โ Scribed by Drummond, Laurie Lynn
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Combining Southern grace and urban brutality, ex-cop Drummond debuts with 10 short stories grouped into five blistering fictional portraits of Baton Rouge policewomen. Each lady is tough even without her bulletproof vest, and all are plagued by death and corruption as they undertake the bracing, dehumanizing enforcement of justice. In the three "Katherine" stories, the protagonist relates in her own dispassionate voice how she fired two shots into a robbery suspect's chest and then massaged his heart through the gaping bullet wound. She possesses a keen talent for detecting danger and the gruesome gift of determining cause and time of death-a few hours, a day, a week-from the first pungent whiffs of a corpse. In "Liz," a haunted traffic officer recuperates from a car accident, dredging up grisly memories from her days on the force; in "Mona," the burned-out protagonist struggles not to lose control in her professional and personal life. On her first day at work in Victim Services, another policewoman ("Cathy") responds to a stabbing, the knife still sticking out of the woman's chest when she arrives. Years later, after Cathy has married one of the investigators, the victim returns to ask her to reopen the case, accusing Cathy's husband of misconducting the investigation. And in "Sarah," the protagonist escapes to New Mexico from the moral morass she lands in when a group of policewomen take justice into their own hands in a Louisiana swamp. Choosing original characters over cliches and gritty detail over simplification, Drummond continually surprises with her profiles in courage, which focus on a captivating minority on the force.
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"A superb debut. Prose that weighs like a gun in your palm." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"Choosing original characters over clichรฉs and gritty detail over simplification, Drummond continually surprises with her profiles in courage." -- Publishers Weekly
"For readers who like their crime fiction raw and flavored by moral dilemmas, these stories are intriguingly fresh." -- New York Daily News
"Fresh and engaging. [Drummondโs] stories hold pleasures beyond those of a standard whodunit." -- San Francisco Chronicle
"Searingโฆeye-openingโฆ[Laurie Lynn Drummond] is a deft storyteller." -- Contra Costa Times
"Sincere praise from Elmore Leonard is the equivalent of striking literary gold, and thatโs just what Laurie Drummond has done." -- Bellingham Herald
"So compelling that itโs difficult to stop reading." -- Entertainment Weekly
"The stories are sure-footed and fascinating in their insight into the specifics of a copโs reality." -- Portland Oregonian
"This is an exceptional body of writing." -- Library Journal (starred review)
"โฆElegant, graceful, unexpected and completely haunting. Drummond brings a major new talent to the crime fiction scene." -- New Orleans Times-Picayune
๐ SIMILAR VOLUMES
This riveting debut collection of short fiction about women cops comes from the author's realโlife experience as a Baton Rouge police officer. In an entirely fresh and unique voice, these stories reveal the humanity, compassion, humour, tragedy and redemption hidden behind the "blue wall." Anything