Shifting Calder Wind

While in Texas, Chase Calder, a Montana cattle rancher, wakes after a gunshot wound to the head to find that he has no memory of his name or his past. Calder is rescued by Laredo Smith and his friend, Hattie, who help him return to Montana. It falls upon Calder's daughter-in-law, Jessy, to run the ranch and deal with the ensuing power struggles. William Dufris narrates this mystery with his exuberant emotion and intense involvement in murder, cattle, and even romance. Dufris's performance goes into overdrive when romance sparks between Chase and Hattie, and Laredo and Jessy. There's never a dull moment on the ranch! M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

June 30, 2003
Dailey, veteran author of more than 100 romance novels, seven of which belong to the Calder family saga (Green Calder Grass, etc.), adds another immensely readable installment to this two-decades-old series. At the novel's outset, patriarch Chase Calder is shot and presumed dead while on a business trip in Texas. The incident leaves Chase with a mild head wound and a case of amnesia. The only people he feels he can trust are the man who saved him, a mysterious cowboy named Laredo Smith, and Laredo's mother, Hattie, who is a registered nurse. When Laredo learns Chase's identity from the hotel where Chase had been staying, he packs Hattie and Chase in his truck and heads to the Triple C Ranch in Montana, where Chase's "funeral" is underway. There he forms an alliance with Chase's widowed daughter-in-law, Jessy, and they make plans to stash Chase away in an old line-shack on the ranch until he regains his memory or until Laredo unmasks Chase's shooter. Although Dailey's prose is occasionally awkward ("In swift reaction, he came to full alertness"), readers can count on the usual dose of romance between Laredo and Jessy, as well as the reappearance of countless characters from previous Calder books—including spiteful Tara Calder, colorful Culley O'Rourke and Sheriff Logan Echohawk. This book will be a homecoming for many of the series' followers, but new readers would be wise to start with book one (This Calder Sky, 1981) before immersing themselves in this homespun tale.

February 15, 2004
In this entry in Dailey's Calder family saga, patriarch Chase Calder is shot and left for dead, but when he revives, he doesn't remember his own name much less why he went to Texas. Chase returns to Montana with the people who saved his life. Finding out who wants him dead is their only objective. Although the villain of the piece is obvious from the moment he steps onto the stage, the revealing remains enjoyable. Reader William Dufris takes some getting used to, particularly his British accent, which is more effeminate than upper crust. However, he is adept with the females, and Chase sounds like a patriarch, strong and tested. Dailey's wide following won't be disappointed.-Jodi L. Israel, MLS, Jamaica Plain, MA

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.