Standing in the Shadows

Standing in the Shadows is the second of the Coyote Springs novels by Ken Casper. It's a standalone novel and is what I would call a murder mystery cowboy romance.   Yep.  It's got murder, cowboys, cattle rustlers, drunks, abusive husbands and second chance romance.  It's well written and fairly short at 216 pages.  Some of the romance dialogue had me rolling my eyes, there's a fair bit of bosom heaving and moaning, but it is a romance, and perhaps I'm being a trifle unfair.

No real surprises and no disappointment.  It follows through and delivers an enjoyably diverting read. The characters are well developed (if predictable), and the plotting is solid.  The mystery was well thought out and followed 'the rules'. It's mostly clean with no explicit sex scenes (just implied).  The romance part is sweet and wholesome, without a ton of draaaaama which I really appreciated.  I didn't feel like I wanted to reach into the book and smack any of the characters for being an idiot, or at least not uncontrollably so.

Definitely worth a read for die-hard cowboy romance fans. 

Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.