A TAILOR-MADE HUSBAND starts as sheriff Ward Gleason arrives in town on the train. He's reluctantly in charge of a little girl called Meg, whose brother has abandoned her. Ward has recently lost his younger sister, and young Meg does seem like a replacement, if temporary. Seamstress Hazel Andrews meets him. She was a good friend of Ward's sister and wants to sympathise, but ends up agreeing to care for Meg. Her own situation has recently changed and she's thinking of selling up and moving to New York to work with a relative.

The town is quite busy with the usual mercantile, telegraph office, and a photography studio and sweet shop. But most women sew their own clothes and Hazel's business isn't thriving. She agrees to design a special wedding dress for one young woman, but otherwise, a pinafore for Meg is about her lot. Ward on the other hand is busy; bored youths have been vandalising farms and homes, and while the damage isn't expensive, time is money to farmers, and the crimes are escalating. Can he identify and catch the miscreants before real harm is done?

The good-hearted residents and honest workers will stay in your mind after reading this lightly inspirational romance. Winnie Griggs depicts how life would have been in the thriving frontier town while reminding us that residents always had the escape route of the railway to New York or elsewhere. And we have to agree that kids will be kids, with mischief always a potential, even as it may hide some more serious disturbances. A TAILOR-MADE HUSBAND is a romance suitable for any age of reader, for all fans of historical Western tales. I can recommend trying the earlier books in this series to watch the town grow because characters recur in the background of the tales so you can follow their ongoing stories.

Book Summary