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    A Bad Day for Pretty: A Crime Novel
    A Bad Day for Pretty: A Crime Novel
    A Bad Day for Pretty: A Crime Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    A Bad Day for Pretty: A Crime Novel

    Written by Sophie Littlefield

    Narrated by Kym Dakin

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    A New York Times Notable Book!

    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.

    A Bad Day for Pretty is the thrilling sequel to Sophie Littlefield's award-winning debut featuring Stella Hardesty, one of the most applauded and exciting new heroines in crime fiction today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJul 5, 2011
    ISBN9781427215659
    Author

    Sophie Littlefield

    Sophie Littlefield grew up in rural Missouri. She writes the post-apocalyptic Aftertime series for LUNA Books. She also writes paranormal fiction for young adults. Her first novel, A Bad Day for Sorry, won an Anthony Award for Best First Novel and an RT Award for Best First Mystery. It was also shortlisted for Edgar, Barry, Crimespree and Macavity Awards, and it was named to lists of the year's best mystery debuts by the Chicago Sun-Times and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Sophie lives in Northern California. Sophie loves to hear from her readers via her email: sophie@sophielittlefield.com

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    Reviews for A Bad Day for Pretty

    3.5/5

    27 ratings24 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I stumbled on this one...somewhere...probably as one of the many free Kindle or Nook downloads I accumulate.Stella Hardesty to me is an aging Stephanie Plum with more baggage. Stella actually survived an abusive marriage...even though her husband did not. She spends the rest of her life running a little sewing shop and helping other abused women pay back those who've made their lives miserable. Stella barely stays above the law but is not in the least bit a hardened assassin of any kind. She is tough enough to do what needs to be done but sensitive enough to feel deeply for others. There are many others in this series and I will probably read another one, but I'm not hanging on the edge of my seat.
    • 3/5
       Great title--okay book. Southern women in their mid-forties to mid-sixties should find the humor in this. Revenge against low-life men is the theme and while far-fetched in action, what woman scorned or worse hasn't wished for a Stella of her very own to turn to at some time in their marriage.
    • 3/5
      This was interesting. I'm not sure I would call this book a full-fledged cozy. It was minus blood and gore but had more "saucy" language than the typical cozy. Stella Hardesty has a side business where she helps battered women take care of their brutal boyfriends/husbands. She, herself, had taken a wrench to the head of her husband several years ago. Stella's side business is hush-hush, whispered in back rooms of salons or behind closed doors. She wouldn't want her potential boyfriend, the town sheriff, to find out. The series is set in tornado-alley Kansas where Stella still has nightmares about her uncle's death. There's a lot of humor in "Pretty" and every time Stella spoke I was hearing The Closer's Lt. Brenda Lee Johnson's voice in my head. Stella is asked to clear a friend of murdering a woman and burying her in concrete, something the man doesn't remember since he was heavy into drugs the time the woman disappeared. As if she doesn't have enough to do, Stella also is confronted by her boyfriend's not-so-ex wife. There's a cast of colorful characters to round out this enjoyable read.
    • 2/5
      This is the second of Littlefield's mysteries starring Stella Hardesty, a woman who once had an abusive husband until she did something terminal about it, and who now moonlights as a "last resort" for other abused women. Despite that basic premise of Stella's activities, this second book in the series has nothing to do with battered women—Stella is trying to exonerate a friend who is accused of a murder and exploring a romance with the local sheriff.I don't recommend this book. It was readable but I won't remember it a month from now. The plot was pretty shallow and the characters extremely thin. Even the villains in the story failed to evoke any real emotion. Perhaps my biggest disappointment is Stella, herself. Littlefield just didn't manage to convince me that this somewhat bumbling owner of a sewing shop really has the chops to get away with fairly regular and serious felonies. My thought upon finishing the book was that the author tried to take Stephanie Plum down south and make her totally kick-ass...somewhat of a contradiction in terms, and it shows.
    • 4/5
