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The Nymph #2
Pale Moon Stalker
A sexy, humorous battle of wills between a Sioux beauty educated in the white world and the deadly bounty hunter she hires to track down her husband's killer.
324 pages, Paperback
First published October 28, 2008
3 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Shirl Henke
63 books77 followersaka Alexa Hunt.
Working my way through college provided great life experiences for a novelist. One problem. I didn’t know I was destined to write books. Instead, I floundered around during and after receiving my B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of Missouri. None of my wide variety of jobs satisfied me: cashier for a loan company, public welfare caseworker, assistant circulation manager for a small daily, editor for several “house organ” newspapers, administrator of a federal information program for the elderly.
Finally I was offered the opportunity to use my history degrees, teaching in a large urban university in the Northeast. I truly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, when the history requirement was dropped for incoming students, so was my instructorship. After that I taught gerontology, sociology, proposal writing for social service agencies and freshman composition at the same university. Further life experiences. My last two years of teaching were in remedial English—just the nudge I needed to take this writing thing seriously.
Since childhood I’ve been an avid reader, everything from Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi adventures to Frank Yerby’s historical romantic sagas. More recently I became hooked on thrillers. Since childhood I had story ideas in my head, but never the epiphany to write them. Okay, maybe I just didn’t have the courage. But there were just so many times I could explain what a verb was to a college senior before I realized that maybe writing a book might be easier. I sold my first novel, a big historical romance titled GOLDEN LADY, to Warner Books in 1985. Within two years, I quit remedial comp. Now I can't imagine doing anything but writing for a living. In 2005 I switched over to the “dark side.” Tor published two political thrillers, CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY and HOMELAND SECURITY under the pseudonym Alexa Hunt. I’ve also written romantic suspense for Penguin Onyx and Silhouette Bombshell as Shirl Henke. Since I began my career, I’ve appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list, been a RITA Finalist twice, received a BookraK Bestseller Award, and won three Career Achievement Awards, an Industry Award and three Reviewers Choice Awards from Romantic Times.
My husband Jim Henke is a former cabdriver, bartender, sailor, judo instructor and English professor. He's a scholarly authority on obscene slang and a master at its use, but an astonishingly understanding man who puts up with my all-night writing sprees and sudden dashes to my desk to jot down bits of dialogue as dinner burns on the stove. Since he took early retirement from academe, he has helped me brainstorm plots and research my novels.
After four years in the U.S. Air Force, our son Matt works in telecommunications and lives in an adjacent county with his brute of a cat, Max. Jim and I now share our cedar house in the woods with a pair of utterly adorable tomcats, Inky and Pewter, whose destructive capacity rivals that of a medium sized thermonuclear weapon. But just as life without writing would be unimaginable, so would life without cats.
For therapy when I'm not at the computer or off researching a new book, I cook large dinners for our extended family, putter in my garden and greenhouse, and still read voraciously. When deadlines permit, I love to travel. I'm a member of the Author's Guild, Romance Writers of America, Missouri Romance Writers, Sisters in Crime, Novelists Inc. and International Thriller Writers
I wrote my first twenty-two novels in longhand with a ball-point pen--it's hard to get good quills these days. Dragged into the 21st century, I now use one of those "devil machines. Another troglodyte bites the dust
Working my way through college provided great life experiences for a novelist. One problem. I didn’t know I was destined to write books. Instead, I floundered around during and after receiving my B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of Missouri. None of my wide variety of jobs satisfied me: cashier for a loan company, public welfare caseworker, assistant circulation manager for a small daily, editor for several “house organ” newspapers, administrator of a federal information program for the elderly.
Finally I was offered the opportunity to use my history degrees, teaching in a large urban university in the Northeast. I truly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, when the history requirement was dropped for incoming students, so was my instructorship. After that I taught gerontology, sociology, proposal writing for social service agencies and freshman composition at the same university. Further life experiences. My last two years of teaching were in remedial English—just the nudge I needed to take this writing thing seriously.
