A Case for Romance

The intrepid Emily Potter travels to the 1893 frontier town of Denver, Colo., after her long-lost father and his mistress are murdered in a bordello and his gold fortune disappears. A Sherlock Holmes devotee, Emily decides to emulate the great detective by using logic to pursue the facts surrounding the case and solve the mystery. A passenger on Emily's stagecoach, Thomas Hall, accompanies her to Denver for reasons of his own and offers to assist her in the possibily dangerous investigation. A love affair blossoms. Searching for witnesses to the crime, Emily and Thomas's lives are endangered, and their love is challenged when Thomas decides to tell Emily his true identity and his connection to the missing gold. Only a superfluous ghost (who plays a surprisingly large part in the story) and one-dimensional villains mar this delightful love story that successfully blends mystery, humor and a steamy romance into a western-style adventure. (Feb.)