Bud Preston, a sharp-tongued cowboy, narrates this early 20th-century romantic comedy about his eccentric boss, Shooting-star Wilson. Living in a gaudily decorated house called the Hall of Mirth, Shooting-star decides to find a wife through a matrimonial advertisement. His correspondence with "Lonesome Ann" builds hope, but when she arrives and encounters his bizarre home and even stranger personality, comedy erupts. The poor woman is overwhelmed, the marriage collapses, and a swift divorce leaves Shooting-star to lament his choices. B. M. Bower, one of the first popular western writers, brings frontier humor to the timeless absurdity of matchmaking. The book mocks romantic Idealism while affectionately mocking the characters caught in its web. It's dated in the best ways, capturing a simpler era's assumptions about gender and courtship, yet the jokes about mismatched expectations and disastrous first impressions still land. For readers who enjoy vintage humor with a western setting, or anyone who appreciates a quick, funny read about the collision between fantasy and reality in matters of the heart.
