Lisa Plumley, The Scoundrel

The Scoundrel

Lisa Plumley

Harlequin, Apr 2006, $5.50

ISBN: 0373293976

In 1882, in Morrow Creek, Arizona Territory, blacksmith Daniel McCabe loves the women, when a clerk interrupts his latest dalliance with saloon dancers insisting he has a delivery waiting for him at the train station that cannot wait until tomorrow. Fearing the clerk will have a heart attack; Daniel accompanies him to retrieve the package, though he is expecting nothing. His parcel turns out to be a four foot boy who recognizes his face from a picture his mom showed him. His nephew Eli has arrived from the East.

Two months later Daniel decides he needs a wife to raise his always in trouble nephew. He selects his friend, capable spinster schoolteacher Sarah Crabtree, who he knows is an expert when it comes to preadolescent children. He offers her a marriage of convenience, which she accepts, but hides her true agenda to turn their relationship into a loving family of three, and hopefully more, though that might mean causing problems for Daniel that will make Eli's look boyish in comparison.

The sequel to THE MATCHMAKER, THE SCOUNDREL is an amusing western romantic romp that will keep the audience laughing with the antics that Sarah, and to a degree Eli pull on hapless Daniel, who will not know what hit him, as love for his woman blindsides him. The eccentric support cast enhance the fine historical with their escapades, especially his nephew and her students, in particular nine year old spelling bee whiz Emily. Sub-genre fans will believe that Lisa Plumley's fine tale is much more than OK.