Wow! This was such a captivating story! I loved the descriptions of the era and location. This historical mystery is set during the Depression in San Francisco, and I felt like I was right in the story!

Jane has hidden her identity by dressing as a boy for a newspaper copy boy job. She’s quite successful and works her way up in the newspaper world. Then, a photo surfaces with her Daddy and his arm around a girl that has recently turned up dead. Jane realizes her Daddy may not be dead, and he could ruin everything she has worked to accomplish.

I thought this was an exciting mystery with a main character that drew me in. I loved Jane’s strength and her commitment to doing what was right for her. It’s a well-written story with some murder, suspense, and a bit of intrigue!

To Read or Not To Read:

I would recommend Copy Boy for readers that like enjoy a noir-style historical mystery!

Where to Find This Book:

Copy Boy by Shelley Blanton-Stroud is available at these sites!

Amazon ~ B&N ~ Bookshop.org ~ Audible ~ Libro ~ Kobo ~ GooglePlay ~ Scribd ~ Chirp ~ Walmart Audio ~ Goodreads

Jane’s a very brave boy. And a very difficult girl. She’ll become a remarkable woman, an icon of her century, but that’s a long way off.

Not my fault, she thinks, dropping a bloody crowbar in the irrigation ditch after Daddy. She steals Momma’s Ford and escapes to Depression-era San Francisco, where she fakes her way into work as a newspaper copy boy.

Everything’s looking up. She’s climbing the ladder at the paper, winning validation, skill, and connections with the artists and thinkers of her day. But then Daddy reappears on the paper’s front page, his arm around a girl who’s just been beaten into a coma one block from Jane’s newspaper―hit in the head with a crowbar.

Jane’s got to find Daddy before he finds her, and before everyone else finds her out. She’s got to protect her invented identity. This is what she thinks she wants. It’s definitely what her dead brother wants. 

Just the Facts:

Copy Boy by Shelley Blanton-Stroud
Genre: Historical Mystery
Page Count: 264 pages
Publisher: She Writes Press
Pub Date: June 23, 2020

Shelley Blanton-Stroud grew up in California’s Central Valley, the daughter of Dust Bowl immigrants who made good on their ambition to get out of the field. She teaches college writing in Northern California and consults with writers in the energy industry. She co-directs Stories on Stage Sacramento, where actors perform the stories of established and emerging authors, and serves on the advisory board of 916 Ink, an arts-based creative writing nonprofit for children. She has also served on the Writers’ Advisory Board for the Belize Writers’ Conference.

Copy Boy is her first novel, and she’s currently working on her second. She also writes and publishes flash fiction and non-fiction, which you can find at such journals as Brevity and Cleaver. She and her husband live in Sacramento with an aging beagle and many photos of their out-of-state sons.

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I was provided an advanced reader’s copy of this book for free. I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

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