A Special Series within a Series

Usually, when I write in a multiple-author project (MAP), I publish standalone books like most of the other authors, even if I write several in that collection. However, occasionally, I connect the novels and have a continuing setting and characters. This was the case in the Western MAP, The Matchmaker - Agatha Returns. All six of my books in the series are set in Pinyon Falls in the Texas Hill Country. Also, the main characters in one book become secondary characters in the following ones, so the reader doesn't lose touch with them. And because the last one has already been published, you can read them all in order without having to wait.

A Match for Marshall features Marshall Walker and Callie Jones. Callie goes to Texas as a mail-order bride for Marshall, but she comes from a poor, itinerant-farming family in South Carolina, and she wants nothing to do with him when she finds out he's a rancher. Marshall talks her into staying around and giving him a chance. Now, if he can just show her that he's responsible and can provide well for her.

In A Match for Cord, Cord Atwood is Marshall's foreman, but he wants to start a horse ranch instead of working on a cattle ranch. Once his ranch is underway, he sends for a mail-order bride through the same matchmaker Marshall used. Moriah Williams has always been sought after for her exceptional beauty, so her parents pick the richest man for her to marry, but he's not the sort of man she wants for a husband. She decides to run away and ends up matched with Cord. The first words out of his lips when they meet are "You're beautiful," and she freezes. She doesn't want another suitor who just wants her for her looks and doesn't see who she really is. 

Silas Barrett is a blacksmith, like his father, in A Match for Silas, and he's lonely. He sends for a mail-order bride, asking for a bride of simple means who will appreciate a good home and steady husband. His mother had left because she didn't like the lifestyle of a blacksmith, and he wants to avoid the same situation. Who does the matchmaker send him? A woman from high society. What can a lady like Jacqueline Hamilton see in a dirty blacksmith?

In A Match for Merle, Vanessa Acker has never been able to find a husband because she isn't well-liked. People see her as bad-tempered, forward, and sometimes too flirty. She's watched some of the men in Pinyon Falls sending for mail-order brides, so why shouldn't she send for a husband? When Merle Warner arrives, he is nothing like she'd hoped for. He isn't compliant or easily manipulated. But just when he's growing on her, an English nobleman comes to town. Merle can't offer her the benefits of being a real English lady, but things might not be as they seem.

Widower Milton Cauley is the barber in Pinyon Falls. His first marriage hadn't been a happy one, no matter how hard he tried, and he plans to remain single. However, his friend has other ideas and sends away for a bride in his name. When Lauren Page arrives, Milton is furious. The widow might be lovely, but how dare Leon! See how it all plays out in A Match for Milton.

When Adrianne Clark witnesses a crime in Chicago, the mob involved starts looking for her, and she knows she needs to leave the city. She doesn't have the money, so she goes to a woman she knows for help. Agatha Sinclair turns out to be a matchmaker and arranges for Adrianne to go to Pinyon Falls, Texas, to marry the sheriff there. Who better to protect her than a lawman? Meanwhile, Reece Felps has always felt that a lawman's job was too precarious to marry. However, as he's matured, he still longs for a family, and in a weak moment, he writes to the matchmaker others in town have used. Yet, when he learns that she's on the run, he wonders if she wants to marry him or just escape a bad situation. A Match for Reece ends the series with all of the main characters getting together for a holiday party at the end.

I loved writing the books in this series, and readers have continued to show their appreciation for them, too. Spending time in Pinyon Falls with these characters feels like visiting with old friends and making new ones. If you're looking for an intriguing historical series filled with heartfelt romance, small‑town charm, and characters whose stories intertwine in satisfying ways, this may be your answer. Settle in, visit Pinyon Falls, and enjoy the journey.

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