Goldtown

Gritty and fast-paced, this western romance is comfortingly predictable in detail, down to the sharp-as-a-whip, lice-infested hired gunman who makes it gallop. Former Confederate cavalry captain Lee Cameron, now a gambler, heads to the gold rush town of Varina, Mont., in 1867. He is looking for his pre-Civil War sweetheart, Emma Dubois, who has moved west and now runs a dancehall. Their first encounter in Varina is awkward, especially when Lee learns that Emma is a widow and that he is the father of her child. The star-crossed lovers' reunion is further darkened by the post-war Reb and Yank antagonism, threats of claim-jumping and the quick violence of gold fever, as well as their own feelings of uncertainty. It doesn't help when Lee is forced to shoot off the right arm of mean, hot-tempered Spud Ervin in the aftermath of a poker game. Crazed with desire for revenge and maddened with lust for Emma, Spud manages to menace everyone in town. Repulsive Spud is the novel's most realistic character. Emma is a standard western heroine, hardboiled and independent, while Lee is a Fabio in buckskins (Lee to Emma: ""`Dammit, woman, you do know how to rile a man!' Abruptly, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her""). Even the vigilantes with their convenient knot-tying can't tie up all the wild emotions and loose ends in this conventional, if spirited, melodrama. (Oct.)