Lucky Shot

Daniels improves on her previous outing, Lone Rider, in this solid third Montana Hamiltons contemporary. Journalists camp out at the Hamilton ranch in Beartooth, Mont., day and night in the hopes of catching a glimpse of presidential candidate and senator Buckmaster Hamilton’s amnesiac ex- wife, Sarah, who was missing for years and declared dead. Freelance reporter Max Malone wants the story, and he approaches Kat, Sen. Hamilton’s daughter. She reluctantly agrees to help him investigate her mother’s disappearance when it becomes clear that outside forces are targeting both of them in order to bury the truth. Could Kat’s mom be a member of an antigovernment terrorist group from the late 1970s, or is she an innocent victim who was used by people she thought were friends? Daniels, thankfully and significantly, advances the conspiracy story first introduced in Wild Horses and allows Max and Kat enough time to work together to make their personal connection and romance believable. (Dec.)