Sophie Littlefield and Juliet Blackwell: Two sassy, fun reads

Here’s another pair of reviews of books by authors I met at the Poisoned Pen conference. Sophie Littlefield and Juliet Blackwell conducted workshops on book pitches, and for their smart, experienced assistance with my “pitch” I am very grateful. I marveled at their ability to listen to novice writers’ descriptions of their books and with lightning speed make concrete suggestions and ask those piercing questions we writers all have to ask about our books but love to avoid.

I wasn’t surprised by how sharp and knowledgeable these two women are because I’d read their mysteries before I met them.

Sophie Littlefield’s A Bad Day for Sorry is sassy, hilarious and chilling. Her “sleuth” is Stella Hardesty—how did Sophie phrase it, a self-help widow?—a middle-aged woman whose creative use of a wrench finally freed her from her abusive husband so that now she has time for a new career as right-hand woman to the abused women of rural Missouri. Who knew intimidating the crap out of slimy men who need an attitude adjustment could be so entertaining? Well, it is if the intimidator is creeping past fifty, definitely not a lethal personality, slightly overweight, has bad hair days most days, runs a sewing shop as her “real” job, and has a soft spot for every downtrodden wife in the county and for the sheriff, although she really doesn’t want him to catch on to her extra-legal solution to wife-beating. You’ll love her Stella series: A Bad Day for Sorry, A Bad Day for Pretty, A Bad Day for Scandal.

Juliet Blackwell’s “sleuth” in Secondhand Spirits has just opened a vintage clothing store in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, and she’s a witch–which is a good thing because children are disappearing from SF and the police are never going to figure it out. In the first few pages, a handsome and clearly dangerous man brings her a housewarming present—a “familiar” in the form of a gargoyle-like gnome who changes conveniently into a cute Vietnamese pig whenever non-witches are around. This mixture of lurking danger and gentle humor makes this a thoroughly delightful read. You’ll enjoy the whole series: Secondhand Spirits, A Cast Off Coven, Hexes and Hemlines.