Trailblazing Constance’s hard-won job as deputy sheriff is on the line in Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit, the fourth installment of Amy Stewart’s Kopp Sisters series. After a year on the job, New Jersey’s first female deputy sheriff has collared criminals, demanded justice for wronged women, and gained notoriety nationwide for her exploits. But on one stormy night, everything falls apart. While … everything falls apart.
While transporting a woman to an insane asylum, Deputy Kopp discovers something deeply troubling about her story. Before she can investigate, another inmate bound for the asylum breaks free and tries to escape.
In both cases, Constance runs instinctively toward justice. But the fall of 1916 is a high-stakes election year, and any move she makes could jeopardize Sheriff Heath’s future–and her own. Although Constance is not on the ballot, her controversial career makes her the target of political attacks.
With wit and verve, book-club favorite Amy Stewart brilliantly conjures the life and times of the real Constance Kopp to give us this “unforgettable, not-to-be messed-with heroine” (Marie Claire) under fire in Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit.
“Suspenseful . . . boasts a deeper emphasis on character, politics, and social issues. A must for Constance’s growing fan base.” —Booklist, starred review
“Stewart’s intrepid deputy sheriff is back, this time enmeshed in a 1916 local election with uncomfortable contemporary resonance . . . Constance may just have turned 40, but this tough-minded, generous-hearted believer in second chances and equal rights for women looks set for many more adventures. A welcome addition to this sui generis series, always fresh thanks to its vividly imagined characters firmly grounded in historical fact.” —Kirkus, starred review
“Stewart skillfully builds nail-biting suspense . . . The blend of practicality, forthrightness, and compassion in her first-person narration is sure to satisfy series fans and win new admirers.” —Publishers Weekly
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I am loving this series of books so much! It shows us how far we have come and about a wonderful (even if she is fictional) character who helped women along their journey to having some rights
This is the latest book in the Kopp Sisters Novels, based on the exploits of Constance Kopp, New Jersey’s first female sheriff. It’s 1916, and there are troublesome changes on the horizon. Sheriff Heath is running for Congress because he can’t serve another term as Bergen County Sheriff. The imminent departure of her only real champion doesn’t bode well for a woman working in a man’s world.
I love this book because it is very entertaining and educational and fun to read.
Historical fiction based on a real character, Miss Kopp and her family are endlessly interesting. I like this series a lot.
This is an odd collection of stories ..this series. But I enjoyed them. They were different and I like that. Easy reading. No violence or suspense.
This series is fun to read and entertaining.
It is the fall of 1916 in an election year and Constance Kopp’s job as New Jersey’s first female deputy sheriff could be in jeopardy. Women still haven’t gained the right to vote and not everyone is happy to see a female deputy (successfully) chasing down and arresting criminals. Despite the fact that Constance has been performing the jobs of deputy sheriff AND matron of the female section of the Hackensack Jail, her name has been in the newspapers far too often and the elected officials don’t care for the publicity.
This book is loosely based on the events that happened to the REAL Constance Kopp. From newspaper accounts, Constance Kopp was an intimidating woman, especially at this time in history. She stood nearly six-foot tall and 180 lbs, an imposing figure. She wore a badge, carried a gun and handcuffs, and was paid the SAME wage as the rest of the male deputies she worked with. And yet, I’d never heard the name Constance Kopp until I started reading Amy Stewart’s books. I think reading this book made me feel connected to Deputy Kopp as a person and a character in this story.
As with the previous books in this series, I loved the family dynamics of Constance and her sisters: Norma and Fleurette. I enjoyed reading more about Sheriff Heath—a man truly ahead of his time. Until I read this novel, I had no idea what the prison system was like for women in the early 1900’s nor how one-sided the morality laws were in the United States. This book was an enjoyable, page-turning read—but also informative, especially if you’re interested in reading about women in history.
This book would be MORE than suitable for anyone from middle-schoolers to adults. I think this series would be perfect as a gift idea for the ladies in your life. This book could be read as a stand-alone novel, but it would make more sense if you read the previous books first.
Thank you so much, Amy Stewart, for this ARC copy!!! I really enjoyed it.
This books takes up after the first Kopp book “woman waits with gun(?). Both books were very enjoyable. Well written, and BOTH entertaining reads.
A fun yet at times frustrating read about a woman police officer back when women had no rights to speak of… I’ve not read others in the series, but this was fun.
The fourth novel in the Miss Kopp series by Amy Stewart is a strange story. It is promoted as a mystery (all the series is), but it is hardly one. I mean, there is a mystery – not a very mysterious one – but that’s not the main plot. In fact there are a few threads running alongside each other and in the end they do all come together, but so late in the story that for the most part I kept wondering what was this story I was being told all about.
This is not to say I didn’t enjoy it. It’s a good one, with a great pace, a fantastic historical reconstruction (in the acknowledgements at the end, Stewart tells about the actual history behind these events. I was very impressed). The characters are nice and relatable. There’s everything that a story should have, but that separate threads gave me a sense of “unfocusness”, if this makes any sense.
This is the only novel I’ve read in this series, but my impression is that this is a story of passage from one stage of Constance’s life to another, and so it seems to serve the overarching structure of the series rather than the single novel. As a first time reader, this baffled me, but I’m sure if I had followed the story from the start, it would make a lot more sense.
I really really like the historical setting. It is clear that the author is completely at ease in it. There are so many details about Constance’s everyday life that help the setting come to life in a way not many historical writers ever achieve.
I’m also quite impressed with how Stewart uses the historical characters and events. It is apparent that most which is in these stories is true, and the author strived to put as little fiction as possible in it. Basically all the main characters are people who really lived in that time and place, their lives and sometimes their dialogue reconstructed through speeches, newspaper articles, official documents and all a host of primary sources – which is fascinated in itself, if you ask me. The secondary characters and their arcs are based on true events when the facts of the lives of true people are not available. It’s a huge historical undertaking.
But it’s also a good story. Stewart manages to morph the historical facts that she has into a compelling tale, something we do want to read because we care for the characters and because the plot is good.
It’s a truly enjoyable read.
Beautifully written
I love all these books.
A female deputy transfers a woman to insane asylum around 1910 and suspects the woman’s husband has arranged it unjustly. Well described historic atmospheric and characters, with a little too much political drama.
Great book in a great series. I am hoping for more of Miss Kopp.
MISS KOPP JUST WON’T QUIT by Amy Stewart
Men trying to lock women up, men deciding women aren’t qualified for work at which they are excelling . . . frighteningly familiar themes. Deputy Contance Kopp faced and overcame these obstacles a century ago, and her example can help us now. Persist! Despite the odds, we’ve made progress and will continue to do so.
“My ambitions for what I might accomplish in this line (probation rather than prison for “wayward” women) stretched over decades . . . They would go on to raise children . . find useful work . . . enter public service.”
It was wonderful that she had the backing of Sheriff Heath, “You saw a good case, and you pursued it. . . You thought only of Mrs. Kayser. That was the right way to think about it.” (It reminds me of my all-time favorite principal, backing up his teachers’ decision).
Get up earlier and find something useful to do — great advice!
(I love that I “found” the first book of the series in the Costco magazine . . . talk about a member benefit! <3)
Delightful, believable
This is the 4th Miss Kopp book I have read. I really liked the writer’s settings and characters. I think I may have enjoyed this one as much as the first.