Based on a real woman! Whoo!

Girl Waits with Gun is based on the real-life of Constance Kopp, one of America’s first female deputy sheriffs. The general plot of this book follows the historical information as best it can, but everything else is fictionalized which makes this a more robust, character-fueled story.

Constance and her sisters, Norma and Fleurette, are headed into town when their buggy is struck by a local man in his car. Turns out the man is the owner of a local dye factory and is a disreputable sort, refusing to pay for any of the damages that fell unto the girls in the accident. In fact, Henry, the man in question, begins using his friends and connections to bully, threaten and physically intimidate the women into dropping the issue.

As they are three women living on their own without husbands, very few people take their issue seriously. It isn’t until Sherrif Heath sees Constance’s resilience and is convinced he can help her solve her issue and in turn, she will push the case and help him come up with evidence to finally get Henry convicted of the various crimes he’s wormed out of before.

Heath and Constance have a great relationship that is based on mutual respect. He’s one of the more interesting characters in the novel, along with Constance’s sisters. It took me a while to get into the book as Norma was driving me bonkers with her attitude, but I understood why she was so combative. The Kopp’s mother was very insular and didn’t like her children interacting with others, which is another small plot of the book as Fleurette is 16 and ready to branch out in life. There’s some more plot drama revolving around Fleurette, but I don’t want to spoil that!

Overall, I enjoyed this book and see why it’s such a popular series. I don’t read many books set in this time period, so that was something a bit newer to me as well. It took a while for the story to pick up and I wished there was more of a mystery element regarding all the threats as the villain of the story is entirely one-dimensional, but it was a fun read that my book club absolutely adored. The following books in the series seem to be well-liked as well, so if you’re a fan of reading full series, this may be a good one to jump on!

Title: Girl Waits With Gun
Author: Amy Stewart
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 408
ISBN:  9780544409910
Three Descriptors: Authentic, Sardonic, Upbeat

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