      If you are looking for a great heroine who kicks butt, enjoys a good breakfast (preferably involving large amounts of cholesterol), and is neither young, skinny, nor endowed with dubious superpowers, this is a great book for you. A fun read, with great authentic settings and characters. I laughed out loud, was held in suspense, and enjoyed the denouement. Good summer read. I'll be looking forward to seeing what Stella Hardesty does next: both with the wife- and girlfriend-beaters she polices, and with her appealing Sheriff and potential beau.
    • 4/5
      This debut crime novel introduces Stella Hardesty, a menopausal survivor of domestic violence, who supplements her income from the sewing machine repair shop she owns with a side business, avenging women who have been abused. When one of her clients shows up crying on her doorstep and tells Stella that her son has been kidnapped by her no good ex-husband, Stella sets out to find the child. A lot of action, a lot of violence, and a lot of heart follow. Stella is a unique, kick ass character, and I can't wait to read more about her. This book is a great piece of Southern-fried, women-empowered, gritty noir. Four stars.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this one. It's second in the series, but works as a stand alone. It's sort of a cozy (all the elements are there - amateur detective, small town, kooky assistants) but it's a little darker than most cozies. Stella Hardesty's husband abused her. She took care of the fellow, and now earns her living by convincing other men that they shouldn't abuse the women in their lives. Her methods are not exactly legal, but she gets results. That, however, is not the main plot in this book. One of Stella's reformed abusers is now being accused of a murder he didn't commit. His wife asks Stella to find the real killer. Stella agrees, but she's got to work around the town's sheriff - who she's also dating.There are enough twists to keep things interesting and the ending is satisfying. I'm looking forward to hearing more from Stella.
    • 3/5
      I'm really torn on this one. On the one hand, the main character, Stella Hardesty, is a likeable tough chick with witty, snappy dialogue. On the other hand, I thought there was more talk than action and both the plot and the characters (especially Brandy) were unbelievable. Everyone in the book seems a little short in the intelligence department. I'll have to call this one only so-so.
    • 3/5
      A good read -- solid book. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and to figure out their connections with each other. Took half the book to feel that I cared about what happened to them. Main character, Stella, is strong and no-nonsense. I will read more books in this series.
    • 3/5
      Stella Hardesty has learned to be a creative problem solver late in life. The victim of an abusive relationship, Stella solved her first problem with the assistance of a very large wrench applied to her husband's head. Her covert reputation has spread and now Stella runs an illicit business readjusting the attitudes of other abusers. Stella's commitment to her new line of work presents a bit of a problem as she has an enormous crush on Prosper, Missouri's biggest law abider, sheriff Goat Jones. In A Bad Day for Pretty, the sequel to A Bad Day for Sorry, Stella is called in to protect a previous client's husband, Neb Donovan, from an accusation of murder. A tornado has unearthed a mummified body in a foundation he poured years ago while in an oxycontin haze. Stella is convinced of his innocence and with some mild breaking and entering, computer hacking, gossiping, and applied torture she's able to illicit a confession from the true killer and a smooch from Goat Jones.Billed as a crime novel this is really mystery-lite. A fast read with an interesting mix of self deprecating humor, girly gossip, and mothering delivered with a southern drawl and a small quotient of violence and suspense.
    • 5/5
      Avenging angels in books come in a few different forms, but usually they are super hot young things either male or female. They are highly educated and have top of the line clothes. Well, not in Bad Day for Sorry. Bad Day for Sorry is not a typical adventure or thriller book. The main character is a fifty year old widow who owns a sewing notions shop and runs a side business of helping women safely leave abusive relationships. Stella, the main character, has a drinking issue but attempts to control it and has re-defined her body. Formerly overweight and out of shape, she now can run 10 miles and regularly lifts weights. She has trained herself to shoot a gun and owns a suitcase full of torture toys. Despite Stella's reinvention of her body and her life, she has an image of herself that often clashes