Monday, April 5, 2010

When Love Comes-Leigh Greenwood

When Love Comes
Leigh Greenwood
Leisure, Apr 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780843961362

Broc Kincaid's face was scarred during the Civil War. By 1869 he remains extremely sensitive about his visage so when moronic Felix Yant tauntingly comments, an irate Broc batters the man. The Texas judge warns him about losing his temper, but commends him for paying the doctor bills so that Yant’s wife and two kids did not have to suffer; still he sentences him to collect a debt. That will wipe clean the record or spend time in jail

Broc agrees to go to Cactus bend to collect what rancher Aaron Liscomb owes. He arrives at the Lazy T ranch to find the man dead. His wife Amanda runs the spread with the help of her three young children Eddie, Gary and Amanda. None of the four family members know anything about a debt. Broc assumes they lie, but decides to learn the truth. He obtains work on the ranch, but as he falls in love with the widow and her three kids, he also realizes they are honest; which means the judge or someone else is using him to pull a scam.

This is a super extremely complicated western romance that feels in some ways like an amateur sleuth as the hero struggles to learn the truth starting with going undercover. The romantic subplot takes a somewhat back seat to Broc’s investigation, but fits perfectly as he begins to wonder if love taints his perspective. Leigh Greenwood affirms why he is one of the sub-genre’s top guns with his latest historical.

Harriet Klausner

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