Synopsis

 

It’s 1939. Jane Benjamon’s got five days at sea to solve the murder of a Wimbledon champion’s coach and submit a gossip column that tells the truth. If not the facts.

On the brink of World War II, Jane 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 Jane’s got a plan: she’ll become the San Francisco Prospect’s first gossip columnist and make enough money to care for Elsie.

Jane finagles her way to the women’s championship at Wimbledon, starring her hometown’s tennis phenom and cover girl Tommie O’Rourke. Jane plans to write her first column there. But then she witnesses Edith “Coach” Carlson, Tommie’s closest companion, drop dead in the stands of apparent heart attack, and her plan is blown.

​Sailing home on the RMS Queen Mary, Jane veers between competing instincts: Should she write a social bombshell column, personally damaging her new friend Tommie’s persona and career? Or should she work to uncover the truth of Coach’s death 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. Ultimately—like nations around the globe in 1939—she must choose what she’ll give up in order to do what’s right.

 

 

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Guest Post

 

She makes a very good boy and a very difficult girl

 

Recently a reader said in a book club discussion, “Jane Benjamin makes a good sleuth because she has so many male traits.” (Jane is in the habit of wearing men’s-style clothes in the 1940s.)  That got me thinking. What are Jane’s so-called “male traits” and how are they related to her sleuthing?

 

Jane can be:

Ambitious—She so ferociously wants to achieve her goal that she won’t easily let go of the task. This is good for you if her goal is to help you. Not so good if helping you gets in the way of her goal.

Selfish—She doesn’t get easily derailed from her own needs by the things other people want or need her to do. Sometimes a victim will especially benefit when the victim’s needs align with Jane’s, or when Jane’s experience leads her to feel empathy for a victim with whom she has something in common.

Impetuous—She doesn’t lallygag around, worrying about the ramifications of her actions. If she thinks she’d better jump a gorge, then she jumps, and saves worrying what might have happened for later. This can be helpful in an emergency. But also mighty dangerous.

Mendacious—She is gifted at lying. This means she can wriggle her way out of a bad spot. It also means, when combined with her selfishness, she can avoid reflecting on her own behavior. (At least until the end of the book.)

Heroic—Jane does not see herself as a bystander. She believes in her own ability to be the one who makes the difference, even when that belief isn’t entirely justified. But on most occasions, she won’t sit by and let something bad happen. She’ll do what others are afraid of doing because she knows it’s right and needs doing.

I like the list this reader provoked. But I doubt one thing. Why are these male traits? I’m thinking plenty of girls and women behave this way. Yet we’re surprised and a little judgmental when they do.

That’s why I’m glad Jane is a tomboy, a little freer to be herself.

 

 

Trailer

 

 

About the Author

 

Shelley grew up in California’s Central Valley, the daughter of Dust Bowl immigrants who made good on their ambition to get out of the field. She recently retired from teaching writing at Sacramento State University and still consults with writers in the energy industry. She co-directs Stories on Stage Sacramento, where actors perform the stories of established and emerging authors, and serves on the advisory board of 916 Ink, an arts-based creative writing nonprofit for children, as well as on the board of the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at Claremont McKenna College. Copy Boy is her first Jane Benjamin Novel. Tomboy is her second. The third, Working Girl, will come out in November 2023. Her writing has been a finalist in the Sarton Book Awards, IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards, Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award, the American Fiction Awards, and the National Indie Excellence Awards. She and her husband live in Sacramento with many photos of their out-of-town sons and their wonderful partners.

 

Website  ~  Twitter ~  Facebook ~ Instagram ~ BookBub ~ Goodreads

 

 

 

Meet the Narrator

 

April Doty is a classically trained actress with a BFA from Syracuse University. She is a voice actor and the narrator of 26 books. Born in Virginia, educated in New York, seasoned in London and settled in Spain, April Doty brings the sound of a rich and varied life experience to her narration. The character of Jane came to life in her home studio on the Costa del Sol.

 

Website ~ Twitter ~ LinkedIn ~ SoundCloud

 

 

 

Giveaway

 

Win signed copies of COPY BOY and TOMBOY, audible download codes for each, a $20 Starbucks card, a woman’s fedora, moleskin notebook, and Sarasa pen. (one winner)

USA only

ends Oct 28

 

TOM BOY (a Jane Benjamin novel) Book Tour Giveaway