4.5 stars. Enjoyable!

This is classic Mary Calmes, though the characters are unique, no one too Jory-esque. I enjoyed the murder mystery and the ranch ownership drama and all the other characters, even the misbehaving ones. Although there's potential for this to start a series, it resolves very satisfyingly.

There is, per this author's habit, a fair amount of over-stating internal thoughts and summings-up. By the end I'm skimming those bits as wordier than necessary. That gets annoying. But, as usual, I ended up reading the last several chapters in a rush; I needed to know how it all resolved. In other words, Calmes has my number, and if there are more to this series, I will be reading them. ( )