Mar. 21st, 2018

skygiants: Nellie Bly walking a tightrope among the stars (bravely trotted)
Amy Stewart's Kopp Sisters series takes a series of sensationalist newspaper articles from WWI about the shocking existence of Constance Kopp, a female deputy sheriff in Hackensack, New Jersey, and fills them out with historical detail and human personalities.

They're quite good, and the third in the series, Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions, might be my favorite to date, although both title and description are (once again) misleading. Goodreads informs me that "the feisty, fiery Kopp sisters are back in another unforgettable romp by international bestseller Amy Stewart," which is not ... how I would describe ... a book which centers around a female law enforcement officer grappling with her responsibility to enforce the strict double standards that unjustly ruin the lives and futures of young women ...

Honestly of the books are really as action-adventure-y as the summaries would like to make them sound, but 'Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions' has very little action at all -- in this case I would count this as a feature, not a bug. The book begin with two young women getting delivered to Constance's prison for immoral behavior: Edna, who went to work in a factory for the war effort, and whose mother called the cops because she didn't want her to leave; and Minnie, a teenager who also ran away from home to live! in sin! with a man!, and whose parents emphatically do not want her back.

It's fairly easy for Constance to help Edna have a fulfilling future, and nearly impossible for her to help Minnie. That's half the plot of the book. The other half involves the Littlest Kopp, Fleurette, who ALSO runs away from home with a traveling theater company, forcing Constance to deal with her own internalized double standards about what kind of rights to make mistakes she feels young women should have when it comes to her own household.

It's all very good stuff. It's not what I would call a 'romp', but hey, I'm not a publisher! I only have one big complaint, Expandbut it's a large-ish complaint which I will put under a spoiler cut )

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