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Hard Rustler
by bestselling author B. J. Daniels brings to life the Montana
countryside in her latest novel. Readers will enjoy the characters,
setting, and mystery. The plot is a modern-day version of
past Westerns.
The setting is very important, and Daniels based it when “I
moved to Montana from Texas at the age of five. I write what
I see and know about. The Western way of life is all I have
ever known. It is a much simpler way of life. We now live
in a small town where most people are rancher cowboys. As
in the story, it is isolated, with the closest Target Store
three hours away. Someone can be driving either sixty miles
south or north and they will not see anybody all day. In the
book, there is a scene like that where Annabelle had run out
of gas, and she feels completely alone and secluded. This
is all true to life. I always have food and a blanket in the
car in case it breaks down because cell phones do not work
here.”
The story begins with a city gal, Annabelle (Annie) Clementine,
traveling back to her home town of Whitehorse Montana. After
high school, she decided to escape the monotony to become
a famous model, leaving her love interest behind. Now, thirteen
years later, she is back to sell her late grandmother’s
house and to get out of town as soon as possible. The one
problem, she is destitute with no money and seems to depend
on her ex-boyfriend, Dawson Rogers, to rescue her. He helps
by bailing her out, so her car is not repossessed, siphoning
off the gas, and saving her life. It seems someone wants to
find something in her grandmother’s house that has been
hidden for years and is willing to kill for an answer. Annie
and Dawson must sort out the mystery and determine what her
grandmother was hiding.
Daniels wrote Annabelle as “someone who wants to do
something with her life, a desire to succeed. This happens
a lot with Montana children who leave to get a job but often
come home to raise their children. In this story, she comes
home with her tail between her legs. I think at the beginning
of the story she is a snob, arrogant, and determined. Later
those qualities come out as spunky, strong, and a risk-taker.
She and Dawson at first appear to be opposites. She has a
driving ambition, and he is satisfied with the simpler things
in life. After being high school lovers, he knew he had to
let her go and sensed she had this restless streak. This is
why he did not fight more for her to stay. When she came back,
she started to realize what was important in life. She had
sowed her oats.”
As with most westerns boy meets girl, boy loses the girl,
and the boy gets the girl. This novel has that and more, inputting
modern day issues into a suspenseful mystery.
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