Sandy M’s review of Calamity Jayne Heads West (Tressa Jayne Turner Mysteries, Book 5) by Kathleen Bacus
Contemporary romance published 2 Oct 07 by Love Spell (Dorchester)

I have to admit, I laughed out loud when I read that blonde joke on the back cover of this book and thought it ought to be a good story. Well, I was right and I was wrong.  I’ve not read any of the previous Calamity Jayne books, so perhaps that’s why it took me a while to get into this one. I know nothing about the characters and their history, but, still, starting from scratch, it took me about two and a half months to get through this one.

In this book, Jayne and her family are in Arizona for the wedding of Tressa’s grandmother to Ranger Rick Townsend’s grandfather. While there, Tressa comes across the perfect wedding gift – a fertility god statue that is butt ugly even to her – that someone else is after.  In between all these goings-on is the relationship between her and Ranger Rick. But it seems the current mystery holds more excitement and adventure for Tressa than a handsome, kind and caring man because she’s back out there running down clues once again. Silly blonde.

While the writing is good, the humor is great — even though all those western clichés get to be a little much after a while — and the mystery is a fun chase, I was disappointed that there wasn’t more between Calamity and Rick. I’m assuming that’s the case through most of the series, and, if so, I don’t think I’d have much of a good time with those books.

This book has its moments, but it starts out very slow and while there’s lots of action, to me there’s not enough of the right kind of action. It’s a cute story and there is more to Tressa Jayne than being blonde, but I just needed something more.

Grade: C
Blurb:

Did you hear about the blonde coyote? It got stuck in a trap, chewed off three legs and was still stuck.

Tressa Jayne Turner, Grandville Iow’s own little “Calamity”, is headed for the Grand Canyon State–and a wedding! No, not her own. She hasn’t said yes to the roguish Ranger Rick yet, but after the past years, some downtime in a sweat lodge is just what the shaman ordered.

Unfortunately, it’s her goofy granny getting – hitched, and Tressa’s sunny little siesta is about to have more strings attached than a dream catcher. Her cousin’s keeping secrets, Rick’s sending signals–more of the smokin’ than smoke variety–and it seems Tressa’s not the only person with an attachment to “Kookaumunga”, the butt-ugly fertility figurine she picked up at a roadside stand as a wedding gift. The wacky wedding’s about to become a southwestern scavenger hunt, an amazing race cum Da Vinci Code-intrigue, featuring a washed-up actress out to kick-start her career, a suspect spiritual advisor, locals with a cause, and a ten-year-old who’s a chip off a certain range’s blockhead. It’ll be a vision quest to make Thelma and Louise’s southwestern spree seem like amateur night at the OK Corral. May the best spirit guide win.

Read an excerpt.