Sally Adler is returning to her hometown of Laramie, Wyoming, after a 20-year absence. When she left to seek fame and fortune in LA, she was “Mustang Sally,” girl singer in a local country band and college dropout, fond of partying and drinking a little too much. Once in LA, she got her act together, went back to school, and now, to her own mild astonishment, she’s Professor Sally Adler, respected historian and author.

A strange bequest from a high school English teacher in Laramie has drawn her back. The teacher, Margaret Dunwoodie, also wrote and published a few books of poetry in her later years, surprisingly erotic for an old maid. She died a wealthy woman, also surprising on a teacher’s modest salary, and in her will, endowed a Chair in the History Department of the local college -- with one catch. Professor Sally Adler is to be offered the Chair, plus residence in Dunwoodie’s home, if she will accept the project of going through Dunwoodie’s papers, put them in order and publish her memoirs. Sounds like a sweet deal for Sally, who’s ready for a change in her life.

Back in Laramie, Sally reacquaints herself with her old college friends, most who stayed behind while she followed her dreams. The current chief of police was once the local coke dealer during his misspent youth, giving him, he says, “a unique perspective on the criminal mind.” His wife and sister were Sally’s best girlfriends. And, unknown to Sally, the fellow whose heart she broke with her unfaithful ways is also headed back to Laramie, tired of traveling and wanting to put down roots. The two of them meet at a party given by mutual acquaintances and warily renew their friendship. They’re both older now, but are they wiser?

The more time Sally spends learning about Margaret Dunwoodie, the more captivated she is. A woman clearly ahead of her time, Dunwoodie was a reporter just before WW II, at home in Europe among the privileged classes and concerned about the escalating mistreatment of the Jews. Did Dunwoodie truly have a Nazi lover? That would explain the sensuality of her poetry. Then there is the persistent rumor of a fortune in gold hidden on Dunwoodie property. Sally is so wrapped up in uncovering the mysteries of Dunwoodie’s life and her own reawakening romance that she is oblivious to events occurring around her.

There’s the bungled break-in attempt, hate messages sprayed on her car and that incident with the brakes. The final straw is the lawsuit brought against the college and the endowed Chair by a group of disgruntled, middle-aged white professors claiming “discrimination.” It would be laughable except the Freedom Militia, a para-military group headed by a paranoid millionaire recluse, is financing the lawsuit. Why?

Swift masterfully ties all the bits and pieces together and leaves you wanting more --- the sign of a good book. These are characters you could imagine being in your life, mellowed by age and circumstances, but still vital and willing to take chances. Swift’s Brown-Eyed Girl proves Thomas Wolfe wrong; you CAN go home again, if your head and heart are in the right place.

--K. W. Becker

*Van Morrison, for you trivia fans