The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek: A Novel by Kim Michele Richardson (Sourcebooks Landmark, $16.99, 9781492671527), first published in 2019, has sold more than a million copies, was a PBS Book Pick and recommended by Dolly Parton.
The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrape for everything--everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt's Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome's got its very own traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter.
Cussy's not only a book woman, however, she's also the last of her kind, her skin a shade of blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on Cussy's family or the Library Project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of trouble. If Cussy wants to bring the joy of books to the hill folks, she's going to have to confront prejudice as old as the Appalachias and suspicion as deep as the holler.
If you loved The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, you'll love Queens of London: A Novel by Heather Webb (Sourcebooks Landmark, $34.99, 9781728282947), published February 6, 2024.
1925. London. When Alice Diamond, AKA "Diamond Annie," is elected the Queen of the Forty Elephants, she's determined to take the all-girl gang to new heights. She's ambitious, tough as nails, and a brilliant mastermind, with a plan to create a dynasty the likes of which no one has ever seen. Alice demands absolute loyalty from her "family"--it's how she's always kept the cops in line. Too bad she's now the target for one of Britain's first female policewomen.
Officer Lilian Wyles isn't merely one of the first female detectives at Scotland Yard, she's one of the best detectives on the force. Even so, she'll have to win a big score to prove herself, to break free from the "women's work" she's been assigned. When she hears about the large-scale heist in the works to fund Alice's new dynasty, she realizes she has the chance she's been looking for--and the added bonus of putting Diamond Annie out of business permanently.
A tale of dark glamour and sisterhood, Queens of London is a look at Britain's first female crime syndicate, the ever-shifting meaning of justice and the way women claim their power by any means necessary.