Miss Kopp's Midnight Confession (Stewart)

Miss Kopp's Midnight Confession  (Kopp Sisters Series, 3)
Amy Stewart, 2017
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780544409996


Summary
The best-selling author of Girl Waits with Gun and Lady Cop Makes Trouble continues her extraordinary journey into the real lives of the forgotten but fabulous Kopp sisters.

Deputy sheriff Constance Kopp is outraged to see young women brought into the Hackensack jail over dubious charges of waywardness, incorrigibility, and moral depravity. The strong-willed, patriotic Edna Heustis, who left home to work in a munitions factory, certainly doesn’t belong behind bars. And sixteen-year-old runaway Minnie Davis, with few prospects and fewer friends, shouldn’t be publicly shamed and packed off to a state-run reformatory. But such were the laws—and morals—of 1916.

Constance uses her authority as deputy sheriff, and occasionally exceeds it, to investigate and defend these women when no one else will. But it's her sister Fleurette who puts Constance's beliefs to the test and forces her to reckon with her own ideas of how a young woman should and shouldn't behave.

Against the backdrop of World War I, and drawn once again from the true story of the Kopp sisters, Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions is a spirited, page-turning story that will delight fans of historical fiction and lighthearted detective fiction alike.  (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Born—ca. 1968-69
• Where—N/A
• Education—B.S., M.S., University of Texas-Austin
• Awards—(See below)
• Currently—lives in Eureka, California


Amy Stewart is the author of eight books. Her debut novel Girl Waits With Gun, based on a true story, was published to wide acclaim in 2015. Lady Cop Makes Trouble, the second in the Kopp Sisters series, came out in 2016, also to favorable reviews.

She has also written six nonfiction books on the perils and pleasures of the natural world, including four New York Times bestsellers: The Drunken Botanist (2013), Wicked Bugs (2011), Wicked Plants (2009), and Flower Confidential (2009).

She lives in Eureka, California, with her husband Scott Brown, who is a rare book dealer. They own a bookstore called Eureka Books. The store is housed in a classic nineteenth-century Victorian building that Amy very much hopes is haunted.

Media
Since her first book was published in 2001, Stewart has appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition and Fresh Air, she’s been profiled in the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle, and she’s been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, the PBS documentary The Botany of Desire, and—believe it or not—TLC’s Cake Boss.

Amy has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, and many other newspapers and magazines. She is the co-founder of the popular blog GardenRant.

Honors & Awards
Amy’s books have been translated into twelve languages, and two of them—Wicked Plants and Wicked Bugs—have been adapted into national traveling exhibits that appear at botanical gardens and museums nationwide.

She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the American Horticulture Society’s Book Award, and an International Association of Culinary Professionals Food Writing Award. In 2012, she was invited to be the first Tin House Writer-in-Residence, a partnership with Portland State University, where she taught in the MFA program.

Lectures & Events
Amy travels the country as a highly sought-after public speaker whose spirited lectures have inspired and entertained audiences at college campuses such as Cornell and the University of Minnesota, corporate offices, including Google (where she served tequila and nearly broke the Internet), conferences and trade shows, botanical gardens, bookstores, and garden clubs nationwide. Go here to find out where she’s heading next. (Author bio from the author's website.)

Book Reviews
Here…there is little crime-fighting and less suspense, as Stewart focuses instead on the very real social, economic, and legal restrictions on women in 1916, and on the prickly relationships between Constance and her two sisters.… [T]his latest volume is by far the funniest.
Publishers Weekly


The cases here are based on the experiences of real women, a technique that Stewart has employed in previous volumes. Collectively, the story lines intersect to create an intriguing window into women's rights and the social mores that women challenged on the eve of World War I. —Tina Panik, Avon Free P.L., CT
Library Journal


Constance's ability to hold her own in male-dominated investigations and courtrooms … makes her a welcome "vision of an entirely different kind of woman."… Lively and admirable female characters … impeccably realized and given new life by Stewart.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. How has the world changed and progressed from book to book in the Kopp Sisters series?

2. How do the sisters’ roles evolve throughout the series, and how are the roles becoming more defined?

3. This third book is written in the third person instead of from Constance’s point of view. Did you notice this change? Why do you think the author chose to do this? What does it allow that Constance’s point of view did not?

4. What do you think of the rapport between Sheriff Heath and Constance? How has their relationship changed since the first book?

5. In the newspaper interview, Constance explains the six requisites she believes are necessary for a detective, and says, "At midnight a woman will tell almost anything if she finds one who is sympathetic to tell it to." This is also included in the book’s epigraph. In what ways are "help" and "sympathy" important themes in Constance’s life and in this book?

6. In the book, parents ask the police to arrest daughters for lack of morals and for waywardness — things as simple as staying out late, dating, or taking jobs. Before Constance takes on more responsibility, there is little or no defense available for these women. Were you surprised to learn about this part of our history? The Mann Act still exists, but its meaning and use have changed. What does its new use say about how our society has changed or stayed the same since the early 1900s?

7. Even though Constance supports and defends women like Edna who are in jail for leaving home, Constance expresses concern when Fleurette goes off on her own adventure. Constance even follows her and asks others to check on her too. How is Constance similar to the parents who turn in their daughters? How is she different?

8. Norma is protective of her family. She initiates spying on Fleurette, handles all of Constance’s fan mail, and takes care of the farmhouse. Does she enjoy her role? Do you think that role might change?

9. Even though Constance and May have very different personalities and jobs, they are both in strong positions for women at the time. How does being a woman affect their lives and their positions? Do they have to act differently than men in the same positions? If so, in what ways?

10. Why does Fleurette lie about her experience on the show? What is she feeling at the end
about her homecoming?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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