Grace Latham is far from home again, this time at the Cinnabar Ranch, a three-day trip (by horse) from Yellowstone National Park. Her older son, now 17, is a classmate of the ranch owner's grandson. Now that he's going to have actual dialog, Ms. Ford has given the boy a name: Bill. I'm afraid that Bill's brother remains nameless.

Bill has spent the summer at Cinnabar Ranch with the grandson. Bill adores the forbidding-looking Mrs. Chapman.and thinks her lovely 23 year-old granddaughter, Cecily, is 'tops'. George Pelman, the man who wants to marry Cecily, is another story.

George was spoiled rotten by his late mother. Bill doesn't like him. Mrs. Chapman doesn't want him to marry Cecily. The old lady had a very high opinion of Steven Grant, the man Cecily was going to marry, but Steve died three years ago. How can Mrs. Chapman prevent Cecily from becoming Mrs. Pelham?

Mrs. Chapman comes up with a pack trip to Yellowstone. Before they've even reached the boundary Grace, Bill, Jo Anders (the wrangler-guide), the camp cook -- and almost all of the horses -- have thought somebody'll push George into a geyser when they get to the park. Fortunately, Bill Latham seems like a nice boy -- a pleasant contrast to George Pelham.

George is one of those jerks who think the rules don't apply to him. He's also afraid -- deathly afraid. Grace happens to see him secretly break the seal a ranger put on his gun. Soon she finds out a reason for George's fear. In his shoes, I'd be afraid, too.

When the party reaches the Lake Hotel we meet some of George's relatives. His older sister, May, is dominated by her abusive husband, Alexander Ridley. Their 19 year-old daughter, Lisa, is the dark-haired girl of the novel. (Cecily has hair the color of burnt sugar, which apparently means 'caramel'.) Lisa wants to get herself and her mother away from not-so-dear old dad. I was certainly rooting for her to get her wish.

The background for the Ridley marriage is given in chapter 10. The first edition of this book came out in 1940, so don't be surprised by Colonel Primrose's opinion of Mrs. Ridley, which he gives Grace along with the information. By the way, chapter 10 is also where Primrose tells Grace how he and Buck met, as well as how Buck saved his life,

Bill's no fan of the Colonel, which gives Ms. Ford an excuse to keep Grace a widow. I chuckled at Bill Latham's reaction to Grace warning him that Colonel Primrose would hang his own grandmother (see chapter 13).

The murder happens in time to save one of the endangered ladies, but there are too many nice persons who could have done the deed to save her. I'm with Grace in not wanting it to be any of them.

Colonel Primrose has to solve the case without much help from Sergeant Buck. The reason is a voluptuous blonde in pink. There's plenty of humor involved in the Courtship of Sergeant Buck, but Primrose won't be laughing if Pearl catches her man. Primrose needs Buck about as much as Nero Wolfe needs Archie Goodwin. How far is the Colonel willing to go to keep his winning team intact?

Practically all of the characters are white this time, so there are fewer instances of racist terms used. The sexism is what one may expect of a book from this era. One of the glimpses we see of the past is that a character caught polio a few years before. Luckily, it was a mild case.

Ms. Ford gets in some lovely descriptions of Yellowstone. She also includes a cautionary tale about what can happen if some twit feeds a bear. If you're a bear fan there's another, fun scene with bears later.

http://connection.ebscohost.com/tag/FORD%252C%2BLeslie lists two issues of the Saturday Evening Post in which this book was serialized. One is from January 1940 and the other from February of that same year. If the serial started in a 1939 issue, that would explain the '1939' among the three years given in the copyright.

Old Lover's Ghost is not a favorite of mine, but it's still a good read. My copy is the Popular Library #60-2411 paperback that has the lady in pink carrying a potted plant while a giant elderly eye is looking up at her. ( )