Since childhood I’ve been an avid reader, everything from Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi adventures to Frank Yerby’s historical romantic sagas. More recently I became hooked on thrillers. Since childhood I had story ideas in my head, but never the epiphany to write them. Okay, maybe I just didn’t have the courage. But there were just so many times I could explain what a verb was to a college senior before I realized that maybe writing a book might be easier. I sold my first novel, a big historical romance titled GOLDEN LADY, to Warner Books in 1985. Within two years, I quit remedial comp. Now I can't imagine doing anything but writing for a living. In 2005 I switched over to the “dark side.” Tor published two political thrillers, CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY and HOMELAND SECURITY under the pseudonym Alexa Hunt. I’ve also written romantic suspense for Penguin Onyx and Silhouette Bombshell as Shirl Henke. Since I began my career, I’ve appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list, been a RITA Finalist twice, received a BookraK Bestseller Award, and won three Career Achievement Awards, an Industry Award and three Reviewers Choice Awards from Romantic Times.
My husband Jim Henke is a former cabdriver, bartender, sailor, judo instructor and English professor. He's a scholarly authority on obscene slang and a master at its use, but an astonishingly understanding man who puts up with my all-night writing sprees and sudden dashes to my desk to jot down bits of dialogue as dinner burns on the stove. Since he took early retirement from academe, he has helped me brainstorm plots and research my novels.
After four years in the U.S. Air Force, our son Matt works in telecommunications and lives in an adjacent county with his brute of a cat, Max. Jim and I now share our cedar house in the woods with a pair of utterly adorable tomcats, Inky and Pewter, whose destructive capacity rivals that of a medium sized thermonuclear weapon. But just as life without writing would be unimaginable, so would life without cats.
For therapy when I'm not at the computer or off researching a new book, I cook large dinners for our extended family, putter in my garden and greenhouse, and still read voraciously. When deadlines permit, I love to travel. I'm a member of the Author's Guild, Romance Writers of America, Missouri Romance Writers, Sisters in Crime, Novelists Inc. and International Thriller Writers
I wrote my first twenty-two novels in longhand with a ball-point pen--it's hard to get good quills these days. Dragged into the 21st century, I now use one of those "devil machines. Another troglodyte bites the dust
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 29, 2009
Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Nov08
I never expected “Pale Moon Stalker” to be a western romance. Since westerns aren’t one of my favored genres, I left it towards the end of my TBR stack. Imagine my surprise when it was both a western AND a historical AND had a touch of the paranormal about it; yeah, kinda blew my mind. I even finished the book in one read and enjoyed it! Just goes to show, there’s always something new and different and it’s good to occasionally venture outside your normal reading habits.
Sky is a woman on a mission. She intends to kill the man who killed her husband, but she can’t do it herself. Her preacher husband knew her well and made her promise not to kill his murderer. Of course, Sky is also half Native American so she quickly finds a way to keep her promise…while still enacting her justice. She’ll find someone ELSE to kill FOR her. She selects none other than ‘the Limey’, as famous for his ability to hunt down outlaws as he is for his crisp British accent. But Sky never counted on developing feelings for this Limey, just as she never really counted on living past her justice.
Max is a bounty hunter extraordinaire. So how this native woman got the drop on him he’ll never know. She wants him to kill a man and it’s a man he wants to kill so there really shouldn’t be a problem. Except now Max must marry in order to maintain his inheritance in England and he doesn’t really have any prospects in mind. So he strikes a deal with Sky. They’ll marry, go to England, secure his inheritance, and return to kill Sky’s first husband’s murderer. But neither of them could guess just this ‘deal’ would change their lives.
As I said, westerns aren’t my cuppa tea, but this one did manage to maintain my interest and keep me reading til the end. The story crosses two continents, touches on a third, and has several ‘side stories’; yet they all manage to come together into one cohesive whole. Pretty tricky that. The lead characters were irritating at times, but not enough to make me stop reading. The feelings and reasoning behind their decisions and actions mostly made sense, and the heat level wasn’t bad either!