with how others perceive her. Stella remembers being physically abused and shamed in public. She remembers being soft and thinks of herself as unappealing. But young people look up to her as a heroine, bad man fear her, and men her age are interested in her. This contradiction in perception of self versus the outside perception of herself makes Stella an interesting character to be with for the course of the story. The subject matter is dark – women and children are in a vulnerable situation. They often have nowhere else to turn due to their financial situation and the limited protection that the law can provide. The violence and the poverty of their situation is not sugar coated. People end up with life altering injuries and scars. Having read a few books by her, I can safely say that Ms. Littliefield knows how to write about people who are down on their luck, who may be just trying to survive and who live in small rural areas. So we have dark, gritty and real but on top of that this book is funny. Stella is hilarious, her observations as to people's behavior and choices are funny and she has created an interesting group of side characters. This is a fun book to read. Fun, but with substance. It took me way too long to read this book, I just wasn't interested in the main character or the subject matter. I couldn't imagine how it would be fun to read about. I was wrong and I should have started earlier. I think this is Littlefield's best work I have read, I enjoyed it more than Aftertime and more than Banished. If you are interested in the audio version, that is what I listened to and I thought the narration was fantastic.
    • 4/5
      If you’ve followed my reviews for a while you will know that the books I am drawn to do not normally have people carrying guns on the cover. I have been trying to read more mysteries lately though, and I liked that this one had a bit of suspense and a dash of humor. Most important of all though – it entertained me without scaring me.I saw the author speak at the Tucson Festival of Books and she talked about how things change in the way people treat you when you reach a certain age. After a very bad day, she couldn’t take it anymore and decided to write about someone acting out on those frustrations as a way of coping. She wanted to write about someone who was like an average real person: middle-aged, out of shape and single after surviving a very bad marriage.Then again, Stella Hardesty, being a fictional character, can get away without things that would get a real person into a lot of trouble. She’s hard as nails and has no problem with vigilante justice, which isn’t that surprising considering how she snapped one day and clubbed her husband over the head, killing him after years of mistreatment. Now she takes justice into her own hands and teaches lessons to other bad husbands and boyfriends. She doesn’t want to kill or maim, but she’s not above putting the fear of God into these miserable men, and her techniques are not always legal.The author said that she had a hard time selling the story at first because she was told that people don’t want to read about characters like hers; that skinny, leggy, busty, tall blonde bombshells the ideal characters. She persisted though, and her book, A Bad Day for Sorry, ended up being an Edgar Finalist for Best First Novel.What did I think of it? Well, it was definitely a fun and entertaining story. I read most of it on my flight back from Tucson. It’s an unusual mix of humor and mystery coupled with the more serious side of the vigilante justice. It’s definitely not a book for kids. Some of the language and topics are graphic, although nothing is really over the top. I think I’m more sensitive than most to violent details or psychological suspense (I can’t stand CSI-type shows or horror flicks), and so I was pleased that this book had enough going on to keep me worried about the characters, but not so much that I was terrified.This was a good light read and a fun way to pass the time while on an airplane. I plan to read the next book in the series in order to get a better feel for the author’s writing. This type of mystery is not something I’d want to read all of the time, but would be fun as an occasional indulgence.
    • 4/5
      A great suspense novel! Now I have to go get the previous book. Full review TK.
    • 4/5
      Funny, unpretentious book. A cozy with bite appeal.
    • 3/5
