Savage Surrender

This fast-paced story of love in the Wild West is an entertaining patchwork of tried-and-true elements in the romance genre. The time is 1875, and the mining town of Prospect City in Arizona Territory is preyed upon by the Poet Bandit, a masked marauder. His frequent target is the payroll of mean, obese Vern Hargrove. In desperation, Hargrove hires bounty hunter Ashe Barkley to unmask the Bandit. Their first meeting is explosivethe Bandit shoots Barkley in the shoulder. Subsequent meetings are even more fierythe Bandit turns out to be Hallie Parker, a strong-willed woman who has vowed revenge against Hargrove for stealing her grandfather's mine. Add Apaches, Mexicans, an unsolved murder, old Civil War grievances and almost daily shootouts, and the plot positively roils. (March)