Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch by B.J. Daniels
A Harlequin Free Novel Classic Murder Mystery
Nov 10, 2009
The Harlequin novel Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch reunites Hud Savage and Dana Cardwell. In the years before the book starts, the couple had been engaged until Dana caught Hud in bed with her sister. Dana immediately breaks off the engagement and Hud flees to Los Angeles, where he continues his career as a police officer.
During her engagement to Hud, Dana lived on a ranch in Montana with her mother. Dana's parents divorced, and her mother got to keep the ranch, since her father was never very interested in it. Dana's siblings took after her father and didn't care much about the happenings on the land, but Dana took after her mother, putting every part of her being into the ranch after she and Hud split.
Homicide on the ranch
After her mother died, Dana's siblings tried to force Dana to sell the ranch to split the money, but the discovery of homicide and human bones in a well on the ranch shakes up Dana's life and looks like it will slow the selling process.
Dana's life is further turned upside down when the temporary marshal arrives to investigate the bones -- it is none other than Hud Savage, who has returned from Los Angeles. Initially, Dana is unfriendly to Hud, but as the investigation continues, Dana finds that her feelings for Hud have not diminished in his absence.
Murder mystery
This story is about more than Dana and Hud rekindling their love. Author B.J. Daniels has done an excellent job of crafting a murder mystery entwined with a love story. Although the book does have the Harlequin label on it, there are no steamy sex scenes -- only what the reader can interpret as real-life emotions such as love, confusion and terror.
Additional questions
And while the murder mystery is the central question in the story, there also is an underlying mystery: Why was Hud found in Dana's sister's bed? Why did he flee to Los Angeles? The answer to both mysteries will surprise even the most astute detective.
The number of possible criminals that Daniels presents throughout the book in itself is astounding and keeps the reader guessing until the end. Despite the twists and turns, the reader does not have to dig too deep to understand the plot. At only 246 pages, the book is a quick and easy read which will provide the reader with a few hours of escape time.
And as a free novel to celebrate Harlequin's 60th anniversary, it's a book everyone can afford to read.
Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch was published by Harlequin in 2006. ISBN: 978-0-373-15090-8
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