Change of Pace

by Sharon Brondos

Rough Around the Edges

She was the daughter of a Georgia senator, under doctor's orders to take a break from the hectic pace of Washington's political whirl. When Police Chief Sam Cassidy first saw the long-legged blond sitting in his office, he didn't think she'd last a day working for him. The rural town of Lodge Pole, Wyoming was no place for a city woman, let alone a society brat.

Deirdre Wilcox could read the doubt in Sam's dark green eyes. Compared to the smooth-faced men she had known back east, Sam Cassidy was rugged and rough around the edges, like a western cowboy. Deirdre's competitive spirit egged her on. She was the right person for the job - whether it be office manager, town diplomat, or chief bottle-washer.

She ran his calamitous stationhouse with precise efficiency, while he showed her how to take time and enjoy each moment. Deirdre was proud to work for the man the locals called the guardian angel, protector of the kind people in this northern haven. If only his protective arms could embrace her, too...

181 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1990

About the author

Sharon Brondos began reading mystery/crime/thriller novels about half a century ago when Ellery Queen Rex Stout and Earl Stanley Gardner were in vogue for US readers.

Her "mystery mentor her mother, Elaine, was a dedicated mystery buff, taking as many books from the local library as possible each week and making a tiny mark on the corner of a back page so she would know not to re-checkout that book.

During the following fifty years, Sharon has published two dozen commercial novels, a double handful of short stories, non-fiction articles and poems.

She lives with husband and cats in Wyoming. Three adult children and a growing number of grandchildren are in various locales around the country.