THIS MAN THATACUS MURPHY

Author: Cynthia Love ISBN: 037377043X 3/2005 HISTORICAL Publisher: DENLINGER'S PUBLISHING
Time Period: 1872

Sheriff Thatacus Murphy would rather deal with a jail full of drunks, would rather fist-fight Big Buck, and would rather be the innocent victim of someone else's vendetta than deal with the beautiful Katie Thomas. Ever since she arrived in town, stages got robbed, snakes appeared out of nowhere, and knife-wielding lunatics grabbed young boys by the scruff. If by some crazy event Katie wasn't convicted of felony and murder by the circuit-judge, Murphy would personally cart her lovely little self over to the stage depot and ship her out on the next outbound coach. Katie knew she was innocent of robbing the stage, even if she couldn't remember the event in a clear-like fashion. But she knew she wasn't the type of girl to kill people for money. She wasn't some black thundercloud like some folk thought she was - some folks by the name of Sheriff Thatacus Murphy that she could mention but she wouldn't. But how in the blue-eyed world was she going to convince the sheriff that she was innocent when the men who started this whole hullabaloo in the first place break her out of jail?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

THIS MAN THATACUS MURPHY was a nice little surprise for me. It was a wonderful book. Though not very long, it in no way lacked substance. It had a strong, stubborn, good looking hero and an equally strong, beautiful, vibrant heroine.

Thatacus Murphy is the sheriff of a small town, out to catch a stage robber/murderer. Katie Thomas just happens to be the woman who was on the stage that can tell him what happened, except for one little thing—she has no memory of that night. She can't remember ever meeting Thatacus or trying to shoot him, she can't remember hiding a bag with ten thousand dollars in it, and she sure as heck can't remember shooting and killing a man. Thatacus doesn't believe a word out of her mouth. He is convinced that he has his suspect and pulls out all the stops until he gets what he wants—Katie in jail.

That is where it gets sticky. Thatacus has feelings for Katie and can't understand why. He shouldn't have feelings for a common criminal, should he? Once he realizes his mistake, it is a chase to find the men who have committed this awful crime, with Katie right smack in the middle of it all. What Katie also finds herself smack in the middle of, is a wonderful love with an honest to goodness heartthrob. There is a great element of comfort and pleasantness to this town and the people. When I got to the part where Todd and Big Buck were helping Katie and Thatacus, I almost fell out of my chair laughing!

With THIS MAN THATACUS MURPHY, Ms. Love has shown me what a wonderful author she is. I will gladly look for more of her books in the future and recommend TMTM to anyone looking for a good book to read.

Kristal Gorman