The Dime
Author: Kathleen Kent

Brooklyn's toughest female detective takes on Dallas--and neither is ready for the fight. — Dallas, Texas is not for the faint of heart. Good thing for Betty Rhyzyk she's from a family of take-no-prisoners Brooklyn police detectives. But her Big Apple wisdom will only get her so far when she relocates to The Big D, where Mexican drug cartels and cult leaders, deadbeat skells and society wives all battle for sunbaked turf.

Betty is as tough as the best of them, but she's deeply shaken when her first investigation goes sideways. Battling a group of unruly subordinates, a persistent stalker, a formidable criminal organization, and an unsupportive girlfriend, the unbreakable Detective Betty Rhyzyk may be reaching her limit.

Combining the colorful pyrotechnics of Breaking Bad with the best of the gritty crime genre, The Dime is Kathleen Kent's brilliant mystery debut and the launch of a sensational new series.

I've read two of Kent's earlier novels, The Heretic's Daughter, an historical novel about the Salem witch trials, and The Outcasts, a thrilling historical western taking place in the old west of 1870. In The Dime, Kent takes us in another direction writing a very engaging present-day crime thriller. The protagonist is six-foot tall redhead Betty Rhyzyk, a lesbian police woman who comes from a line of New York cops and is now working in the narcotics division in Dallas, Texas. She and her crew get involved in a drug deal gone bad when the supplier ends up being gunned down by a Mexican Cartel group. But then the Mexicans are eliminated by a rival group who are out to control the meth business in Eastern Texas. Betty is for some reason pulled by the rival group into its plans but for what purpose?

This was a very compelling and intense read. I really empathized with Betty and her significant other as they tried to fit in among the rednecks and bigots of east Texas. This is the first in a series by Kent and I'll be looking forward to reading more of these.

Wishlist tag to hyphen8 in Hawaii. Enjoy!

Tracking number: 9449009699937827824269

Arrived October 9; thank you!

Betty is quite a character; I enjoyed this very much and look forward to her next adventure. I do think the cover blurb is a bit unfair to Jackie: I didn't find her to be particularly unsupportive.

I loved the talk from Uncle Benny in chapter 34 which (slight spoiler) explains the title. Here's a relevant article from the NYT.

I'll count this as my Texas read (21/51) for the 2020 version of NancyNova's US States reading challenge.

Wednesday, June 24, 2020: the library was not crowded today. (Zoomable photo here.)

Updated guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries from the LFL site here.
As of March 30th, the CDC said: “We are not concerned at all about paper-based materials like books being a transmission route” - but the situation keeps evolving and it never hurts to be cautious and sanitize your hands and frequently-touched surfaces.

Released for BabyPooh and booklady331's Allergic to A challenge and originalslicey's June Pride challenge.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I'm so glad you've found this book! Won't you make a journal entry so the previous readers know that it's safe with you?

How and where did you find the book? What did you think of it? What are you going to do with it next?

This is now your book, for you to do with as you please: keep it as long as you wish, pass it to a friend, or maybe even leave it where someone else can find it!

If you've ever wondered where your books go after they leave your hands, join BookCrossing and you may find out: you'll be able to follow your books as new readers make journal entries - sometimes from surprisingly far-flung locations.

BookCrossing: making the whole world a library!