Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart

Stephanie Plum isn’t the only woman detective to come out of New Jersey…Constance Kopp is back to solve another crime.

Readers of Girl Waits With Gun might remember Constance, a tall and formidable woman from Bergen County, New Jersey, living in the early 1900s.  Based on real people and real situations, author Amy Stewart imagines what happened in a page turning, entertaining romp.  In this installment, Constance is “almost” a deputy for the Sheriff’s Department.  It is legal for women to be deputies in New Jersey at this time, but attaining an actual badge and authority continues to be just beyond her grasp and the grasp of the well-meaning (and perhaps smitten?) Sheriff Heath.

As an almost deputy, Constance works as prison matron for the female prisoners, often sleeping at the jail.  She tries to help a woman accused of shooting her husband, as well as some runaway girls being taken advantage of.  One stormy night, she accompanies an inmate to the hospital; he escapes on her watch, putting the community at risk and all but eliminating any chance Constance has of becoming deputy.  Add her family and their trials to the mix, and you have a novel.

I highly recommend Girl Waits with Gun and Lady Cop Makes Trouble.  You don’t need to read or listen to them in order, but if you can, do.  Stewart is a great story-teller, and who knows?  A feisty detective in 1915 New Jersey and New York may be just who you would like to read about this week!