      In the second of this series Stella is still fighting the cause of abused wives. I am glad there is less graphic abuse and a little less drinking in this one. Stella is a woman with spunk and she fights a righteous fight. The story starts with Stella having dinner with her sort of beau Sheriff Goat Jones only to have his ex. appear on the scene. The next day a tornado touches down at the local track and reveals a dead body, the main suspect is a friend and Stella feels he is not guilty. So starts the story. It is fast paced and good reading. Will Stella win over Sheriff Jones wife, will she be able to clear Neb from a murder charge? You will have to read to find out. And I suggest you do. Don't let the cover fool you, this is not chick-lit. I love Stella as a fifty something real woman with heart.I received this book as a ARC
    • 3/5
      I wanted to like this mystery/thriller more than I did. The main character, a 50ish woman whose main line of work consists of taking on domestically violent men, was a joy to read about, but the writing just didn't quite hold up. Still, I'm going to read the sequel and see if it grows on me.
    • 4/5
      Avenging angel, Stella Hardesty, is at it again. Stella was introduced to readers in Sophie Littlefield’s debut novel, "A Bad Day for Sorry," a novel that Stella barely survived. Now, in "A Bad Day for Pretty," Stella is nearing full recovery from her injuries and is again ready to take on any man foolish enough to physically abuse his wife. The fact is, Stella has more potential business than any dedicated avenging angel can be expected to handle but she is more than willing to do what she can to help out a sister in trouble.Stella, though, is not your typical vigilante. First, she is 50-something years old; second, she still runs the sewing machine shop she was left with when she ridded herself of her abusive husband in the first novel in the series. The resulting, and rather misleading, image allows Stella to maintain a low profile with local cops (she is even semi-romantically involved with the local sheriff as this new one begins) but, within the closed community of abused women, she is well known - and available to help.In an unusual twist, Stella now finds herself defending, not trying to intimidate, a man. Neb Donovan, whose wife begs Stella for help, is suspected of having murdered the woman whose body is unearthed when a tornado strikes the local demolition derby track. Stella has a history with the man, having already helped him kick a vicious oxycontin habit, and she finds it hard to believe that he could have killed anyone and buried them in a concrete-filled hole. Stella takes on Neb’s case and, with the help of Chrissy Shaw (also a first novel survivor) and a cast of colorful characters, she sets out to prove his innocence."A Bad Day for Pretty" is a wild ride. It mixes hardcore vigilante justice with humor in a way that keeps the reader rooting for Stella and Chrissy despite their easy way with breaking the law - and a few arms and legs if that will get the job done. Stella’s appeal is her ability to see and accept herself for what she is. She is a woman’s advocate who understands that the justice system cannot always protect a woman from the man she lives with - that there is a point, if a woman is to survive, when justice comes from the blunt end of a baseball bat. She also recognizes that, despite what she suffered at the hands of her former husband, she is ready for a new romance - and that the clock is ticking. She is every abused woman’s idea of Superwoman, and that is pretty cool.Rated at: 3.5
    • 4/5
      Meet Stella Hardesty… She’s the 50-year-old the proprietress of Prosper, Missouri’s only sewing machine and repair shop. Oh, and she’s a card-carrying badass. Just ask anyone. This wasn’t always the case. For nearly three decades, Stella was trapped in a physically and emotionally abusive marriage. Until the day she stopped it. Permanently. With a wrench. In her own words, that’s “the day when she finally had enough of Ollie’s abuse and made the transformation from passive victim to hell-for-leather avenger.”Because Stella wasn’t content to help only herself. In the two years since she was acquitted for murder, she’s started a little side business. “…A little seed of an idea had begun to germinate in her mind, a growing conviction that no woman should have to put up with abuse by her husband or boyfriend, and—to Stella’s surprise—that she just might have a calling to help put a stop to it. After all, she already had one notch in her belt, so to speak.” Stella Hardesty is in the “justice business.”Now, I don’t mean to make this warm Midwestern lady sound like Missouri’s answer to Dirty Harry, but she does have quite a reputation in certain circles. Let’s put it this way, it’s probably best to stay on her good side. Once you’re there, she’s as loyal as they come. And she has a terrible time turning away anyone in need, even if it’s the 13-year-old kid across the street.Now, knowing that this novel was the first of a series built around this character, I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting. Or maybe I was. I think I was expecting