Tomboy: A Jane Benjamin Novel

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Its 1939. On the brink of World War II, Jane Benjamin wants to have it all. By day she hustles as a scruffy, tomboy cub reporter. By night she secretly struggles to raise her toddler sister, Elsie, and protect her from their mother. But Janes got a plan: shell become the San Francisco Prospects first gossip columnist and make enough money to care for Elsie.

Jane finagles her way to the womens championship at Wimbledon, starring her hometowns tennis phenom and cover girl Tommie ORourke. She plans to write her first column there. But then she witnesses Edith Coach Carlson, Tommies closest companion, drop dead in the stands of apparent heart attack, and her plan is thrown off track.

While sailing home on the RMS Queen Mary, Jane veers between competing instincts: Should she write a social bombshell column, personally damaging her new friend Tommies persona and career Or should she work to uncover the truth of Coachs death, which she now knows was a murder, and its connection to a larger conspiracy involving US participation in the coming war

Putting away her menswear and donning first-class ballgowns, Jane discovers what upper-class status hides, protects, and destroys. Ultimatelylike nations around the globe in 1939she must choose what shell give up in order to do whats right.

Reviews

Blanton-Stroud is a wonderful writer, and Jane is a compelling creation. . . . An intriguing and engaging mysteryreaders will hope for more adventures starring the redoubtable hero.
Kirkus Reviews

A wonderful story full of nuance and character.
Sheldon Siegel,New York TimesandUSA Todaybest-selling author of the Mike Daley/Rosie Fernandez series

Who doesnt like a reporter story that is not only prescient but character driven That makes Tomboy one of those rare historical novels thatll have you searching for something similarit wont be easy, this one is a unicorn.
The Strand Magazine, Top 25 Mystery Novels of 2022

Jane Benjamins the heroine we need, the heroine we wish we weredetermined, tough as hell, utterly loveable. This propulsive novel was a lot of danged fun!
Elizabeth Gonzalez James, author of Mona at Sea

Combining the feminist can-do of Phryne Fisher and the snarky commentary of Veronica Mars, Jane Benjamin is a boatload of fun.
Halley Sutton, author of The Lady Upstairs

A spirited feminist noir that flips femme fatale and private dick archetypes on their heads, while pitting Jane's hungry ambition against her obligation to family.
Anita Felicelli,author of Chimerica

Murder, deceit, and gender fluidity take to the high seas in a rollicking whodunnit.
Alia Volz, author of Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco

1939s Jane Benjamin is a quintessential heroine for nowgritty, gutsy, gender-bending, and driven to fulfill her journalistic ambitions in male-centric bars and smoke-filled San Francisco newsrooms. Shes one difficult girlyou want in your corner and on your must-read pile.
Dorothy Rice, author of The Reluctant ArtistandGray is the New Black

Mix Jo March and Tom Ripley, shake well, pour into a martini glass and take a big, brisk, bitter swig of Jane Benjamin. Like me, youll be deliriously intoxicated by Copy Boysbracing sequel.
Gretchen Cherington, author of Poetic License

Riveting as Mare of Easttown, binge-worthy as The Queens Gambit, Tomboy will keep you readingobsessivelyuntil the very last line.
Debra Thomas, author of Luz

Chock-full of audacity and adventure, a suspenseful and layered novel.From the squalor of Hooverville to the opulence of the Queen Mary, cub reporter Jane Benjamin grabs our hearts once again.
Ashley E. Sweeney, author of Answer CreekandEliza Waite

Crisp prose, snappy pace, exquisite period details and a resourceful, resilient, wonderfully flawed protagonist. Fasten your seatbelts. Its going to be a bumpy boat ride.
Mary Camarillo, author of The Lockhart Women

A sharp and affecting novel of pain and love wrapped in a meticulously crafted mystery,Tomboyascends to a breaking point that will leave you breathless.
Laurie Buchanan,author ofThe Sean McPherson novels

The best kind of seat-of-your-pants protagonist to keep your heart racing as she gets herself into scrapes that threaten her safety, but clarify her morality.
Maren Cooper,author of A Better Next

Author Bio

Shelley Blanton-Stroud grew up in Californias Central Valley, the daughter of Dust Bowl immigrants who made good on their ambition to get out of the field and into the city. She taught college writing for three decades and consults with writers inthe energy industry. She codirects Stories on Stage Sacramento, where actors perform the stories of established and emerging authors, and she serves on the advisory board of 916 Ink, an arts-based creative writing nonprofit for children. She has alsoserved on the Writers Advisory Board for the Belize Writers Conference.Tomboy is the second book in her Jane Benjamin series. Her debut novel, Copy Boy,was the first. Shelley and her husband live in Sacramento with an aging beagle and many photos of their out-of-state sons.