Diamond in the Rough

Grant Diamond is a gambler hiding from the law in 1861. In disguise as a clergyman, he literally runs into Lily Rose, an impulsive heiress who believes he is the minister she summoned to Eureka, Calif., to help build a school to educate Indians in the area. Meanwhile, Pinkerton Carter Forbes, hot on Diamond’s trail, shows up in Eureka. Unlikely alliances ensue as the school is constructed and a rancher who hates Indians poses problems. AlLee (The Pastor’s Wife) and Richardson (The Magistrate’s Folly) have collaborated to produce a novel that has charm—the flawed hero is engaging—and confusion, with the tone dizzyingly shifting between comic and tense drama. Nor is it clear whether heroine Lily is brave and deeply interested in social justice or clumsy and ditsy. Character arcs are implausible; Lily’s mother is particularly incredible. Redemption is predictable but not convincing. The novel is amusing at its best but quite uneven. (May)