Sheriff Bowie Cahill is a man on a mission. Investigating rumors about his parents' death, he won't even let his pretty landlady get between him and the truth.

Widow Merritt Dixon knows what it's like to be the wife of a lawman…always coming second. She might need Bowie's protection, and she can't deny it feels good, but she's determined this time she'll stand on her own two feet!

When the line between family and justice is blurred, Bowie and Merritt must decide which comes first—the law or love?

Review

The Marshall and Miss Merritt is a homestyle Western romance which is part of a series about the Cahill family.  Readers who enjoy a good old fashioned Western romance with a bit of mystery will enjoy this book.

The Cahill family owns a rich cattle ranch but when the parents are mysteriously murdered, the three sons and their scandalous sister are torn apart.  But now each sibling is finding his or her way home and in doing so, each finds their true love and contributes to solving their parents’ murders.  The second son, Bowe, is featured in this book, along with the local boardinghouse owner, Merritt.

The best part of this book is the Cahill siblings and their attempts at mending their relationships with each other.  I love how the family interacts with tentative truces and believable conflicts.  I’m a total sucker for strong family stories and this series, The Cahill Cowboys, offers that.
The setting of the Old West is an oldie but goodie in the romance genre and The Marshall and Miss Merritt is a perfect example why the genre still resonates with readers.  The community around Merritt and Bowe is as much a part of the story as the couple themselves: the town sinner Lefty, the sinister Hobbs, the generous store owner and so forth.  Though new, this book will be a comforting and familiar read for fans of the Western romance.

Bowe and Merritt are a solid romance couple, though not unique or all that memorable.  The have a girl-and-boy-next-door attraction to each other.  Neither their emotional nor physical intimacy is earth shattering but I still believed they belonged together.  I did like how the author made them mature, rational characters who discussed their fears and vulnerabilities.  For instance, Bowe jumps to a conclusion about Merritt toward the end of the book but he quickly realizes his mistake and offers a sincere, believable apology.  Merritt didn’t do the automatic-forgiveness so common in romance heroines and I liked that realism.    

Be forewarned though, Bowe and Merritt are clearly together at novel’s end but the Cahill family mystery is in no way concluded.  Be prepared to read the two books before The Marshall and Miss Merritt and the two after to have the mystery finished.  Though I don’t think that will be a hardship given that The Marshall and Miss Merritt was an enjoyable read.   

Reviewed by Janine

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