Last Chance

Readers who loved After All-and were left wondering what became of the dark and surly Lane Cassidy-will be overjoyed with this first-rate spinoff. Rachel Albright McKenna, the schoolmarm from After All, is now the woman of the hour. In the decade since Lane left town, she has married, given birth to a son, been widowed and been scorned by her in-laws and the town at large because her macho sheriff husband died in the arms of the local prostitute. When Lane, now a noted gunfighter, strides into town, feisty Rachel defies the gossips and her busybody in-laws by seeing him again. Lane has some secrets-he isn't the no-account he was, but rather an operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency busy tracking down a train robber. While Rachel's in-laws earn the reader's dislike for their narrow-mindedness, the main characters are sympathetic and haunted-Rachel by her feelings of sexual inadequacy and Lane by childhood sexual abuse. Landis shows greater versatility with each new book, moving from homespun heroines to dark and dangerous outlaws with equal skill. (Dec.)