Those Kopp sisters are at it again. World War I is over and all are back home, ready to get their lives back on track. Then their brother, Francis, dies, leaving his wife, two children and another on the way, and the sisters discover his finances were in disarray. What to do? Well, of course, they stand behind Bessie and the family, and throw all their support to her and the children, putting their own plans on the back burner. Norma takes over, as usual. Constance is able to find a job as a store detective that will bring in some money. Fleurette, the baby sister, having been ill and resting her voice for many months, thinks it is time to return to the theater, but she realizes she can no longer sing, so that career goes on hold. She finds a job, working with an attorney, and she poses as "the other woman" in divorce cases. When her sisters find out they are scandalized. Fluerette informs them she is catching up on Francis' overdue accounts among the merchants, but this does nothing to appease them. Along the way, Fleurette discovers a woman who has been scammed by a phony attorney, and she sets out to solve the mystery and get the woman's possessions back.

Another good chapter in the lives of the Kopp Sisters.

A sidelined showgirl pays her late brother's bills by posing for photos as the correspondent in divorce cases.

Her older sister hires on as a department store detective to keep their pregnant sister-in-law afloat.. The middle sister carves the family farm into building lots.

World War I has ended and life is still tough for single women, but the three Kopp sisters haven't met a problem yet that they couldn't solve.

"Miss Kopp Investigates" is book seven in Amy Stewart's fictionalized account of the actual Constance Kopp, first female deputy in America.

Fast paced and informative, it is a good entry point to the Kopp sisters series.

The Great War has ended and the Kopp sisters have big plans. Constance is to train female agents in Washington. Norma is on her way to Belgium to help refugees. Fleurette is recovering from a severe respiratory illness and hopes to get her voice back and go on tour. All these plans come crashing down with the sudden death of their brother Francis. Unknown to Bessie, his wife, he has left a financial tangle. Each of the sisters help with their individual talents. Along the way, Fleurette, who is doing a side job that would horrify her sisters (as an "unnamed corespondent" in divorce cases) stumbles across a con man preying on women. She manages to track him down, but many of the women don't want to go to the police as they are easily dismissed as "hysterical" and don't want to tell their husbands what they have lost. Eventually, she does get the goods but ALL the family ends up getting involved. The mystery of Francis' money problems is also solved in an interesting way.
Can't wait for the next installment to see what happens next.

Very strong; I love how this series continues to evolve with each successive book. Stewart easily could have used the basic procedural template present in the first three books through many more to produce a very accessible yet somewhat bland series, but she's chosen the more interesting path of shaking up the formula to constantly surprise her readers. I appreciated getting the story here from the perspective of Fleurette, a character that I wasn't wild about at the beginning of the series but has undergone a vast amount of development to become every bit as essential as Constance, and I'd love a similar exploration of Norma in a future installment. The events of this book set up yet another exciting new chapter for the Kopp sisters, and I can't wait to read what happens next.

Another Kopp sister mystery! I was so excited to dig into this installment of the series.
I love how the author weaves historical facts with fiction.
However, this installment was a bit of a slog to get through.
To me, there was too many pages of what ifs'. Fluerette who kept thinking...oh no what if Norma finds out, what if Constance, what if.
That dragged the book down in my esteem.
Further, Francis has died and took out a mortgage, however we never really resolved as to why he would do that.
Spoiler, he bought a quarter interest in a business...but with no documentation and leaving his family in massive debts but to what end????
That was never resolved and it seemed out of character for Francis.

OVerall not the best installment for this series.

Such a fun read! Fast paced, great characters. Historical fiction and a mystery all in one novel. This was my first Amy Stewart book and will be #7 in her Miss Kopp series, coming out on 9/7/2021, I'm now going to go find more by Ms. Stewart. Great writing, highly recommend if you like historical fiction and a little mystery to boot this is a great book. Nice clean, fun read.

I requested to read and review this book for free from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book is a great work of fiction and nonfiction. This makes this book and series very unique. This book is a series but each book stands alone so you don't feel you are behind or left our of anything. The sisters Fleurette, Bessie, Norma and Constance strive through grief in their own way and pick up the pieces best they can. Tragedy, drama, humor make up this novel. Secrets have a way to come out to hurt and grow stronger from them. With war and a mans world so to speak each of these ladies find a way to work in it and make space for them. This book can be ready anytime of the year and by anyone.

I will not publish a review of this book on goodreads or elsewhere because I simply cannot finish the book. I feel proud of myself that I made it past the 50% mark, determined to give the author my best attempt to enjoy the book. If there had been chapters where I could skip ahead I would have done so to discover the fate of a couple of the sisters who find themselves in financial difficulties after the War and the death of the so-called bread winner brother/husband who left the all in dire straits.

