Liz Brady: Bad Date (A Jane Yeats Mystery)

Second Story Press (Trade Paperback), ISBN 189676438

I’m very partial to Canadian writers. Rarely do I encounter disappointment when I pick up a book written by one of the inhabitants of that northern country. And, my favorite kind of reading relaxation consists of a story based on some serious social issue, wrapped up in light escapist fiction. No better fix for me then, than Liz Brady’s Bad Date.

Protagonist Jane Yeats loves to ride her cherry red Harley-Davidson XLH883 Sportster very fast, and she quaffs imported beers even faster. Her career as a crime writer makes a reluctant amateur sleuth of her and an irrepressible streak of inquisitiveness lands her, more often than not, in trouble. She encourages us to take a thoughtful look at the complexities of life on the streets and at the lives of women who live off the fact that many men pay eagerly for sex.

Bad Date, Brady’s second Jane Yeats mystery, explores the hazardous working conditions of street prostitutes. It examines society’s contradictory and often hypocritical attitudes towards sex workers, and the ways in which these women frequently become victims of secondary abuse at the hands of the police. These oft over-looked and important social problems seem never to go away no matter how much legislation gets promulgated.

You’ll find some interesting and wacky characters in this book. You’ll also puzzle over a mystery full of red-herrings and wind up with a satisfying and neatly tied up ending. Best news? A copy of the third and latest Jane Yeats mystery lies on my bookshelf awaiting read and review. Watch this space!

Moira Richards

The song and story editor for Moondance and a staff writer for Women Writers, Moira Richards has been doing freelance writing and editing work since the turn of the millennium. Her favorite books are ones written for women, by women and about women — especially work listed by niche feminist publishing houses.