While I’m not going to become a fan of western romances (and I wish I could tell you why, but they just don’t feel ‘right’ to me), I’m also not sorry I read this engrossing story by Shirl Henke. For western romance fans, I’d suggest you check out not just “Pale Moon Stalker”, but Henke’s back list too. Her writing and story weaving is too good to pass up.
I never expected “Pale Moon Stalker” to be a western romance. Since westerns aren’t one of my favored genres, I left it towards the end of my TBR stack. Imagine my surprise when it was both a western AND a historical AND had a touch of the paranormal about it; yeah, kinda blew my mind. I even finished the book in one read and enjoyed it! Just goes to show, there’s always something new and different and it’s good to occasionally venture outside your normal reading habits.
Sky is a woman on a mission. She intends to kill the man who killed her husband, but she can’t do it herself. Her preacher husband knew her well and made her promise not to kill his murderer. Of course, Sky is also half Native American so she quickly finds a way to keep her promise…while still enacting her justice. She’ll find someone ELSE to kill FOR her. She selects none other than ‘the Limey’, as famous for his ability to hunt down outlaws as he is for his crisp British accent. But Sky never counted on developing feelings for this Limey, just as she never really counted on living past her justice.
Max is a bounty hunter extraordinaire. So how this native woman got the drop on him he’ll never know. She wants him to kill a man and it’s a man he wants to kill so there really shouldn’t be a problem. Except now Max must marry in order to maintain his inheritance in England and he doesn’t really have any prospects in mind. So he strikes a deal with Sky. They’ll marry, go to England, secure his inheritance, and return to kill Sky’s first husband’s murderer. But neither of them could guess just this ‘deal’ would change their lives.
As I said, westerns aren’t my cuppa tea, but this one did manage to maintain my interest and keep me reading til the end. The story crosses two continents, touches on a third, and has several ‘side stories’; yet they all manage to come together into one cohesive whole. Pretty tricky that. The lead characters were irritating at times, but not enough to make me stop reading. The feelings and reasoning behind their decisions and actions mostly made sense, and the heat level wasn’t bad either!
While I’m not going to become a fan of western romances (and I wish I could tell you why, but they just don’t feel ‘right’ to me), I’m also not sorry I read this engrossing story by Shirl Henke. For western romance fans, I’d suggest you check out not just “Pale Moon Stalker”, but Henke’s back list too. Her writing and story weaving is too good to pass up.
September 16, 2010
Cowboy shoot ‘em up with perfect people and assorted hateful bad guys getting their due. Missing emotional pull for me.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
I recently heard that some publishers are doing the following. “A” is a well known best-selling author. “B” is an unknown author who writes a book. The publisher puts both names on the cover of B’s book saying it was written by “A with B.” However, A was not involved with the writing.
I was disturbed when I opened the book “Pale Moon Stalker.” The title page inside the book states the author as “Shirl Henke in collaboration with Jim Henke.” Jim’s name is not shown anywhere on the outside of the book nor on the product page on Amazon. The author’s note states that Jim’s “collaboration just sort of evolved over the years.” Should Jim’s name be on the cover? Is Shirl the main author and merely being gracious by giving Jim credit inside the book? Or, did Jim write most of this and the publisher is doing what I’ve described with persons A and B above? Or, was it truly a joint writing effort? I don’t know any of these answers. But, it bothers me that the double authorship is not shown on the cover. If it was important enough to be inside the book, I think it should be shown on the outside as well. I have not read any of Shirl Henke’s other books so I cannot compare them to this. If I like a story I don’t mind who writes it. I am merely suspicious after hearing about the A and B development above. If someone knows more about any of this, please leave a Comment.
