Rita Mae Brown mentions in the Author's Note for Riding Shotgun that she wrote the book during a blackout when she was bored, and feeling weighed down by troubles. She goes on to say that she hopes the book helps readers forget their troubles, even if just for a short while. Mission accomplished.The book is filled with Brown's usual Elizabeth Bennett types: strong, beautiful, intelligent, independent, ass-kicking women who make men swoon, with some lesbian sensibility for good measure. This one has a fantasy side: the protagonist time-travels to 1699 during a foxhunt, right after she learns something troubling about her dead husband. It's a lot of fun and certainly distracted me when I needed to be.