43. Wild Western Desire, by Kathy Jones
Katy Halliday, a Wild West and dime novel fan extraordinaire, takes a trip to Colorado to see some of the places she's read about in the dime novels her uncle publishes. Rait Caldwell, ex-lawman turned saloon owner, owes Katy's uncle a favor, and finds himself the chaperone for the young lady. Romance ensues, of course, though frankly I think the love story was shoehorned in rather badly. Katy is none too bright, often venturing into too dumb to live territory (like when she decides to find out if someone could rob the train by running along the top of it, falls off, and nearly falls over a cliff. Rait has to rescue her, at which point she ignores him in favor of fangirling over his friend, real-life lawman Bat Masterson.) In spite of -- or perhaps because of -- Katy's lack of common sense, the novel is very funny and reads like a satire of both westerns and romance novels.
