Sophie Littlefield’s second novel, A Bad Day For Pretty, doesn’t disappoint. In fact this follow up/sequel to A Bad Day For Sorry, which I read and raved about earlier this year, is just as good as the first: it’s funny, it’s serious, it’s light-hearted, it’s dark, it’s all the things I liked the first time around.

The best thing of all though about this book, or should I say about this series of books, because there’s certain to be even more of them, is the central character Stella Hardesty. And yes, I do still want to be her.

Here’s a taster:

Because that woman was Stella Hardesty, who’d taken her own husband out with a wrench those three and a half years ago – and who never intended to let another woman get smacked around if she could help it.

And usually Stella could help it. Could help the woman who heard about her in a whispered conversation, who tucked her name away in a far corner of her mind, until the day came when things finally got so bad that there were no other options. When the courts failed, when the restraining order didn’t manage to restrain anything, when the man who promised he’d never do it again at ten o’ clock forgot his promise by midnight. When a beaten woman finally picked herself up off the floor and washed off the blood and took inventory of the latest bruises and something snapped and she decided this time was the last time – when that day came, she knew where to go and who to see: Stella was ready for the job.

There is a slight change of tack this time around, in that instead of doling out vigilante justice to a man, Stella finds herself defending one. But whatever you do, don’t let that put you off ;)

Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

Stella Hardesty, avenger of wronged women, is getting cozy with Sheriff “Goat” Jones when a tornado blows none other than Goat’s scheming ex-wife, Brandy, through the front door. Adding to the chaos, the tornado destroys the snack shack at the demolition derby track, pulling up the concrete foundation and unearthing a woman’s body. The main suspect in the woman’s murder is Neb Donovan—he laid the foundation, and there’s some pretty hard evidence pointing to his guilt. Years ago, Neb’s wife asked Stella for help getting him sober. Stella doesn’t believe the gentle man could kill anyone, and she promises his frantic wife she’ll look into it.

Former client Chrissy Shaw is now employed at Stella’s sewing shop and she helps with the snooping as Stella negotiates the unpredictable Brandy and the dangerously magnetic sheriff.

This is the thrilling sequel to Sophie Littlefield’s critically-acclaimed debut, A Bad Day for Sorry, which won an RT Book Award, was an Edgar Award Finalist, and is shortlisted for an Anthony and a Macavity Award. Stella Hardesty is a heroine to watch—join her on this next adventure for as fiercely funny and riveting a story as there is to be found in crime fiction.

I’ll second that.