Spinster's Folly

Book 3: The Owen Family Saga. Winner of the 2013 USA Best Books Award for Western Fiction.

Marie Owen yearns for a loving husband, but Colorado Territory is long on rough characters and short on fitting suitors, so a future of spinsterhood seems more likely than wedded bliss. Her best friend says cowboy Bill Henry is a likely candidate, but Marie knows her class-conscious father would not allow such a pairing. When she challenges her father to find her a suitable husband before she becomes a spinster, he arranges a match with a neighbor's son. Then Marie discovers Tom Morgan would be an unloving, abusive mate and his mother holds a grudge against the Owen family. Marie's mounting despair at the prospect of being trapped in such a dismal marriage drives her into the arms of a sweet-talking predator, landing her in unimaginable dangers.

When Marsha Ward presents the reader with a new book about the Owen family, you can bet it will rivet your interest all the way to the end. You can’t help but become totally immersed in the character’s lives. Spinster’s Folly features oldest daughter Marie, afraid that at eighteen she’s already on the shelf, and only too eager to be wed. Her trouble, and trouble it is, comes in selecting the right man. Charming and earthy, Spinster’s Folly is a grand addition to the Owen’s saga. ~C.K. Crigger, author of the China Bohannon historical mystery series

If you want accurate time and place, wonderful lexicon of the time, and a touching, compelling read, don't miss Marsha Ward's Spinster's Folly. ~L. J. Martin, author of Nemesis and other western novels

The harrowing experiences in early-day Colorado of 18-year-old spinster, Marie Owen, the result of her simple wish for a husband, held me spellbound from start to finish. I couldn't put the book down. An incredible story, Spinster's Folly is one of the best women's novels of the west I've had the pleasure to read. Ever! ~Irene Bennett Brown, award-winning author of Before the Lark; the Women of Paragon Springs Series and Celia Landrey Mysteries.

Frustrated by her pending arranged marriage to a callous farm boy and confused by feelings for a cowboy in her father’s employ, Marie Owen falls into the arms of a smooth-talking city man whose intentions are anything but honorable. Too late, she realizes her folly and hope fades as the abusive kidnapper she thought she loved drags her far away from home and family. But the cowboy, Bill Henry, follows her cold trail, fighting weariness and weather in a determined effort to save Marie and her reputation. In Spinster’s Folly, author Marsha Ward spins a suspenseful, fast-paced tale of undeclared love, cowardly deception, and gallant heroism. ~Rod Miller, Spur Award-winning author

With a great sense of time and place, crackerjack dialogue and rich characters, Marsha Ward delivers Spinster's Folly, a romance, Western and historical novel rolled into one—and one fun read. ~Johnny D. Boggs, six-time Spur Award-winning author of Camp Ford and Legacy of a Lawman