Captive Dove

Pelton ( Texas Tigress ) named this historical romance for a dove, but a turkey would have been more to the point. Young Tamara Andersen, living in 1870s Minnesota, loves half-Indian lumberjack Daniel Tarrant and is happily carrying his child. But when Daniel vanishes, she finds her way to Minneapolis, where she works to support herself and her son. She receives a shock, though, when a man who looks like Daniel suddenly appears, claiming to be afflicted with amnesia. Tamara senses something different about him; little does she know, however, that this is actually James, Daniel's evil twin. The real Daniel (wrongly imprisoned for two years for a crime James committed) returns in due course to battle his brother and reclaim Tamara's affection. Unfortunately, the path to true love winds through tired plot devices and the author's awkward attempts to incorporate historical material, such as the scintillating chat in which Tamara observes, ``Kerosene did not come into use until the Civil War.'' Daniel chuckles and responds, ``Some people hesitated to use the kerosene then because it was very explosive.'' (Mar.)