I picked up a copy of The Dime by Kathleen Kent because I requested (and am eager to get my hands on) a review copy of the second book in the series, called The Burn. Makes sense to read the first book first, right? But as I was ordering the first book on Amazon, I noticed a familiar title and realized that I’ve read something else by this author: The Heretic’s Daughter, which I reviewed (and loved) back in 2008! That’s a few years ago. Radically different kind of book, but well worth reading.

The Dime is the first book in the Betty Rhyzyk detective series. Betty is a tall, tough redhead from a line of Brooklyn cops. She has recently moved to Dallas, Texas so that her girlfriend, Jackie, can be closer to her family — a family that is not very welcoming to Betty:

“It cannot be overstated how much the women in Jackie’s family hate me. In their minds, if I hadn’t corrupted her, she’d be happily married to Bud or Stew or Billy Ray, have two kids, and be an accepted part of her community, not an outcast living with her lesbian ‘friend.'”

The police department is a little warmer, but you can imagine the sort of issues she deals with there. But Betty is tough and she’s a good cop; that goes a long way towards winning them over.

The story focuses on a case that begins with the drive-by murder of a drug dealer, and takes some really unexpected turns. Betty has a stalker of the scariest kind and one who seems to have complete access to Betty’s life. When he leaves a creepy gift on her bed, she worries for her and Jackie’s safety, but there’s no way she could anticipate what he’s really after.

I will definitely be checking out more titles in this series. I love good detective stories and Betty is a really compelling character! There’s a lot of potential here and I am looking forward to the next title.

My copy of The Dime came from my personal library. Add it to your library by clicking on the image below.