The Last Honest Outlaw

It is the age when women want to be more indepentant - not necessarily wrong but they sure go about it a harrowing way. Roz is caught between her feuding parents - her mother has picked out a stuffy lawyer in Philidelphia and her father has picked out an army man for her to marry. Each wants to keep her with them and does not consider what Roz wants. Not that she knows. To gain independance in a man's world needed more than naivity. Rozalie Matthews wanted to set the world on fire with her journalism - yet she seemed to ignore the dangers out in the wide world. And the ruthlessness of men. Why are women so blind? Eli McCain has spent 10 years off and on searching for his father who had abandoned him, throwing him out at a very tender age into the wilds of winter. As luck would have it the mountain man Simon found Eli and raised him. Just who was Simon? After the incident at the bridge Eli led Roz high into the mountains to hole up at Simon's cabin. He had lost a lot of blood and just barely made it to the cabin. Roz soon learned that she could make do and was instrimental in saving Eli's life. Loved Simon's reaction to Roz. When Roz did convince her father, Charles Matthews, to help Eli it seemed that the men on the suspect list were getting killed. Ignore Roz's lust for Eli [sex sells], she soon became the target of the killer. When Eli returned a smirky smile to Jubal Rhodes on the street, he set the fox among the chickens. This half-breed mountain man didn't know just what he had stirred up. Ah, the joys of riding away from your heart's desire. Simon had to have a serious talk with Eli about his future. Definitely recommended -

The review below gave a great description of the story. Let me add that I throughly enjoyed the story and once started I couldn't put it down. I love the characters in this book. Roz is fiesty and independent and not interested in marriage at all but wants to be a journalist. Her father is trying to marry her off and in frustration she takes off on her horse to go and think. She is hiding near a bridge when she hears voices then 3 shots, then sees two bodies fall in the river who look like the wanted man that killed her friend's father. One is floating down the river and one made it to shore. Believing the man on shore to be dead she goes for a closer look. All of a sudden (Eli) reaches out and grabs her and puts a hand over her mouth. She goes with him out of fear and believes him to be a wanted murder. As they travel together and she cares for his wounds (he was shot in the leg and a graze on the head) and they talk... she begins to doubt the validity of her thoughts that he is a cold blooded killer. He thinks she is sassy and independent but he respects her because of it. She begins to really feel drawn to him because of his inner strength and the fact that he likes her for who she is not because she has money or society connections. She nurses him back to health and lays out a plan to clear his name. It is this whole plan in which many mysteries come to light. Although they are each feeling drawn to each other he really feels that once his name is cleared he must leave her. He thinks that because he is a half-breed and not from society that she will be subject to gossip which he doesn't want to do to her. What will he decide??????? If you like action, humor, mystery and a happy ending then you will love this book. I thought it was a great read. I recommend it.

In 1878 Denver, Daily Chronicle reporter Rozalie Matthews wants to become an investigative journalist, but her father, owner of the newspaper, feels that is too dangerous for a lady. He prefers she covers social events and marry Lieutenant John Harper or return to her aristocratic mother in Pennsylvania. Rozalie prefers none of her dad's options and has gone so far as interview three witnesses to the murder of Albert Thompson; each one claims that Elli McCain killed the man. Eli insists he is innocent and that a look alike must have killed Albert. Instead of heeding her father's admonitions, Rozalie continues to make inquiries that bring her to the attention of the desperate Eli, who decides she is his best chance of proving his innocence; neither he nor his champion expected to fall in love. THE LAST HONEST OUTLAW is an amusing yet action-packed exciting western romance that readers will enjoy because of the desperation of Eli and the feisty independence of Rozalie, a chip off her dad's block to his chagrin. The story line moves at a fast pace, but clearly belongs to the lead couple and a fabulous support cast that enhance the duet. Carol Finch provides sub-genre fans with a fabulous Americana tale that grips the audience from the moment Rozalie defies her dad until the final effort to prove her beloved is not an outlaw. Harriet Klausner