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<p>Review copy provided by the publisher.</p>
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<p>Oh lovely! I said to myself when I saw this title available. She's written a sequel to <em>Girl Waits With Gun</em>. So...it turns out that this is the seventh in the series, not the second. Oops! Luckily for me this did not interfere with my enjoyment in the slightest, and I have all the middle volumes in the series waiting for me. (Whew.)</p>
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<p>So. The Kopp sisters. They've been up to quite a lot since last I saw them, maybe less since last <em>you</em> saw them if you've been keeping up with the series better than I have. But still quite a lot. They've gone their separate ways in the First World War, which is now over, and their brother has died, and what on earth are they going to do to keep body and soul together and help their sister-in-law with the children in the changing postwar economic landscape? The answer varies quite a lot by personality, although none of them is quite pleased with the way that circumstance and family need have overturned her personal plans.</p>
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<p>The center of this particular book is the youngest Kopp sister, Fleurette, whose plans for a life on the stage have been upended, and whose new experiences as a professional divorce co-respondent are showing her a side of domestic life that she did not anticipate and does not entirely like. And the things that Miss Kopp has to investigate are not the traditional murder mystery, but something entirely itself, historically based and interesting and well-characterized and frankly a lot of fun.</p>
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The more I read, the more I wanted to find out how the Kopp Sister's started the Investigating Agency. Very sad and exciting things happen up to a surprising conclusion!

I'm returning the book as it didn't capture my interest, thank you for the opportunity. I started the book a d it didn't interest me. That is my honest review.

This book focused exclusively on Fleurette’s perspective—a change from previous books in the series, which focused on Constance or (in the last book) alternated between the three sisters. At 21, Fleurette is maturing and even performing (mostly) secret acts of altruism she doesn’t seek praise for, and finds that detecting and helping women in trouble are skills that may just run in the family. The return of Sheriff/Officer Heath is very welcome. And thrilled to read in the historical notes that Amy Stewart has enough historical information to take the Kopps through the 20s, considering it’s taken 7 books just to cover 1914-1919! Really enjoy Stewart’s writing style and the fictionalized adventures of the Kopp sisters.

Funny. Hilarious. Downright rollicking. Exactly what I've been needing. Amy Stewart has found just the right touch to portray her vision well-rounded real people and (almost) real events in fiction. Writers of historical fiction take note.

This is such a great series. For a change, this book focuses more on the youngest Kopp, Fleurette, who has always been a bit rebellious and resents having to live on a farm with her two older sisters. She's long dreamed of being famous on the stage, but a wartime illness along with a recent death in the family has left her stuck once again in New Jersey, broke and unhappy with her living arrangements. Familial obligations destroy her chance at independence, but an encounter with a sleazy lawyer gives her the opportunity to live life on her terms. Unfortunately, not everything goes according to plan but with an unexpected outcome beneficial to the entire Kopp family. Also, it was so good to see Sheriff, now Officer, Heath again. His interactions with Constance are what made this series so special from the start and I hope we'll be seeing more of him in future books. 5 stars for this novel and for this series as a whole.

cozy-mystery, family-dynamics, friendship, law-enforcement, lawyers, swindles, historical-figures, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research, situational-humor, verbal-humor, post WW1, New Jersey*****

The war is over and the Kopp sisters find themselves giving up their dream futures and returning home to New Jersey because their only brother has suddenly died. Turns out that his finances were pretty dire because of loyalty to his employer. They make housing arrangement based on the children and that the widow is expecting another. Then Fleurette comes down with strep, is ill for some time, and lost her singing voice. Norma rules their world, Constance winds up as a store detective, and Fleurette comes upon a better paying position but the older sisters pitch such a fit that she moves out and away (but still in New Jersey). Then thing really get interesting! Another great read! Loved it! And I'm glad for the reality comparison at the end, too.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

I received this from Netgalley.com.

Seventh in series. I loved Fleurette in this book, she is now all grown up and tired of being bossed around by Constance. As she helps a woman who is being scammed, she discovers new confidence in herself.

4☆

You know what I miss? I miss when these books were written in the first person. This series also is kinda getting out of hand, plot-wise.

This is a super fun read. I really enjoyed this one!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I've loved all of the Kopp sisters novels so far, and this one is good as well. It is more melancholy than the others and feels like a transition between the wartime novels and new opportunities. I also think that the pacing is a little off. The first half is a little wandering, and it is only in the second half where the pace picks up. There are important developments here, like their brother Francis dying and Fleurette coming into her own as a character. On the whole, though, this one doesn't quite live up to the others - but it sets up exciting possibilities for the next entry in the series.

Post WWI, families are returning to their former lives. The three Kopp sisters encounter tragedy that further throws their lives into turmoil. Focusing on the youngest sister, Fleurette, we come along on her journey to establish a place for herself in the world. Lucky for us, she abandons the drudgery of being a seamstress and instead takes on an interesting detection case, trying to help another woman who has become embroiled in an embarrassing and ruinous scandal.

Although this is the seventh book in the series, it is my first foray into the world of the Kopp sisters. Although their description borders on two-dimensions caricatures, I found my drawn to them and curious to know more. I did not feel a loss at starting at book seven, but going back to the earlier books in the series may help me know the characters a little better.

At the very end, the author explains that while the story is fictional, these were real women who started their own agency. Breaking gender norms, the sisters succeeded in the face of very powerful sexist social forces, many of which were highlighted in the story (e.g., police not believing women who report a crime unless they check with the husband to ensure they were not "hysterical").

The mystery itself is fairly straightforward. The fun is observing how Fleurette will handle herself, less so the joy of figuring it out. The mystery also is only a portion of the book, demonstrating that this series is likely driven far more by the characters themselves than of any mystery.

Overall, this was a lighthearted, fun book with interesting characters that will appeal to anyone who enjoys a quick, bloodless mystery. It's setting in the post WWI era and emphasis on women's strength may also be a selling point for fun. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy to review.