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November 12, 2007
When two local yokels rob the First Wisconsin Bank of Winosha, part-time teller and town librarian Turner Hastings seizes the opportunity to pull her own heist, dumping the contents of the bank president’s safety deposit box into her purse before going on the run. No-nonsense FBI Special Agent John MacKinnon is on the case, though this pursuit proves to be more frolic-and-giggle than cloak-and-dagger. Turner isn’t really a thief, she’s just determined to prove that Calvin Hyman, the politically ambitious bank president, has been embezzling from the bank for years—and not, as Hyman has testified, her late uncle Rusty. Turner’s days on the lam assume a Thelma and Louise
quality—in which Louise is a rescued Great Dane—as she roams Wisconsin’s back roads in a borrowed Chevy pickup, playing cat and mouse games with MacKinnon. Keeping touch by phone, the cop and crook become increasingly intrigued by each other; soon, however, the plucky librarian is in the sights of another, more dangerous opponent, and MacKinnon finds his professional demeanor slipping as his role shifts from man hunter to bodyguard. Lively humor, an enterprising heroine, creative plot twists and a nail-biting finale make Harper’s debut a worthwhile romp.