Stacey's Flyer

The Gaffer, Barty Brown, runs the Brown Company, a stagecoach business, with an eye to the competition and not a little guile. It is understandable, then, that he sends his motherless only daughter, Stacey, off to finishing school when she would much rather join him in his risky trade. To assist him, he hires mysterious, attractive Simon Keating, who proves to have had more than one name and more than one love in a colorful past given to gaming and racing. Inevitably, the proprietor's daughter marries her father's aide and endures considerable testing until she wins her rightful place as wife and business partner. The characters in this historical romance are paper thin, overshadowed by the interesting details of the coaching business and by the story's final event, a spectacular race with the business's unprincipled competitor. December 26