No doubt about it, Venus Crocket Bom was born a beautiful baby who grew into a woman with an uncanny resemblance to one of the most gorgeous actresses the world has ever known! Despite
the fact that many people would feel blessed by such physical beauty, for Venus, her appearance has always only been a two-edged sword. By the age of three, she was being paraded by a stage mother in child beauty pageants, where she became known as "Baby Bombshell", later shorten-
ed to "Bombshell", even though she usually preferred to be called simply "VC".
As Venus grew up, she was continually pushed to compete in contests that focused on her ap-
pearance, almost to the exclusion of any other good qualities the young girl might possess. Now
at the age of thirty-three, VC still isn't certain that she has any intrinsic value aside from her looks. Heaven knows, that's what has invariably attracted undesirables who treat her as if she's
only a brainless commodity for them to exploit. Her criminally-minded ex-husband is one of the
worst.
Fearing for her life, the former beauty queen goes on the run, taking her golden horse and fleeing
her Texas home; the pair of them streaking up across New Mexico. An overnight stay in Santa Fe
leads to a seemingly random remark about a sparsely populated area west of Abiquiu. After not-
ing the information, VC heads into the Pecos Wilderness, instead; intent on a few days of enjoy-
able trail riding. Unfortunately for the down-on-her-luck cowgirl, the glorious high-country is any-
thing but peaceful.
Desperate and out of options, Venus decides to follow up on the curious tip about Abiquiu, only to end up somewhere that may, or may not, actually exist. At least not on any modern roadmap.
Yet, others are residing there; many of them also hiding away from a world that judges them sole-
ly for their looks.
For the the first time in forever, Venus feels right at home in this peculiar community and begins
settling in. But before she can catch her breath from the most recent debacle, she receives an
email that an artist friend's artwork is being illegally used to promote a mounted shooting event
in the Texas panhandle. Unraveling the matter is right up VC's alley, since she's spent the past
dozen years, after earning a degree in criminal justice, secretly putting it to good use.
A bit of online research quickly yields hard evidence that there are more than a few large rats on
the loose in the artworld, leading Venus to make plans to attend the shooting event and find out exactly what's happening. In disguise and undercover, VC fast-talks her way into a ring of art
forgers and thieves, only to stumble upon a nefarious operation much more organized and wide-
spread than any she could have imagined. Much more lethal, too.
On the trail of cold-blooded criminals willing to do anything in order to profit from others' crea-
tive genius, even if it means murder, VC sets about exposing the ringleaders, while also protect-
ing the innocent people being blackmailed into doing the illegal dirty work.
Who knows? Being viewed as nothing more than a fluff-headed bimbo just may turn out to be one of Venus' most powerful weapons...as long as she can stay alive to use it.
"THE BOMBSHELL RIDES AGAIN", Copyright Rush Cole 2022. All rights reserved.