Cold Steel and Hot Lead — Karen Mercury

Stuck on a snowbound train in Laramie, Wyoming, is Senator Derrick Spiro, traveling to introduce a measure giving women the right to vote. While watching a magician making a girl vanish, Derrick meets Rudy Dunraven, escape artist. When the girl fails to materialize again, the men flee from the unruly lynch mob. They are assisted in their quest to find the real kidnapper by Alameda Hudson, bolting from a disastrous engagement to a serial cheater. A helpful and mischievous spirit instructs Alameda to join the play the circus is putting on in town. All three, tortured by past failed loves, are reluctant to love again. But they have no one to trust but each other, and they can't clear their names until Alameda puts herself in danger during the final act of the play. Alameda hopes she lives long enough to be the first woman voter in America. Note: Each book in the How the West Was Done series stands alone and can be read out of sequence in any order.