Along Came a Stranger — Mary Forker Ford

Kathryn's parents have qualms about her driving all the way from Chicago to New Mexico alone, but Kathryn has no fears at all --- no fears...

Kate McDowell's dude ranch vacation wasn't exactly what she'd planned. For instance, she hadn't counted on being the chief suspect in a murder case...or setting a trap for a killer to prove her innocence!

End of a Dream...

The Lazy E had everything Kate McDowell had dreamed about spectacular scenery, beautiful horses, rugged cowboys. Even the other guests at the working dude ranch were exciting. There was Clarice St. John, for instance, the ex-movie queen, and her brother, Jeff. There was Dr. J. Howard Harned, the famous historian. Above all, there was towering, dark-haired John Cortez, who wasn't a guest but came from the neighboring Star Ranch, and who made it clear that Kate was a girl he would like to know better. It was all so perfect, she forgot all about the young man in the black Ferrari who had seemed to be following her all the way from Chicago. Forgot him until the day she went riding and met him again. Only this time he was dead, slumped over the steering wheel of his car, the back of his head crushed in...

Self Portrait...

It came to me with something of a shock that while I was analyzing the Lazy E guests at lunch, they could very well be occupied with similar thoughts about me. If I knew little about them, they, in turn, knew little about me.

And one ugly fact stood out like an obelisk against a cloudless sky: I was the one who had wandered off alone and found the dead man. To compound the doubts in their minds, I was the only one to admit having any connection with the victim.

I, Kate McDowell, was the perfect fall guy...gal.

Hero: John Cortez
Heroine: Kate McDowell

Original Title: The Dude Ranch Murders