3.5★
“Dear Miss Kopp, I appreciate, as always, the lively report. We had a look into our files concerning [XX]. British citizen, immigrated in 1914, never been in any trouble to our knowledge, but he deserves a closer look.”
Yes, a lively report. I’ve been enjoying this series with the “Kopp sisters”, three very different women but a tight, loyal family group. The author based the first stories on the real women, especially Constance Kopp, who was a lady cop.
A 6-foot-tall, formidable physical presence, she could chase and bring down criminals as well as her male counterparts. (This is 1918, so she would have been a head-turner, but not in the same way as the very pretty, much younger Fleurette Kopp.)
There’s not much said about the past in this book, but it certainly helps to know the background. The story moves so slowly in the beginning that if I weren’t already a committed fan, I might have quit. But then it picked up markedly and became quite entertaining.
It is told in letters, an epistolary format, which I enjoy but many don’t. The sisters have all done a form of military training in preparation for war, and each are contributing in different ways. Norma is in France with her pigeons, trying to get the army to take them seriously. She is as forceful and direct as ever. They live in dreadful quarters, and she’s had some settling-in issues.
“About these notes: When I first arrived at Fort de la Bonnelle, Captain Buscall mistook me for his secretary and asked me to take minutes of his meetings. You can be sure I corrected him without delay. I do nonetheless keep my own records of my meetings with him. This he objects to, for reasons I cannot fathom, as he was the one who wanted me taking notes in the first place.”
Norma is the adult version of those annoying children who take everything literally. Whether she’s on the autism spectrum, a bit obsessive-compulsive, who knows? She really does give her superiors some curry!
She keeps meticulous notes. This is her argument with Captain Buscall about why the pigeons the soldiers finally released with test messages didn’t behave as intended. She had laboriously typed up extensive instructions (which nobody reads, of course).
“buscall: ‘That wasn’t the only problem.’
kopp: ‘It’s also possible that they released the males and females together.’
buscall: ‘What?’
kopp: Didn’t you think to ask?
(Buscall shifts around in his chair but makes no reply.)
kopp: ‘A male and female, released together, will not return to the loft but will go off to mate. They must be starved for both food and companionship if they are to return faithfully home.’
buscall: ‘I’ve been starved for food and companionship since I left Fort Monmouth, but nobody’s letting me return home.’
kopp: (This, too, seemed a frivolous remark and not in need of a reply.)”
Later Norma writes:
“but the young men running things over here have never been to war and have no appreciation for the tried and true. If it’s new and electric-powered, they believe it will defeat the Germans through its sheer novelty. If that were the case, we could show them a moving picture and be done with it.”
Fleurette is performing around the country, entertaining people in a musical show. She writes:
“I’m just not sure that by putting on our little show, we do a thing to lighten their burdens or relieve their cares. So many of these boys are marking time — another evening in the auditorium, another day, another week, another month — and then they’re off to France, to live in a waterlogged trench and shoot at Germans.”
Meanwhile, Constance is living in town with the family’s farmhouse closed up for the duration. She writes to Norma, apologising a bit for how secretive she must be.
“How I wish I could tell you the particulars of the assignments I’m given, the cases I’m pursuing, and the small victories we can claim. But I’m not allowed to utter a word beyond the most general statements, even to my family, even to the girls here at the boarding-house. (Fleurette, when she’s home, finds out more than she should — I don’t know how she gets it out of me.)
Suffice it to say that I’m once again crawling around in the dark and disreputable corners of our city and those nearby. The other agents call it the’“sight-seeing tour of the underworld’ because we only glance at most criminal enterprises and then move on. For a souvenir we might pick up an odd scrap that leads to an investigation, but we leave the rest for the local police.”
Slow start, better finish. On to the next one! Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the copy for review from which I’ve quoted.
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Top reviews from other countries
Ravzender
A fantastic historical fiction account of the end of World War I
Reviewed in the United States on 13 March 2021Verified Purchase
E Mack
Honey, I shrunk the books
Reviewed in the United States on 14 January 2021Verified Purchase
Honey, I shrunk the books
Reviewed in the United States on 14 January 2021
I didn't look at the dimensions before purchasing the hard copy, but to my annoyance, it's about an inch shorter and less wide than the prior books. Not cool, HMH. I really hate it when companies pull the old "charge the same amount but make the product smaller and hope the customer doesn't notice." The paper stock also seems of poorer quality and is sort of grayish in tone. So if you own the other Kopp Sisters books in hardcover, don't expect this one to match.
Reviewed in the United States on 14 January 2021
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Kathy K
Letters must be read and read again
Reviewed in the United States on 10 June 2021Verified Purchase
Kindle Customer
Un-put-downable.
Reviewed in the United States on 16 February 2021Verified Purchase
Sunnflwr
Excellent and entertaining book!
Reviewed in the United States on 3 August 2021Verified Purchase