REVIEWER’S OPINION (Includes Story Brief and Some Spoilers):
The characters are exaggerations of perfection: richest, smartest, most famous, and fastest guns in the West. Sky (the heroine) is 1/4 Sioux Indian and reads law, American and English. She describes herself saying “I can handle (the rifle) faster and shoot better than most gunmen. My brother taught me.” Cass, a woman, built a freighting empire starting at age 17. Max is a wealthy British baron who won the Victoria Cross during his military service fighting the Zulu in Africa. He then leaves for America and becomes a famous bounty hunter. He’s the fastest gun in the West and “his natural horsemanship was as good as the finest Sioux warrior.” His friends in America are successful and wealthy.
Then we have complex and well-woven motivations, which were too contrived for me. Sky’s husband was shot in the back by Danny. The courts won’t pursue him because he liked and helped Indians. Sky wants Max, a bounty hunter, to kill Danny for her. Max needs a wife so he can inherit a fortune from his titled uncle in England, who requires marriage as a condition of the inheritance. They do the deal, she marries him, and he will kill Danny. We later meet Cass, who also was required to get married in order to inherit her wealth. She chose Steve who was on his way to being hung. Steve’s choice was to marry her or hang. Bad guys are trying to kill Max and Sky, but a mysterious English woman is following them across the United States and just happens to be nearby each time they get ambushed. She and her two helpers repeatedly save them. Her helpers are Gurkhas from Nepal, the world’s most lethal swordsmen. Next we have a psychic Cheyenne medicine man who just happens to know many things about Sky and Max. He also knows where Danny is (in another state), who recently kidnapped his granddaughter. How convenient.
Readers might enjoy this if they like the following: lightweight entertainment, “cowboy shoot ‘em up story with romance,” perfect people and everything tying up neatly with assorted bad guys getting their due. Personally, I prefer more believability and more emotional development. I don’t require humor and wit, but some of that would have made the story better since it was lacking emotional pull for me. It was ok, but I wanted it to be over.
DATA:
Story length: 324 pages. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 6. Length of sex scenes: 1.7 to 5.6 pages. Total number of sex scene pages: 18. Setting: 1884 London, England, plus various locations in the U.S. including New York, Missouri, Colorado and Texas. Copyright: 2008. Genre: historical western romance.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
I recently heard that some publishers are doing the following. “A” is a well known best-selling author. “B” is an unknown author who writes a book. The publisher puts both names on the cover of B’s book saying it was written by “A with B.” However, A was not involved with the writing.
I was disturbed when I opened the book “Pale Moon Stalker.” The title page inside the book states the author as “Shirl Henke in collaboration with Jim Henke.” Jim’s name is not shown anywhere on the outside of the book nor on the product page on Amazon. The author’s note states that Jim’s “collaboration just sort of evolved over the years.” Should Jim’s name be on the cover? Is Shirl the main author and merely being gracious by giving Jim credit inside the book? Or, did Jim write most of this and the publisher is doing what I’ve described with persons A and B above? Or, was it truly a joint writing effort? I don’t know any of these answers. But, it bothers me that the double authorship is not shown on the cover. If it was important enough to be inside the book, I think it should be shown on the outside as well. I have not read any of Shirl Henke’s other books so I cannot compare them to this. If I like a story I don’t mind who writes it. I am merely suspicious after hearing about the A and B development above. If someone knows more about any of this, please leave a Comment.
REVIEWER’S OPINION (Includes Story Brief and Some Spoilers):
The characters are exaggerations of perfection: richest, smartest, most famous, and fastest guns in the West. Sky (the heroine) is 1/4 Sioux Indian and reads law, American and English. She describes herself saying “I can handle (the rifle) faster and shoot better than most gunmen. My brother taught me.” Cass, a woman, built a freighting empire starting at age 17. Max is a wealthy British baron who won the Victoria Cross during his military service fighting the Zulu in Africa. He then leaves for America and becomes a famous bounty hunter. He’s the fastest gun in the West and “his natural horsemanship was as good as the finest Sioux warrior.” His friends in America are successful and wealthy.
