THE LAST GOODNIGHT

In the first of a new series of romantic thrillers, chaps-wearing rancher Kade Logan meets his "darlin'," undercover agent Eleanor Bowman.

Near the small town of Coffee Springs, Colorado, is the Diamond Bar, Kade Logan's 19,000-acre cattle ranch. Eight years ago, someone murdered Kade's wife, Heather, and though she was frequently unfaithful to him, Kade still wants to find and punish her killer. So he hires undercover Denver agent Ellie Bowman, though he really didn't want a woman, to get him the answers he needs, and Ellie, who was brought up on a ranch, goes undercover to work as his cook's assistant. The first part of the book is more about the protagonists' increasing attraction than the unraveling of a mystery, but Martin seems to know her way around a working ranch, and she fills her romance with an interesting tutorial on what a well-run ranch does battle with each day. As Ellie investigates Heather's murder, a trespasser begins to sabotage the ranch: poisoning the water, killing cattle, wounding cowboys, shooting the beloved dog. As Ellie tries to figure out who hates Kade, she also gets into the saddle to help with ranch emergencies, rounding up 4,000 cows and fighting a forest fire. And as she moves into Kade's four-poster bed for the kind of wild, satisfying sex she's never known before, Ellie shows him gentle kindnesses he's never known, either. Martin repeatedly explains their conflict: Kade doesn't want to be hurt again, and independent Ellie doesn't want a possessive lover who doesn't trust her loyalty. But after Ellie's life is threatened and the murderer gets his just deserts, they find a way to work it out, with a ranch wedding Blake Shelton would have enjoyed.

The title, oddly, has nothing to do with the book, but the romance is familiar.