Marie Claude Gagnon

I so wanted to love that book, and it soooo missed the mark!

Someone named Kinsey Millhone, but who doesn't share that much resemblance with the character we love, is obviously trying to find things to do now that she does not have to work as hard as she used to after she inherited money in the previous book. Three stories are told throughout the book, none of which really interesting, but more importantly, none of which demonstrating any detecting talent in Kinsey. In fact, in some occasions, I really had the impression she was new on the job and naive...

And the end... not only it left me unsatisfied, but I could have done without the little morale speech...

I will probably read the next one since I have been a fan of Kinsey for over 20 years now, and that I have been happily surprised by a book in the series following a disappointing book. Let's hope Y will do the same for me :)

The only reason I didn't read it in one sitting is that right in the middle of it, it was dinner time and my husband and kids frown on seeing me take a book to the table ;o)

Bonne présentation de l'autisme, et plus précisément le type d'autisme connu autrefois sous le nom de syndrome d'Asperger. Le personnage de Ludovic nous parle directement et vit ses forces et difficultés sans compromis. Portrait sensible et plein de tendresse, je le conseille aux jeunes et moins jeunes qui ont un ami ou un proche ayant reçu un tel diagnostic ou tout simplement pour mieux connaître ce monde fascinant.

Characters were interesting, but something was missing... and what is it about all that talk about food! LOL Anyways, I was glad I had borrowed it from the library...

I received this book for free in exchange for a review from Mysteries & Crime Thrillers

Rating : 3,5 *

Being a woman has never been easy, but being a woman, living alone with one's sisters, on an isolated farm in 1915, becomes even more complicated for Constance Kopp.

After a young, rich and belligerent silk factory owner hit their buggy with his motor car, the Kopp sisters bill him for damages. What should have been a simple manner of reimbursing them 50$ for the reparation turns into a year of kidnapping threats, flying bullets and cops camping in the sisters' barn. To convict the culprit and his accomplices, the sheriff recruits Constance in the investigation. Along the way, a chance encounter forces Constance to confront a family secret and face their uncertain financial future.

Based on true events, this novel introduces us to Constance Kopp, US's first female deputy sheriff. She is depicted as a strong and stubborn woman who is determined to get reparation from the gang who recklessly damaged their buggy. After all, why should she accept another resolution than a man would! Her interactions with other characters illustrate clearly society's expectations about “simple woman” and how she should act. The well-meaning, but oh so patronizing, “isn't there a brother or an uncle who can take care of you?” question, asked more than once in the novel, is evidence of the place women occupied in society.

Even if a little stereotypical, Constance, Norma and Fleurette Kopp take life in this novel. Norma, dependable and more conservative has a passion for pigeons, and Fleurette, childish and a little spoiled likes to design and sew new clothes. After some time, I felt like I could predict how they would react to new situations. Other secondary characters, such as the sheriff, are also well-fleshed and coherent. In fact, the less detailed characters are the villains of the book. Obviously, the author did not want to spend much time with them, or the documents she used did not offer more information about them. The gang felt like an ominous and ill-defined presence throughout the book, which was a really effective way to transmit the oppressive feeling felt by the sisters to the reader.

I came to this book without knowing it was based on true events (in fact I discovered this information in the postface of the book). So, I was expecting a fast-paced story, with a gun-bearing too-modern heroin. What I discovered instead was a slow-paced book based more on the ambiance and social dynamics of the era than the action of the story. It was for me a good and a bad surprise: good because I took away a lot more from this book than I would have from a “simple” mystery, but also bad because some sections seemed to lag a little.

All in all, I thought it was a good portrait of an era and of an exceptional woman and the circumstances that helped her show the world who she was and that she would not sit back and take the beating in silence. Constance Kopp is a model that should be known and followed by many young, and less young, ladies nowadays.