The Perfect Gun for A Woman

Yesterday on The Rap Sheet, contributing editor Dick Adler reviewed Hitting Back, the short story I published in e-book form last month, along with an excerpt of my upcoming e-book, The Next Ex. Adler writes:

But Hitting Back is something else again--an absolutely perfect (except I want a whole book!) look at the life of a professional hit woman. Spare, cool, and totally convincing, it tells the story of a cipher (“Did you notice?--you never learn her name or where she’s from. A complete shadow figure, yet I’m fairly confident I’ll spend time in her company again ...,” writes Richards in her notes), whom the author manages to turn into a human being in a few short passages.

Not to spoil your reading pleasure, but here’s one passage from the tale that caught my attention early on:

I reach into my purse. It is Coach--authentic Coach, not something you’d buy on Canal Street--and my fingers touch the cold skin of my thirty-eight. It’s a Bersa Thunder, considered to be a good gun for a woman ...

This line from Adler’s piece made my heart sing:

Hitting Back is a genuine original, both in its writing and the imagination that went into its creation.

Thank you, Dick, for giving me one of those rare moments when you don’t know if you should weep or sing.

The Rap Sheet piece is here.