Then we have complex and well-woven motivations, which were too contrived for me. Sky’s husband was shot in the back by Danny. The courts won’t pursue him because he liked and helped Indians. Sky wants Max, a bounty hunter, to kill Danny for her. Max needs a wife so he can inherit a fortune from his titled uncle in England, who requires marriage as a condition of the inheritance. They do the deal, she marries him, and he will kill Danny. We later meet Cass, who also was required to get married in order to inherit her wealth. She chose Steve who was on his way to being hung. Steve’s choice was to marry her or hang. Bad guys are trying to kill Max and Sky, but a mysterious English woman is following them across the United States and just happens to be nearby each time they get ambushed. She and her two helpers repeatedly save them. Her helpers are Gurkhas from Nepal, the world’s most lethal swordsmen. Next we have a psychic Cheyenne medicine man who just happens to know many things about Sky and Max. He also knows where Danny is (in another state), who recently kidnapped his granddaughter. How convenient.
Readers might enjoy this if they like the following: lightweight entertainment, “cowboy shoot ‘em up story with romance,” perfect people and everything tying up neatly with assorted bad guys getting their due. Personally, I prefer more believability and more emotional development. I don’t require humor and wit, but some of that would have made the story better since it was lacking emotional pull for me. It was ok, but I wanted it to be over.
DATA:
Story length: 324 pages. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 6. Length of sex scenes: 1.7 to 5.6 pages. Total number of sex scene pages: 18. Setting: 1884 London, England, plus various locations in the U.S. including New York, Missouri, Colorado and Texas. Copyright: 2008. Genre: historical western romance.
June 15, 2019
Sky, ½ Native American, is looking for someone to kill the man who killed her white preacher-husband. She’s promised her dying husband that she would not kill his murderer, but she decides to find someone who will.
The person she wants is Max Stanhope, ‘the Limey.’ He’s famous for his ability to hunt down and eliminate evil doers. However, Stanhope is not interested in wreaking justice just now because he has urgent business back in England. His uncle has just died and Stanhope needs to get back and lay his claim as baron. There’s just one small problem, Stanhope needs a wife, as part of the will’s requirements.
Since Stanhope has been chasing evildoers instead of a wife, he makes a bargain with Sky: Marry him (marriage of convenience) and help him collect his inheritance in England and then he will return and kill Sky’s enemy. After some negotiation, they agree.
Unfortunately, when they get to England, Stanhope finds there is an additional stipulation: He needs a child to finally secure his inheritance. He decides not to tell Sky about this latest wrinkle; instead, they return to America to find the murderer of Sky’s first husband.
Before long, someone is taking pot shots at the couple. Is it Sky’s enemy or is it someone else? This is a fast-paced yarn that keeps the reader’s attention to the end. Great reading.
Nymph/Wild West Series
The River Nymph (2008)
Pale Moon Stalker (2008)
Chosen Woman (2009)
The person she wants is Max Stanhope, ‘the Limey.’ He’s famous for his ability to hunt down and eliminate evil doers. However, Stanhope is not interested in wreaking justice just now because he has urgent business back in England. His uncle has just died and Stanhope needs to get back and lay his claim as baron. There’s just one small problem, Stanhope needs a wife, as part of the will’s requirements.
Since Stanhope has been chasing evildoers instead of a wife, he makes a bargain with Sky: Marry him (marriage of convenience) and help him collect his inheritance in England and then he will return and kill Sky’s enemy. After some negotiation, they agree.
Unfortunately, when they get to England, Stanhope finds there is an additional stipulation: He needs a child to finally secure his inheritance. He decides not to tell Sky about this latest wrinkle; instead, they return to America to find the murderer of Sky’s first husband.
Before long, someone is taking pot shots at the couple. Is it Sky’s enemy or is it someone else? This is a fast-paced yarn that keeps the reader’s attention to the end. Great reading.
Nymph/Wild West Series
The River Nymph (2008)
Pale Moon Stalker (2008)
Chosen Woman (2009)
November 29, 2009
I really liked this book. It was very well written.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews