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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“Drummond brings a major new talent to the crime fiction scene.” (New Orleans Times-Picayune )
“Unforgettable, beautifully written stories.” (New Orleans Times-Picayune )
“This astonishing debut collection makes it clear that Drummond was a writer long before she was a police officer.” (Los Angeles Times Book Review )
“The stories are sure-footed and fascinating in their insight into the specifics of a cop’s reality.” (The Oregonian (Portland) )
“Stories that [put Drummond’s] insider’s knowledge to work, offering fresh insights into the lives of police officers and women.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution )
“A superb debut ...marvelous command of fear and sensuous involvement. Prose that weighs like a gun in your palm.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred) )
“Choosing original characters over clichés and gritty detail over simplification, Drummond continually surprises with her profiles in courage.” (Publishers Weekly )
“Tough, scary and riveting.” (Entertainment Weekly )
“Drummond’s clear voice shuns distracting, overtly literary first-book flourishes. The author’s mapping of complex terrain ...keeps the pages turning.” (Time Out New York )
“For readers who like their crime fiction raw and flavored by moral dilemmas, these stories are intriguingly fresh.” (New York Daily News )
“So compelling that it’s difficult to stop reading.” (Entertainment Weekly )
“Searing…eye-opening…[Laurie Lynn Drummond] is a deft storyteller.” (Contra Costa Times )
“…Elegant, graceful, unexpected and completely haunting. Drummond brings a major new talent to the crime fiction scene.” (New Orleans Times-Picayune )
“For readers who like their crime fiction raw and flavored by moral dilemmas, these stories are intriguingly fresh.” (Daily News )
“A superb debut. Prose that weighs like a gun in your palm.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred) )
“This is an exceptional body of writing.” (Library Journal (starred review) )
“Elegant, graceful, unexpected and completely haunting.” (New Orleans Times-Picayune )
“Unflinching in its portrayal of [female officers’] lives.” (Cincinnati Enquirer )
“Sincere praise from Elmore Leonard is the equivalent of striking literary gold, and that’s just what Laurie Drummond has done.” (Bellingham Herald )
“A brilliant debut carries the flash of fact.” (Portland Tribune )
“Combining Southern grace and urban brutality ...Drummond continually surprises with her profiles in courage.” (Publishers Weekly )
“Tough and tender, this book is simply unforgettable.” (New Orleans Times-Picayune )
“Unforgettable stories. . . that will make readers suck in their breath.” (San Antonio Express-News )
“This is an exceptional body of writing.” (Library Journal (starred) )
“Strong and wise ...like the memory of a loved one passed, these stories linger long past their last breath.” (San Diego Union-Tribune )
“Fresh and engaging. [Drummond’s] stories hold pleasures beyond those of a standard whodunit.” (San Francisco Chronicle )
