If you like westerns, detective novels, romantic stories, and books that will make you laugh out loud, then you need to read Undercover Bride without further delay!
Summary:
Pinkerton detective Maggie Cartwright is tasked with going undercover as a mail order bride. Her “fiancé” is widower Garrett Thomas, aka the suspected Whistle-Stop Bandit. No sooner does Maggie arrive in Arizona Territory when she’s confronted with an early wedding date—the clock is ticking on her detective work or she may end up a criminal’s wife! As the day of the wedding draws near, Maggie begins to panic. The problem is that the more she gets to know Garrett and his two adorable children, the harder it is to keep up the deception. Can a man as kind and gentle as Garrett really be the Whistle-Stop Bandit?
My Review:
This second book in Margaret Brownley’s Undercover Ladies series is jam-packed with the perfect amount of suspense, history, humor, and of course romance. It is perfectly fine as a stand-alone; in fact, you can read the books in any order as they are really only connected by theme rather than by characters. And while we’re on the subject, never fear if the first book in the series – Petticoat Detective – wasn’t your favorite. It wasn’t mine either. (I liked PD… just not as much as some of her other books.) Don’t let that stop you from reading Undercover Bride. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the wide range of emotions I experienced while reading it.
Maggie’s partner Rikker gave me most of my laughs – each new getup/disguise (and Maggie’s reaction to them) amused me more than the ones he’d previously used. Sharp-tongued hypochondriac Aunt Hetty and inventor-in-the-making Toby (who confidently had an answer for everything) also proved to be delightfully humorous. If I wasn’t grinning at their antics, I was grinning at Garrett’s romantical gestures (and Maggie’s reaction to them). Cue the dreamy sigh.
But that’s the thing about this book. My dreamy sighs didn’t last very long because I spent most of the book keeping pace with Maggie as she tried to decide whether or not Garrett was guilty. Just about the time Maggie & I became convinced of his innocence, Margaret Brownley would throw us another emotional curveball, and it was back to the drawing board for our case. Umm… I mean, for Maggie and Rikker’s case. I did try to help but it was like she couldn’t hear me. Then I thought I had the co-culprit figured out… only to discover I was wrong. Sigh. Clearly, a career as a Pinkerton is not in my future. 😉
But this book should be in yours! (See what I did there?) Definitely a truly entertaining must-read.
I give Undercover Bride 5 out of 5 stars and a place on my faves shelf!
Thank you, Netgalley, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
About the Author:
Thrills, mystery, suspense, romance: Margaret penned it all. Nothing wrong with this, except Margaret happened to be writing for the church newsletter. After making the church picnic read like a Grisham novel, her former pastor took her aside and said, “Maybe God’s calling you to write fiction.”
Margaret wasn’t sure if that was true, but she wasn’t about to take chances.. She now has more than 30 books to her credit–not bad for someone who failed eighth grade English. Just don’t ask her to diagram a sentence.
Happily married to her real-life hero, Margaret and her husband live in Southern California.
You can connect with Margaret at her website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest.
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