The best bad things

Format:

Audio disc

Title:

The best bad things

Author:

Carrasco, Katrina, 1983- author.

ISBN:

9781250298034

Edition:

Unabridged.

Publication:

New York, NY : Macmillan Audio, [2018]

Physical Description:

11 audio discs (13 hr.) ; 4 3/4 in.

General Note:

Title from web page.

Summary:

It is 1887, and Alma is on the hunt for stolen opium. Trained in espionage by Pinkerton Detective Agency, Alma now works for Delphine Beaumond, the seductive mastermind of a smuggling ring. Alma's enjoying her dangerous game of shifting identities and double crosses as she fights for a promotion and an invitation back into Delphine's bed. But it's getting harder to keep her stories straight and to know whom to trust. One wrong move and she could be unmasked: as a woman, as a traitor, or as a spy.

Subject(s):

Women detectives -- Fiction.

Undercover operations -- Fiction.

Opium trade -- Fiction.

Smuggling -- Fiction.

Eighteen eighties -- Fiction.

Washington (State) -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Washington (State) -- Fiction.

Washington (State)

Genre:

Historical fiction.

Detective and mystery fiction.

Added Author:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	CD Carrasco, K.	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"A brazen, brawny, sexy standout of a historical thrill ride, The Best Bad Things is full of unforgettable characters and insatiable appetites. I was riveted. Painstakingly researched and pulsing with adrenaline, Carrasco's debut will leave you thirsty for more." --Lyndsay Faye, author of The Gods of Gotham

A vivid, sexy barn burner of a historical crime audiobook, The Best Bad Things introduces listeners to the fiery Alma Rosales--detective, smuggler, spy

It is 1887, and Alma Rosales is on the hunt for stolen opium. Trained in espionage by the Pinkerton Detective Agency--but dismissed for bad behavior and a penchant for going undercover as a man--Alma now works for Delphine Beaumond, the seductive mastermind of a West Coast smuggling ring.

When product goes missing at their Washington Territory outpost, Alma is tasked with tracking the thief and recovering the drugs. In disguise as the scrappy dockworker Jack Camp, this should be easy--once she muscles her way into the local organization, wins the trust of the magnetic local boss and his boys, discovers the turncoat, and keeps them all from uncovering her secrets. All this, while sending coded dispatches to the circling Pinkerton agents to keep them from closing in.

Alma's enjoying her dangerous game of shifting identities and double crosses as she fights for a promotion and an invitation back into Delphine's bed. But it's getting harder and harder to keep her cover stories straight and to know whom to trust. One wrong move and she could be unmasked: as a woman, as a traitor, or as a spy.

A propulsive, sensual tour de force, The Best Bad Things introduces Katrina Carrasco, a bold new voice in crime fiction.

Author Notes

Katrina Carrasco holds an MFA in fiction from Portland State University, where she received the Tom and Phyllis Burnam Graduate Fiction Scholarship and the Tom Doulis Graduate Fiction Writing Award. Her work has appeared in Witness magazine, Post Road Magazine , Quaint Magazine , and other journals. The Best Bad Things is her first novel.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In 1887, former Pinkerton Women's Bureau agent Alma Rosales, the complex heroine of Carrasco's stellar first novel, goes looking for stolen opium in Washington Territory. In order to catch the thief and recover the drugs, she disguises herself as a female ingAcnue and also as her cocky, pugnacious male alter ego, dockworker Jack Camp. Alma, who hopes to impress her boss and ex-lover-Delphine Beaumond, the leader of a West Coast smuggling ring-takes passionate joy in bloody confrontation and in her lustful pursuit of both women and men. Carrasco succeeds in coupling a feminist historical that maintains period plausibility with an exploratory queer narrative rarely seen in the crime genre. Even readers uninterested in Alma's identity journey will be impressed by her intelligence and social acumen, and drawn by the constantly shifting politics and well-timed reveals of the plot. Breath-catching pacing, tantalizingly rough-and-tumble characters who are somehow both distasteful and deeply relatable, palpable erotic energy, and powerful storytelling make this a standout. Agent: Stacia Decker, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

DEBUT Carrasco's first novel explores every nook and cranny of what it is to be two-natured. Male and female, cop and criminal, marginalized and sovereign, best and bad: no matter the duality, disgraced Pinkerton detective-turned-unabashed gangster Alma Rosales (aka Jack Camp, pronouns she/her) rides the pendulum from one extreme to another. She's not alone: all of the colorful characters populating the seedy docks in 1880s Port Townsend, WA, have at least two sides to their stories and multiple angles from which to view them. Their depth and the richly detailed Northwest setting are uncommonly penetrating for a debut author. The attention to historical detail is also impressive. There are pacing issues-lots of buildup, some confusing jumps in time-but all are forgiven thanks to a wildly satisfying climax. VERDICT Fans of Lyndsay Faye's "Timothy Wilde" series can go ahead and place their holds. Readers looking for sexy, dangerous action unencumbered by apologetics will love this book. Carrasco is an author to watch. [See Prepub Alert, 5/14/18.]-Nicole Steeves, Fox River Valley P.L. Dist., IL © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.