By: LuAnn M. Rod
Format: Available in Paperback, ePub, and MOBI
Genre: Historical, Mystery, Western
Maddie McDowell and the Rodeo Robbery
Thunderation and Toad’s Toes!
How does one nearly thirteen-year-old Montana cowgirl get herself in so much trouble?
Maddie McDowell can’t take it anymore. Running away from boarding school seems like her only choice after feeling betrayed by her family and left out and left alone by everyone else. When the Monte Decker Rodeo Show pulls out of town on the morning train, Maddie intends to be on it, leaving all her hurt behind.
All, however, does not go as planned.
Mistaken for the rodeo’s newest star, who appears to be missing, Maddie must prove she’s got the talent, skills, and guts to make it. But it’s not that simple. There’s the rodeo queen who hates her on sight, the handsome cowboy who seems strangely familiar, a mysterious man in a bowler hat, and a sack full of stolen cash. Is someone trying to hurt her, or the missing cowgirl she’s impersonating?
Yep. Maddie is in deeper than a yearling calf in a sinkhole.
With all this trouble, Maddie must decide if the rodeo life is what she truly wants, or if there’s something else missing, something even bigger pulling her along—not counting that dog, of course.
Meet LuAnn M. Rod, the debut author of Maddie McDowell and the Rodeo Robbery.
Vonna Carter –
A page-turning romp! This historical fiction set in the WWI era is about a girl who runs away from her oppressive boarding school to join a rodeo but gets mistaken for the missing star of the show. But though she gets swept up in the mistaken identity, there is nothing passive about Maddie or her new rodeo friends, a brother and sister who do trick riding, rope tricks, and help Maddie figure out who’s been up to dirty tricks. Like the famous Pinkerton detectives, they look for clues to solve the mystery of the missing rodeo star and the $5000 dollars that was stolen from an orphans’ fund. With humor on every page, middle grade readers who were fans of Crystal Allen’s The Magnificent Mya Tibbs series—older now and but looking for something just as fun—will enjoy Maddie’s story.
Annie Downer –
I love mystery, I love historical fiction, and I love horses, so of course, I loved Maddie McDowell!
dasanders.is –
Really enjoyed this book! Maddie is an engaging character. Strong-willed and courageous enough to follow her dream to be a rodeo star, but also tender about grieving her mother and feeling abandoned by her father when sent away to an awful boarding school.
When Maddie runs away to join the Monte Decker Rodeo she falls into a case of mistaken identity, a missing rodeo cowgirl star, and money stolen from an orphans’ relief fund. And, she is being hunted by her cruel school principal and maybe by a kidnapper and thief. Maddie and her new rodeo friends must think like a Pinkerton detective to solve the mysteries surrounding the rodeo.
A look into the daily life of a traveling rodeo and the people who made them possible unfolds in Maddie McDowell and the Rodeo Robbery. The story is set in the early 20th century when cowgirls and cowboys were the stars of their time. There’s fun, mystery, danger, friendship, and reconciled relationships.
A great story of a young girl trying to break the conventions of her day to follow what she loves to do.