Nobody's Child Should Be On Everybody's Bookshelf

You shouldn't read Nobody's Child, the latest Georgia Davis P.I. mystery by Libby Fischer Hellman, just because it's a finalist for both the Daphne du Maurier Award AND the Shamus Award. Or because she sets her crime fiction in exotic locales that stretch from Persia, to the Caribbean, and to the cold, hard streets of Chicago. Or because she's a best-selling author.

You should read it because it's a damn good story. It's no cozy, but if you like to bite into a good P.I. novel that bites you back, this one's for you.

Something very odd is going on in Chicago. Yeah, I know...that's the Chicago way. But really, something's not right. Ex-cop and P. I. Georgia Davis is working a retail snatch and run theft case when she notices she has a tail. And when you're a private investigator who's paid to tail others, a tail on YOU is bad news. The next thing she knows, a dark SUV slows down, a rifle is thrust from an open window and shots are fired. A dead body has just hit the pavement, but it's not Georgia. It's her tail. Was it a mistake, or a warning?

Things get more mysterious when a cryptic phone call and scribbled letter lead Georgia to discover she may have a sister she never knew somewhere in Chicago and deep in trouble. The clues point to a human trafficking ring that involves not just prostitution, but something much more sinister. When people want to describe someone with absolutely no morals they often say he/she would sell their own mother. Think about that for a moment...then use your imagination. Then try not to lose your lunch. It's no surprise that the Russian mob may be involved in this organized crime ring from hell. They've developed a reputation for ruthlessness that make the Italian Mafia look like the Addams Family.

Georgia is one tough P.I. But she does have feelings. Somewhere along the way she starts seeing a cop, and it may be getting serious in the romance department. As she starts to emerge from her shell she has to decide if she can trust her new beau as she hunts for her sister. Georgia may have to get help from some legally shady characters if she's going to take on the Russian mob. To do that and come out alive (and out of jail), she's going to have to keep her love interest in the dark, which is exactly what she swore off doing.

What's a hard-nosed P.I searching for her sister in a tough crime town and facing a tough heartless crime mob to do? Whatever she has to, that's what.

Libby is fast becoming the go-to gun moll of noir crime fiction in the mid-west, if not the nation. Pickup a copy of Nobody's Child and you'll soon see why.

Writers Born Today - Sandra Scoppettone

It's the birthday of Sandra Scoppettone, award winning crime writer born June 1st, 1936 in Morristown, New Jersey.

She didn't start out writing mysteries. Her second novel, The Late Great Me, dealt with teenage alcoholism and was made into a television special that won an Emmy Award. Her next book, Happy Endings Are All Alike was chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Young Adult list. It was one of the first young adult novels to depict a gay relationship.

After an initial burst of success as a young adult novelist in the 1970s, her career seemed to hit a wall. As she put it, "I couldn’t get arrested. So I went into a funk and lay on the couch reading one crime novel after another, mostly PIs. After about a month of this a male voice started talking in my head. I thought that either I was going crazy or he was my next protagonist. I decided on the latter."

Since the voice in her head was male, she decided to use a male pen name, Jack Early, to write a PI novel. At a time when most women couldn't get crime fiction published or reviewed, it was a stroke of genius. The result, A Creative Kind of Killer was nominated for an Edgar Award and won the Shamus Award in 1985 for Best First P.I. novel. She wrote two more novels as Jack Early, Razamatazz and Donato & Daughter before reverting to her real name.

In 1991 she published the first in the Lauren Laurano P.I. novel series, Everything You Have Is Mine. The series featured a smart and sassy lesbian private eye, one of the first to depict gay characters who work, fall in love, have affairs, and get mixed up in murder, just like "normal" people. She followed it up with I'll Be Leaving You Always, My Sweet Untraceable You, Let''s Face The Music and Die, and Gonna Take A Homicidal Journey.

She also wrote two novels featuring a secretary who takes over her boss's P.I. practice while he serves in the armed forces during World War II. This Dame For Hire and Too Darn Hot featured a scrappy character named Faye Quick. These books were my first introduction to this remarkable writer, but certainly not the last ones I read.

Sandra Scoppettone is one of the founding mothers of Sisters In Crime. The meeting which started the organization took place in her apartment in Soho.

To read more about her, check out these interviews, with Allan Guthrie, and Sarah Weinman.

Many of her books are now available as ebooks. For a bibliography with links to purchase her novels, start here.

And check out my review of her novels Beautiful Rage and This Dame For Hire which was my first blog post.