Out of the West

A talented storyteller, Archer sorely misses the mark with her latest. She attempts to weave a double love story into a story line that is too frail to sustain her efforts. The story begins with two beautiful female bounty hunters from different backgrounds converging on the same prey in the middle of the New Mexico desert. Their quarry is the Cactus Kid. When they can't agree who will get the reward, Nakoni and Summer join ranks with the Kid in search of the sacred gold statue, the ""black Madonna."" En route to Mexico, they run into two heroes--Talon, a gorgeous gambler, and Slade, a handsome former Buffalo Soldier. Romance follows pretty predictably. The whole thing also suffers from Archer's attempt to characterize her heroines through dialogue. Lines like ""I'm a bounty hunter, the best in the West,"" and ""I'm taking you in Kid,"" are more silly than evocative. (July)