CALAMITY JAYNE HEADS WEST

Author: Kathleen Bacus ISBN: 0505527332 10/2007 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: DORCHESTER

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE BLONDE COYOTE? IT GOT STUCK IN A TRAP, CHEWED OFF THREE LEGS AND WAS STILL STUCK. Tressa Iayne Turner, Grandville Iowa 's own little "Calamity", is headed for the grand Canyon State —and a wedding! No, not her own. She hasn't said yes to the roguish Ranger Rick yet, but after the past year, some downtime in a sweat lodge is just what the shaman ordered. Unfortunately, it's her goofy granny gettin' hitched, and Tressa's sunny little siesta is about to have more strings attached than a dream catcher. Her cousin's keeping secrets, Rick's sending signals—as of the smokin' than smoke variety—and it seems Tressa's not the only person with an attachment to "Kookamunga", the butt-ugly fertility figurine she picked up at a roadside stand as a wedding gift. The wacky wedding's about to become a southwestern scavenger hunt, an amazing race cum Da Vinci Code-intrigue, featuring a washed-up actress out to kick-start her career, a suspect spiritual advisor, locals with a cause, and a ten-year­old who's a chip off a certain ranger's blockhead. I'll be a vision quest to make Thelma and Louise's southwestern spree seem like amateur night at the OK Corral. May the best spirit guide win.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Small town blonde Calamity Jayne is back for her fifth romantic mystery. This time she's heading to the Southwest to celebrate her grandmother's wedding to Joe Townsend, the grandfather of Tressa Jayne's lifelong crush, "Ranger" Rick.

While her grandmother frets about a new wedding dress, wondering how much cleavage a seventy-something-year-old can display, Tressa buys a spectacularly ugly wedding gift from a roadside stand and winds up being chased around town by a gorgeous Native American bad guy. Why does he seem to want her fertility statue? Tressa is aided by her cousin Sophie, sister Taylor, and Rick's ten year-old nephew, Nick, who reminds Tressa all too well of Rick's childhood shenanigans.

Back in Iowa, there is plenty to worry about as a competent substitute seems to be taking over Tressa's beloved reporting job. Can she turn her Arizona adventures into a hot story and save her job? Rick's heart is also on the line, as an attractive woman competes with Tressa for the ranger's affection.

CALAMITY JAYNE HEADS WEST is outrageous and outrageously entertaining as Tressa winds her way through her latest adventure. This is my favorite so far of the Calamity Jayne mysteries. It has a breakneck pace that never lets up, and the quips just keep coming!

Heather Hiestand