something a little more cartoonish. I mean, look at the character I just described. She seems a little larger than life. Here’s where Sophie Littlefield’s talent comes in, because the truth is that she’s created a fully believable, fully realized woman in Stella Hardesty. She’s not a caricature at all. We spend this novel inside her head, hear her most intimate thoughts, and empathize with her fears, desires, and trouble with cosmetics. Well, at least I did.The plot of A Bad Day for Sorry eventually proves to be a compelling mystery. Chrissy Shaw is the damsel in distress. Her no-good husband is one of Stella’s “parolees.” But just when Stella thinks she’s knocked some sense into the man, he goes and runs off with Chrissy’s toddler. Or did he? And why take the little boy? This isn’t one of those mysteries that you’ll be able to solve if you correctly decipher the clues. No, this is one of those stories that you just need to read to the end to see how it plays out. But it sure wasn’t predictable. I read this book in about a day and a half. The plot kept me turning the pages, but it’s the endearing characters I met along the way that made me pick up the sequel as soon as I put this one down. Let me tell you—that Stella, she grows on you. Besides, I have to see what’s going to happen between her and the Sheriff…
    • 4/5
      When one visualizes the protagonist of a noir book, one thinks of Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade or even Spenser or Dave Robicheaux, but not of Stella Hardesty, a 50-year old former victim of domestic abuse from tiny Prosper, Missouri. I say 'former victim' because Stella, the star of Sophie Littlefield's new series of mysteries, shelved the term 'victim' for good and all when she shot and killed her no-good, wife-beating husband Ollie and convinced a jury that it was self-defense. Once she discovers that she is free of Ollie, Stella takes it upon her self to share her good fortune by guiding other battered wives & girlfriends to the light and sending their abusive men folk to, well, wherever.In the latest installment, Stella’s designs on Sheriff 'Goat' Jones are foiled by the unexpected return of Goat’s estranged wife, Brandy, who had left Goat years before. Brandy has been talking to some of Stella's clients and strongly suggests that tales of her extracurricular activities might reach Goat’s ears if she didn’t keep away from her husband. This becomes hard to do when a tornado uproots the snack bar at the local drive-in revealing the mummified remains of a young woman buried in its foundation. Called on to prove the innocence of the contractor who built it, Stella is again thrown together with Goat, Brandy, and a host of other characters both good & bad. Sophie Littlefield is great at describing characters and their interactions. Despite the seriousness of the subject, she still manages to inject a bit of humor and lightheartedness into her stories.‘A Bad Day for Pretty’ is the second Stella Hardesty book penned by Littlefield and the first that I’ve read. At a recent book signing the author assured me that I would have no problems picking up the series at book two, a statement I found to be only partially true. While I was completely able to follow the story of this book I fear she revealed way more than I would have liked about events that transpired in book one. Because of this, I think it is best to read ‘A Bad Day for Sorry’ first.
    • 3/5
      I think at one end of the character reality scale you have Denise Mina's Patty Meeghan, trying to claw her way to advancement in her journalist profession through hard work and persistence, and at the other end perhaps Lisbeth Salander who can do anything, a Superwoman sans cape and flying skills. Stella in "A Bad Day for Sorry" is somewhere between the two, a lot closer to LS than to PM. And that's one problem I had with this book. An interesting plot idea, a woman who takes vengeance on men who abuse their women, though I'm not sure it can sustain a series for very long and still stay fresh. The second problem was the lack of tension until about two thirds through the book, then it became very action oriented with a junkyard scene that unfortunately stretches reality as much as the elastic in Stella's.....well, never mind. I very much liked the descriptions of rural Missouri; I suspect the author nailed it but I'm not really sure.
    • 3/5
      Gritty and ebullient, A BAD DAY FOR SORRY creates a menopausal super hero that I couldn't help but root for. Stella Hardesty definitely carries flavors of Stephanie Plum (complete with cute cop), but Stella faces a much darker, realistic set of consequences. I particularly enjoyed the peak under Stella's cape, where she learns not only about her own business, but also about what others are capable of.

