Constance is moved sideways to the role of prison guard while her boss argues that she should be enabled to be a full officer but society pressures loom large.

When she temporarally takes charge of an apparently immobile prisoner who is in the hospital he disappears when the lights go out and she has to find him, whether she is sanctioned or not.

Meanwhile life continues with her sisters and there is change coming.

It's an interesting series reflecting real life of the era and a woman who was determined to do her own thing.

It is 1915 in New Jersey and although Constance Kopp has been offered the job of a deputy working for Sheriff Heath, her position is not officially recognized by law due to the fact that she is a woman. That doesn’t deter Constance and she is determined to prove herself capable in a man’s world. But when a prisoner escapes on her watch, things don’t look good for her or Sheriff Heath. But have no fear; Constance will do her best to recapture the man even if it takes her all the way to New York City! The situations that Constance gets in are somewhat humorous and read like capers. Yet make no mistake, Constance is 100% dedicated to her job and she is as determined as they come. 

Her sisters, Norma and Fleurette perfectly compliment her in her adventures. Norma has taken her hobby to the next level and started her own organization for carrier pigeons. The ever-fashionable, young Fleurette dreams of being on the stage and a local music and dance program leads her to a job making costumes. 

There is a lot to appreciate here. The main characters and many others are based on real-life historical figures and actual newspaper headlines of the era. The books are historically accurate to their time and we get a true glimpse of what is must have been like for the real Constance to prove herself at a time when women just didn’t work in law enforcement. 

Although I wasn’t as tickled as I was with Girl Waits with Gun, the first book of the series, there is still a certain charm to the way Amy Stewart tells her story and I do look forward to reading the further adventures of Ms. Kopp!

I want to thank the publisher (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) for providing me with the ARC through the Goodreads Giveaways program for an honest review. 

I am really liking these so far.  Amy Stewart has crafted another interesting if not nail-biting mystery around actual events and cases that Miss Constance Kopp worked on in her career.

Lady Cop Makes Trouble focuses on the case of escaped convict Von Matthesius and Kopp's efforts to recapture him.  Along the way she also investigates a landlady arrested for killing a tenant and man taking advantageous of native young girls.  Kopp's sisters play a much smaller part in this story and Stewart turns up the tension between Kopp and Sheriff Heath without so much as implying any attraction or romance (although Normal gets a few jabs in on occasion).

I kept expecting the story to drag, but it moved along well and the pacing was smooth; there's very little 'whodunnit' here so any expectations on the part of mystery lovers is going to require some adjustments.  It's definitely worth it.

As before, Stewart includes an acknowledgments and citations page at the end that discusses exactly what parts of the story were taken from newspapers and historical accounts, with relevant citations and suggested readings, and which parts of the story she made up.  It's not unreasonable to imagine that if Stewart kept writing Kopp's adventures, a reader would end up with a rather credible biography at the end of it.  I'll be hoping for a third book, at least. 

Buying other people books as Christmas presents is just dangerous.  Especially when local publishers have 45% off sales.  Apparently a book reading slump does not translate into a book buying slump.

So these all arrived in the mail this week.  I'm particularly excited about The Haunted Grange Of Goresthorpe by Arthur Conan Doyle  and Bookshops by Jorge Carrión; translated by Peter Bush.  Oh, and Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart!

I also bought one more book - it's not up on top because it's a book I already have, and a small splurge, but I think at least BrokenTune, if nobody else, will understand why.  I bought an uncorrected bound proof of The Eyre Affair.  Not because of the book itself, but because of what came with it:

It's a black and white photo that Jasper Fforde did in a giveaway at some point, 105 of them in total given away.  (http://www.jasperfforde.com/giveaway/tea002.html if anyone is curious).  The book was less than a new paperback edition and I couldn't resist - I love Pickwick!

I liked this book a lot. I was very frustrated at first until I realized I was reading book 2 of the series. Duh! My senior moment aside, I really liked Constance Kopp and she has the perfect name. She represents a lot of problems for a female during the early 1900's, as well as just being a female working with all males.

However, the fact is she is really good at what she does, wins me over hands down. I was let down when she didn't mention the gloves the lawyer just happened to have during the last court trial while Von whatever (the Baron) puts on his Academy Award winning performance to the Sheriff. Who just happens to have latex gloves on them? That was the only part that I caught, it could be different in the printed version.

I really did enjoy reading this book, I was mesmerized and did not want to put it down. I also liked the fact that the Sheriff was, for the most part, on Constance's side trying to get a female on his team. The story was well written with likable characters and I can see this series going much further. I would read them (I definitely need to read book 1). I really like the covers too. They look like they would be from that era.

Huge thanks to Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.