Warrior Hearts: A Warbonnet Mystery
This is the fourth in a series (after Death’s Icy Hand, 2013) set in the little town of Warbonnet, Wyoming Territory in 1873. The Sioux, having crushed the U.S. Army ten years earlier, legally own a large slice of the Territory – but distrust lingers on both sides.
When Kate Shaw, local schoolteacher and doctor’s daughter, tags along with Marshal Monday Malone to see two bodies riddled with arrows, something strikes her as suspicious. When Monday identifies the arrows, Kate’s hunch and his experience combine to uncover the real murderer before false accusations damage relations with the Sioux. Kate’s involvement in amateur theatricals provides an appropriate Shakespearian lesson on the perils of feuding with neighbors.
The research is sound, the plot is complex, and alternating narratives cover the action smoothly. To make the participation in a young unmarried woman in 19th century criminal investigations, not to mention her relationships with men, seem credible, the characterization needs work. Although an affair (not Kate and Monday!) figures largely in the plot, there is no graphic sex or violence. Warrior Hearts is for fans of cozy Westerns.
