For Immediate Release
“Saratoga of the South” Sets the Stage for New Romantic Suspense Series by Bestselling Texas Author
Austin, TX – She’s a Lady Pinkerton. He’s the outlaw ex-lover, who can blow her cover. The sparks fly in Lampasas, Texas (1883,) when these star-crossed lovers reunite, waging a battle of wits and wiles in the new romantic Western whodunit, Devil in Texas, by national bestselling author, Adrienne deWolfe.
“When I started writing Devil in Texas,” deWolfe said, “I didn’t know where to set the political campaign, which serves as the story’s backdrop. Then I stumbled across some fascinating research about a small town, called Lampasas, which is a 90-minute drive from Austin.”
Lampasas is little more than a dot on a road map today, but in the 19th Century, Lampasas was a railroad boom town, where colorful historical figures engaged in the kind of showdowns that helped shape the legend of the Wild West.
“The more I read about Lampasas, the more I was inspired by its rich history!” deWolfe said. “For instance, I needed a suitably sinister subplot. When I learned that Lampasas was a hotbed of politically active sodbusters, I created ‘vigilante grangers.’ In my novel, Devil in Texas (Book 1, Lady Law & The Gunslinger Series,) they’re prowling the Grand Park Hotel and trying to assassinate a state senator, who hires the gunslinger-hero as his bodyguard.”
Lampasas’s legacy as the “Saratoga of the South” also inspired deWolfe. She wrote several pivotal scenes in a fictional bathhouse, including a floating poker game and a seduction. “Every Romance novel has to have a seduction!” dewolfe explained, laughing.
Even though she writes Romance novels, deWolfe confesses she’s a sucker for action scenes: her Western-set novels are riddled with them. “When I laid eyes on Lampasas’s public square, I just had to set an old-west shootout on the rooftops (while the courthouse was under construction.) Then I got really creative and invented a covert Lady Pinkerton training center on the outskirts of Silk Stocking Row.”
DeWolfe praises Preservation Lampasas, Inc. (PLI) for doing a phenomenal job of documenting the city’s history. “I attribute many of my eureka moments for my plot to the research conducted by PLI volunteers,” deWolfe said. “Their website let me turn Devil in Texas into a snapshot of Lampasas’s Golden Age.”
Midwest Book Review praised Devil in Texas: “Western romance at its best. Anything but predictable… Devil in Texas (is) a spicy, revealing read that ups the ante in the Western romance genre and immerses readers in a special blend of political intrigue and mystery. Especially recommended for readers seeking…a feisty, take-charge heroine.”
Affaire de Coeur wrote, “Adrienne deWolfe serves up a dose of pure fun. Fans of Westerns should get this one!”
Learn more about the series at LadyLawAndTheGunslinger.com.
Based in Austin, Adrienne deWolfe is the recipient of 48 writing awards, including the Best Historical Romance of the Year. She has written novels for Bantam Books and Avon Books, in addition to ePublishing Works, which published Devil in Texas and its sequel, Dance to the Devil’s Tune, which continues the wild-west adventures of the Lady Pinkerton and her outlaw lover. Both books are available in ebook and print.
Lampasas Bathhouse Excerpt
DEVIL IN TEXAS
Book 1, Lady Law & the Gunslinger
By Adrienne deWolfe
For a long moment, Sadie stood in the doorway of the bathhouse, cicada song swelling behind her in the woods. Moonbeams spilled through the skylight, illuminating dust motes that danced like fairy magic over deeply verdant waters. A long, lean swimmer’s body was power-stroking through the pool. Completely naked, Cass’s exquisite length glimmered like a torpedo-shaped pearl.
She told herself she should arrest him for breaking-and-entering. Unfortunately, she was arrested—even mesmerized—by the view: emerald waters sliding over alabaster flesh; corded limbs surging through frothy bubbles; the breadth and power of rippling shoulders, rising above the wave. Most endearing of all was the sight of his own dimpled moons, winking at the celestial orb that peeked slyly through the skylight.
He hadn’t noticed her arrival yet. That gave her time to plot her strategy. She raced him along the pool’s longest edge, beating him to the shallows, where she waited triumphantly with a scowl. She was loath to let him know just how much she enjoyed watching his shameless virility cleave her ominous, black silhouette on the water.
When he pretended not to notice her, looming over him like an angry volcano goddess, she tugged his Bowie knife from her belt and flung it. The blade struck the deck’s wooden planks above his head with a resounding thunk.
That got his attention.
He reared up out of the water, tossing back his hair in a gleaming arc of spray that looked like a moonbow around his golden head.
“I hear you left a message for me at Wilma’s place,” she announced. Planting her fists on her hips, she straddled that erect and quivering hilt. “What the devil is this?”
Cass grinned. He trailed his wicked gaze from the knob on the hilt to the apex of her spreading thighs. “I’m not sure. But it looks illegal.”
“You’re illegal.”
“That’s why you like me.”
She snorted. “As far as I’m concerned, Marshal Wright should have locked you in the calaboose and thrown away the key. You think vandalism’s a game?”
“Life’s a game, sweetheart. I just play by different rules.”
“This from the man who wants to be a Ranger?”
“I’m starting to have second thoughts about Rangerhood,” he drawled. “Women aren’t allowed on the force.”
“Oh, so now you’re all about equality?”
He winked. “Mostly, I’m about undercover work.”
Book Description
DEVIL IN TEXAS
Book 1, Lady Law & the Gunslinger
By Adrienne deWolfe
Pinkerton Agent Sadie Michelson poses as a casino singer to investigate a Texas Senator. Before she can cozy up to her quarry, she must get past his bodyguard, William Cassidy, her long-lost lover.
An outlaw seeking redemption, Cass was lured to Texas by the promise of a Ranger badge. But he hasn’t forgotten the sassy siren, who toyed with his heart. When Sadie proposes a truce, Cass suspects she’s hiding something.
With assassins dogging their heels, Cass and Sadie uncover a murder conspiracy in the senate. To stay alive, they must do the one thing they’re dead set against: trust each other.
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