If you like: mysteries, period pieces, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Maisie Dobbs, families that kick butt together
It’s 1914, Constance Kopp lives alone in the country with her two sisters, and the second time she meets an affluent crime leader, she grabs him by the shoulders and cracks his head against a wall. From the beginning, Constance does things her own way.
Constance is a great mystery heroine. She has lived her life in her late mother’s bubble, keeping her distance from everyone and everything. But when trouble literally crashes into her life, Constance does whatever it takes to keep her sisters safe. She finds out she is tough, she is resilient and resourceful, and she can be brave even when her legs threaten to give out.
The relationship between Constance and her sisters is what makes Girl Waits with Gun so memorable for me. Middle sister Norma is gruff and prefers the company of her pigeons over people, and youngest sister Fleurette is 90% taffeta frills and imagination, 10% sewing know-how.
There’s always humor in the ways they butt against each other, but differences aside, the Kopp sisters have an underlying love. Constance describes their kitchen table having survived “the arguments of three girls who rarely agreed on anything but sat down together nonetheless.”
Girl Waits With Gun is a slow-burn mystery. There aren’t clues for the reader to figure out, but the driving force of the story is being placed in the same threatening uncertainty as Constance and her sisters. Their house gets shot at, broken into, and set on fire over the course of one year.
Stewart’s writing places you in their shoes, and makes your heart pound with fear as the Kopps are forced to face their aggressors.
One of my favorite plot points has Constance reaching out of her bubble to help a stranger—even as it places her deeper in trouble. It’s the exact opposite of the fear and extreme independence that her mother taught her.
Later in the story, Constance thinks, "If I could give something to Fleurette…it would be this: the realization that we have to be a part of the world in which we live. We don’t scurry away when we’re in trouble, or when someone else is. We don’t run and hide.”
Girl Waits With Gun is the first in a mystery quadrilogy. Stewart keeps you on your toes with the action, but also writes with a wit and humor that makes you fall in love with the Kopp sisters. I’m a sucker for stories of women overcoming adversity on their own terms, and Girl Waits With Gun delivers. Hopefully, like me, you’ll finish this book and dive straight into its second installment.
Comentarios