Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions

Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart, 374 pages

In this third book of the Kopp Sisters series, sheriff's deputy and jail matron Constance comes face-to-face with the morality-driven arrests of young women living on their own in 1916 New Jersey. As she fights for the rights of her charges in court and in society, she's faced with her youngest sister Fleurette leaving home to find her own life (a move that needles at their staid sister Norma, who wants to send the police after the "wayward" Fleurette).

As with the first two books in this series, it's loosely based on a true story: Constance Kopp really was the first female sheriff's deputy in New Jersey, Fleurette really did audition for singing roles with traveling troupes, and Edna and Minnie (the two "wayward" girls Constance fights for in this book) really were arrested for the reasons given in the book. Historical fiction that's based on real people sometimes rankles me because I'm unsure of what's true and what's not. Thankfully, Stewart offers a wealth of historical notes at the end of the book, discussing what's true and what's not (sadly, Norma's pigeon obsession falls in the "not true" category). I loved the first two books, and I love this one.