Booklist Review

From the Booklist Folks:

Stella Hardesty’s sideline business—delivering justice to men who abuse women—has earned her a reputation far beyond her home in rural Prosper, Missouri. By day she’s the sole operator of Hardesty Sewing Machine Sales & Repair, started with her wife-beater husband, Ollie, before he died (after his head connected with the wrench in Stella’s hand.) When Roy Dean Shaw gets a very pointed warning from handgun-toting Stella to stay away from Chrissy, the wife he beats, Stella’s job seems to be done—until someone takes off with Chrissy’s 18-month-old son. Stella’s concern for the missing child is great enough to involve Sheriff Goat Jones in the case but not before launching her own clandestine and well-armed search, along with a newly fierce Chrissy. Ass-whuppin’ 50-year-old Stella is nothing if not inventive, from using high-quality sexual restraints on abusers to going toe to toe with some very bad Mafia types; she’s ably backed up by Goat, a divorcee who sends Stella sexual vibes and winks at her vigilantism. Littlefield puts a new spin on middle-age sleuths in this rollicking, rip-roaring debut.