The first thing you might notice about this story is the author’s unique “voice”. Platt is a wonderful storyteller with a unique style. She repeats names and “head hops” between characters in rapid succession to give you a sense for all that is happening but that doesn’t stop her stories from being imminently readable. Suffused with subtle humor and thoroughly delightful. And she gets the Western setting, the cowboys, the women who admire them and the small towns all just right.
This one begins the Montana Lawmen trilogy set in the late 19th century. It brings us three sheriffs and three mail order brides, who are cousins. Via correspondence, they make the acquaintance of three men who are hardworking miners who want brides who know each other. It seems a perfect match.
Janette Novak of Philadelphia arrived in Trizbee, Montana with her cousins only to learn the men they were to marry are dead. Sheriff Clyde Connor, together with his two fellow sheriffs, was in the middle of responding to death and destruction when he encountered Janette and, at her plea, took off to rescue her hatbox.
At first, Clyde Connor has no idea what brought Janette Novak—or her two
cousins, Abigail Willetts and Lucy O’Brien—all the way to Montana. And it did
not matter because he was “taking a break in the Romance Department”. But that
soon goes out the window when he finds himself kissing Janette.
Platt
has given us some wonderful characters, not the least of which are the three
Sheriffs, a wonderful housekeeper at Clyde’s ranch, some funny messengers who
deliver letters and the cousins. There is also a woman, Cora, who has long
wanted the handsome Clyde as her own. And Platt has us in all their minds with
a fun story I highly recommend.
Montana Law Men:
Clyde Connor
Wyatt James
Sam Humbolt
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