Nancy Bartholomew, Stella, Get Your Gun

Stella, Get Your Gun

Nancy Bartholomew

Silhouette Bombshell, Oct 2004, $5.50, 294 pp.

ISBN: 0373513275

In Garden Beach, Florida, patrol officer Stella Valocchi completes her undercover assignment of capturing a serial killer successfully in spite of her partner Lou Ann being replaced by a pathetic rookie. She goes to see her boyfriend Pete the cop only to see he and Lou Ann playing bad girl games on the sheets. Angrily she leaves with Pete's dog, but realizes she has no future here as her former best friend and partner and her former lover will cover their respective behinds with nasty rumors about her.

Stella drives to her hometown to spend time with her beloved Uncle Benny and their zany family. However, upon arriving in Glenn Ford, Pennsylvania, she learns that Benny committed suicide. Leading the services at Benny's funeral is Minister Jake Carpenter, who once jilted Stella at the altar. Unable to accept the fact that Benny killed himself, Stella investigates the death only to have unwanted help from her family and Jake, whom she still loves.

Stella is a fabulous protagonist looking to regain her groove following the Florida betrayal and the death of her uncle in which she is the only one who thinks murder occurs. Her relatives are the wild bunch who add amusing and often frantic lunacy to the fast-paced plot. Fans of a madcap romantic suspense will want to read the amusing yet tense STELLA, GET YOUR GUN, which she would like to use on jilting Jake.

Harriet Klausner