Deliverance Drive

In the 1870s, when news of gold strikes in British Columbia attracted hordes of prospectors, a man named Dooley, knowing the men would have to eat, herded his cattle 160 miles across brutalizing Canadian wilderness to perform the task. Ledbetter, the author of the Spur Award-winning Nellie Cashman: Prospector and Trailblazer, has used that story as inspiration for her own tale. Jenna French's late husband managed to make one (and only one) legal transaction before meeting his maker--the purchase of a herd of longhorns. Jenna plans to drive the ""passel of beeves"" across 120 miles of Canadian wilderness to the gold fields at Dease Lake, and she needs seasoned cattleman Dan Brannum to help her. Dan may be a ""stubborn, surly, arrogant son of a bitch,"" but he's not stupid: the way he sees it, the 60/40 split of the profits will allow him to buy back the Texas ranch his foolhardy brother has lost. Intricate background detail, a gutsy heroine and fine use of period vernacular add up to a read that's ""finer than fur on a frog's ass."" (Sept.)