From recluse to badass in one novel

4.5 stars. This book had me enthralled from start to finish. In Girl Waits With Gun, Amy Stewart tells the fictionalized story of a real life woman who was one of the first female deputies. The story is basically Constance Kopp’s origin story. Events start before she’d ever dreamed of entering law enforcement in 1914 when a rich silk man, Henry Kaufman, rams into the Kopp sister’s carriage. Much of the town witnessed this accident and it’s well established that Kaufman was at fault, so when he doesn’t pay up, Constance takes matters into her own hands. Needless to say, rich and dangerous Kaufman doesn’t take kindly to a woman insisting on anything from him and gets his nasty gang of men to go after the sisters.

I thought the story was perfectly paced, but there is quite a bit of character development, so if you like plot-heavy stories that move quickly, you’re going to think Girl With Gun is a little slow. I really enjoyed spending so much time with the sisters and understanding their motivations. Constance’s journey was especially interesting. In real life she was almost 6 feet tall, but in the fictionalized novel we get to see her build her investigative skills and see why she’d be interested in a deputy job for reasons other than her intimidating physical build.

I loved Stewart’s writing style. It was perfectly suited to historical fiction and I felt drawn into the world of 1914. This was an audiobook read for me and it was a great choice. Christina Moore brought something extra to the book with her gravelly voice and old-timey accents. Highly recommend.