    • 4/5
      First Line: Stella knew from experience that Roy Dean Shaw wasn't a particularly brave young buck.Just before her fiftieth birthday, Stella couldn't take it anymore. When her abusive husband laid into her, she dispatched him with a wrench. Now a few years later, she's so busy helping other women deal with their own abusive husbands and handing out her own brand of justice, there's scarcely any time left for her to run her sewing shop.Stella works outside the law, so she's free to do whatever it takes to convince these violent men to stop what they've been doing. All she has to do is keep her distance from Goat Jones, the handsome local sheriff. When young mother Chrissy Shaw asks for Stella's help with her abusive husband, Roy Dean, it looks like just another day in Stella's office. But when Chrissy's two-year-old son is taken from her, Stella finds that she's got a lot more to worry about than skinny old Roy Dean.A Bad Day for Sorry has to have one of the most memorable prologues I've read in years. Stella is an original; she endured an abusive husband for years, and as a result she tends to view things differently from those of us who haven't. Her own homegrown brand of justice must appeal to any woman who's found our existing legal system less than ideal for dealing with a man who believes beating the crap out of a woman is a divine right.Unfortunately for Stella, word of mouth has spread, and she's now got so much business that, not only is her real business-- the sewing shop-- suffering, she can't even have a day off: "Stella picked off the sons-of-bitches one by one, leaving their women free to breathe easy, to live without dread as their constant companion. And now this sideline threatened to overtake her real job, the shop she'd inherited from Ollie, supplying the women of Prosper with sewing notions and keeping their sewing machines in good working order. Every time she thought she'd earned some time off, a new woman would show up, terrified or battered or both, but finally ready to make it stop. And Stella knew what kind of courage that took-- and she never turned a client away."I liked the character of Stella and her voice, and although I did enjoy the book as a whole, I did have a couple of problems with it. For a woman in her mid-fifties, Stella has a tendency to behave as though she's ten feet tall and bullet-proof-- for example going alone to a deserted area after dark to meet someone when she knows something's not right. Chrissy Shaw, the young mother whose son is taken from her, begins her characterization as the complete blond bimbo-- totally cowed by an abusive husband, unable to think or talk above a slow stumble. Less than twenty-four hours after losing her son, Chrissy goes from Bimbo to Rambo in the blink of an eye. I just find it difficult to believe that someone who's been so completely under her husband's thumb could make such a stunning transformation that quickly.But, as I said, I did enjoy this book. Stella is feisty and funny, and as long as she's not being beaten up on a regular basis, I can see myself reading this series for a long time to come. A word of caution, however: the language can be salty at times and there is violence. Both fell well within my parameters, but your mileage may vary.
    • 1/5
      The title grabbed me but the story did not. Found this book to be poorly written and not interesting. Violence to cure violence? Abusive men submitting to bondage treatment from a 50 year old woman so they stop beating on their wives/girlfriends? Don't waste your time.
    • 4/5
      Stella Hardesty makes her living "convincing" abusive males they really don't want to be abusive any more. Her methodology is best described as extra-legal, and she withholds most of the details from her beau the local sheriff. This episode of her adventures is the sequel to A Bad Day for Sorry, which I have not read, but I don't think that created any problem in understanding and enjoying this one.Stella is called by a former client to help prove that her husband is not guilty of a murder he is suspected of. While she's investigating this, Stella is still recovering from physical wounds suffered in a shooting during her previous adventures, and she is dealing with the sudden reappearance of Goat's ex-wife Brandy. Or is she an ex-wife? She's also breaking in a mysteriously adopted dog, training a new partner, and feeling quite jealous at the sudden arrival of a female forensic team member who obviously has her sights set on Goat also.The plot in this one is somewhat convoluted, but I loved the characters, and I adored Stella's smart-ass take on life. She is not going to let any man get the better of her, having already killed abusive husband #1. Nuf said. I don't want to ruin a solid read. It's not great crime fiction, but it's more than just chick-lit. Littlefield has given us a character who has much potential for future adventures. Think Kinsey Milhone with a chip on her shoulder.