learned how much an antique billiards table weighs and how it would be shipped overland in a wagon.
This is a gorgeous foil cover with a stepback.
In this book, I learned how much an antique billiards table weighs and how it would be shipped overland in a wagon.
This is a gorgeous foil cover with a stepback.
Be Mine is also a favorite, because it includes so much of my German Immigrant heritage. I'm quite familiar about how Emma would feel when Sam Taggart's cat sat in her bread bowl. Out to make his fortune, Sam needs a classy heiress by his side, not a farmgirl housekeeper with a head for business, who turns his plans upside down--after a mistaken night in a bordello.
