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A review by undertheteacup
A Kind of Justice by Renee James
4.0
Full of warmth, a great blend of suspense, romance, and just general slice-of-life story. On one hand Bobbi's problems are the ones many of us deal with: trying to keep a business afloat in lean economic times, figuring out how to relate to the queer community when you're an 'elder,' navigating loneliness, sex, romance and all those wonderful queer permutations of relationships, friends, & family. But interspersed with that you have the delicious tension of Detective Willikins' investigation and him trying to build a murder case against her, while the events of a mysterious night in her past are slowly being revealed. The drama of whether Bobbi will rekindle her old love with her ex wife or start a new thing with hunky officer Phil, and whether her business will succeed and how, had me on the edge of my seat just as much as the question of who the murderer might have been and whether Willikins will manage to ensnare Bobbi with his case.
I loved Bobbi as a main character, she was brave and afraid, hopeful and cynical- basically so so human. And delightfully earnest about those vulnerabilities we are normally ashamed to admit to, even when it comes to the portrayal of women in fiction! (How many novels do you know where a woman character decides to relieve her loneliness and horniness by purchasing the services of a male escort, and the narrative doesn't treat this like a moral failing or shame her for it?)
This book is one of the unfortunately few fiction books that I know of both written by and about a trans woman. Queerness and trans-ness pervade everything in the book, from Bobbi's familial ties and friendships to the way the economic downturn affects her business, and I think one of the book's biggest accomplishment is the way it shows the idea of 'justice' shift under the light cast by queer and trans perspectives.
I loved Bobbi as a main character, she was brave and afraid, hopeful and cynical- basically so so human. And delightfully earnest about those vulnerabilities we are normally ashamed to admit to, even when it comes to the portrayal of women in fiction! (How many novels do you know where a woman character decides to relieve her loneliness and horniness by purchasing the services of a male escort, and the narrative doesn't treat this like a moral failing or shame her for it?)
This book is one of the unfortunately few fiction books that I know of both written by and about a trans woman. Queerness and trans-ness pervade everything in the book, from Bobbi's familial ties and friendships to the way the economic downturn affects her business, and I think one of the book's biggest accomplishment is the way it shows the idea of 'justice' shift under the light cast by queer and trans perspectives.