Bad Company

May 13, 2002
Following a well-received debut (2000's Brown-Eyed Girl), the new adventure featuring "Mustang" Sally Adler (for the car, not the horse) and the living jewel called Wyoming is another delectable tale of strong women of the West. Swift gives readers a lot to like: wicked satire of pompous academics, smart but not smart-alecky writing, the achingly beautiful landscape of the eastern Rockies, great sex between grownups old enough to know what they're doing and why—and most of all, the dead-on portrayal of a Western town, in this case Laramie, Wyo. (pop. 27,000). A history professor at the University of New Mexico, Swift clearly knows how Westerners act and think. When the going gets tough, they "cowboy up." They say to the government, "Just give me the check and get the hell out." Their idea of fancy Saturday night garb is dress jeans and cowboy boots. They work phrases from country songs into their everyday conversation, and name their children after country singers. When Sally's best friend marries a rodeo rider named Walker Davis, what else would they call their son but Jerry Jeff Walker Davis? The core plot is not complex, but it feels real. Two main threads—the rape and murder of a young woman who's no one's candidate for the girl next door and a land swap deal that stinks of greed and corruption even before toxic groundwater is discovered—are resolved in a way that poignantly reminds us that sometimes morality has murky edges. All told, this is a refreshing piece of work by a strong new talent. Agent, Elaine Koster.

May 1, 2002
Country-western singer and college professor "Mustang" Sally Alder is back for a second adventure in Laramie, Wyoming. During the annual Jubilee Days, supermarket clerk Monette Bandy turns up dead in a desert area outside of town. Known for her bad taste in men, Monette was not very bright but harmless. Sally wants Monette's killer brought to justice, but she realizes that the authorities are more concerned with maintaining the festive atmosphere of Jubilee Days and ensuring that no revenue is lost as a result of a crime scare. With the help of her friends, Sally discovers that Monette's death was the unfortunate by-product of a scam involving unsavory real-estate deals and corrupt environmentalists. The lively characters and surprising plot twists, combined with the ambience of the modern Wild West, are the appeal factors in this entertaining mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)