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Betty Rhyzyk #1
Die Tote mit der roten Strähne
Detective Betty Rhyzyk aus New York City hat es zum Dallas Police Department verschlagen, Abteilung Narcotics. Betty kommt aus einer polnischen Cop-Dynastie, ist lesbisch und auffällig rothaarig. Texas ist, wie sie bald merkt, nichts für schwache Nerven, denn hier kämpfen mexikanische Drogenkartelle und fundamentalreligiöse Sekten, durchgeknallte Stalker und Society-Ladys mit allen Mitteln um einen Platz an der Sonne.
Als gleich der erste Einsatz, bei der sie die Ermittlungen leitet, völlig außer Kontrolle gerät und der Drogenboss entkommen kann, ist Betty entschlossen, ihre Kollegen zu rächen und ihren Ruf wiederherzustellen. Aber kurz nach der schief gelaufenen Razzia liefert jemand ein Paket mit fiesem Inhalt bei Betty ab und hinterlässt eine rote Haarlocke auf ihrem Bett ‒ jemand, der zu einer kriminellen Organisation gehört, die noch viel furchterregender ist als das Kartell und die es anscheinend auf sie, die auffällig rothaarige Detective Betty Rhyzyk, abgesehen hat …
Als gleich der erste Einsatz, bei der sie die Ermittlungen leitet, völlig außer Kontrolle gerät und der Drogenboss entkommen kann, ist Betty entschlossen, ihre Kollegen zu rächen und ihren Ruf wiederherzustellen. Aber kurz nach der schief gelaufenen Razzia liefert jemand ein Paket mit fiesem Inhalt bei Betty ab und hinterlässt eine rote Haarlocke auf ihrem Bett ‒ jemand, der zu einer kriminellen Organisation gehört, die noch viel furchterregender ist als das Kartell und die es anscheinend auf sie, die auffällig rothaarige Detective Betty Rhyzyk, abgesehen hat …
363 pages, Paperback
First published February 14, 2017
429 people are currently reading
3658 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen Kent
11 books818 followersKathleen Kent is a New York Times bestselling author and an Edgar Award Nominee for her contemporary crime trilogy, The Dime, The Burn and The Pledge. Ms. Kent is also the author of three award-winning historical novels, The Heretic’s Daughter, The Traitor’s Wife, and The Outcasts. Her newest novel, BLACK WOLF, an international spy thriller, was published February 2023 and has received glowing reviews in both the US and the UK. She has written short stories and essays for D Magazine, Texas Monthly and LitHub, and has been published in the crime anthology Dallas Noir. In March 2020 she was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters for her contribution to Texas literature.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 497 reviews
June 12, 2017
Betty Rhyzyk hails from a long line of Brooklyn, New York, cops. She's recently moved to Dallas with her lover and has discovered, as they say, that Texas is a whole 'nother world. She's working as part of a team investigating illegal drug sales, but the investigation is blown off track by a couple of particularly brutal murders, and Betty finds herself in the middle of a huge mess. She also finds herself the target of some particularly violent and creepy people who invade her life for reasons that she cannot comprehend until it's way too late.
This is advertized as the beginning of a new series, and for most of the book, it was fun to watch Rhyzyk work the job and interact with the members of her team and other cops, not all of whom are excited about having her on the job. As a lesbian living openly with another woman, she also has to navigate the social, cultural and political scene in a state that is not all that welcoming to people of her sexual orientation.
I liked much of the book, but I kept wondering why someone like Betty would ever move to Texas in the first place, rather than remaining at home in Brooklyn or at least moving to someplace more conducive to her lifestyle. The Texas setting allows the author to make all sorts of observations, humorous and otherwise, about the Texas people and culture, but that didn't seem reason enough, at least to me, to locate the series there. This is a fish out of water story that leaves the reader wondering why the fish didn't make better choices.
I also confess that I found the last fourth of the book to be way over the top and very hard to buy. The story simply defies belief, at least for me. There's the germ of a very good book in here, I think, but the end result could have been better.
This is advertized as the beginning of a new series, and for most of the book, it was fun to watch Rhyzyk work the job and interact with the members of her team and other cops, not all of whom are excited about having her on the job. As a lesbian living openly with another woman, she also has to navigate the social, cultural and political scene in a state that is not all that welcoming to people of her sexual orientation.
I liked much of the book, but I kept wondering why someone like Betty would ever move to Texas in the first place, rather than remaining at home in Brooklyn or at least moving to someplace more conducive to her lifestyle. The Texas setting allows the author to make all sorts of observations, humorous and otherwise, about the Texas people and culture, but that didn't seem reason enough, at least to me, to locate the series there. This is a fish out of water story that leaves the reader wondering why the fish didn't make better choices.
I also confess that I found the last fourth of the book to be way over the top and very hard to buy. The story simply defies belief, at least for me. There's the germ of a very good book in here, I think, but the end result could have been better.
August 8, 2021
The Dime by Kathleen Kent
1st book in the Detective Betty Rhyzyk series. Police procedural thriller.
Betty investigates a killer that gets too close to family when a head is delivered to her doorstep. A drug cartel warning or something else?
F - F personal relationship.
A lot of flash back scenes with her memories of her not so honest father and brother cops and other family.
Gritty and dark. Tense as she is kidnapped and fighting for her life.
🎧 I listened to the audiobook via Hoopla and my public library. It was narrated by Cynthia Farrell. I thought she did a good job with the audio performance. I did notice a couple of stutters but don’t know if that was what was written (they were memories and dreams sequences so could have been) or just editing. Overall, the narration was smooth and enthralling.
1st book in the Detective Betty Rhyzyk series. Police procedural thriller.
Betty investigates a killer that gets too close to family when a head is delivered to her doorstep. A drug cartel warning or something else?
F - F personal relationship.
A lot of flash back scenes with her memories of her not so honest father and brother cops and other family.
Gritty and dark. Tense as she is kidnapped and fighting for her life.
🎧 I listened to the audiobook via Hoopla and my public library. It was narrated by Cynthia Farrell. I thought she did a good job with the audio performance. I did notice a couple of stutters but don’t know if that was what was written (they were memories and dreams sequences so could have been) or just editing. Overall, the narration was smooth and enthralling.
June 30, 2020
Well, shoot. I seem to have misplaced my one-paragraph reviewer's cap this time, but I enjoyed every minute of this police procedural and have already reserved the next book in the series.
Betty Rhyzyk. Lady detective on the Dallas police force. Tall and fiery, she takes no guff from her fellow officers, giving back as good as she gets. Brought up in Brooklyn in a family of cops, she knows well the human capacity for doing evil, the frustration of dealing with the recalcitrant, the utter boredom of stakeouts. Same in Texas as it was in New York, with subtle tweaks peculiar to the area.
It's an area teeming with drug cartels. The bunch she and her partner are dealing with here are frightening in the extreme. One delights in wielding a sharp knife, and is not opposed to slicing and dicing body parts for effect, humming while he "works". A brother who may or may not be a cop. And the mama who is their guiding light, soft-spoken as only a Southern lady can be, but her words are not gentle. Nor are her plans for expanding the family.
The title calls to mind all manner of phrases having to do with the modest ten cent piece. A dime a dozen, stopping on a dime, dropping a dime on someone, dime novels, one thin dime, etc. The dime used to carry a little more importance than it does now. Long ago in the days before cell phones, and when public telephone booths were everywhere you looked, a dime meant the difference in being able to make an emergency call or not. Nowadays, one is hard pressed to find a public phone booth at all.
Betty Rhyzyk. Lady detective on the Dallas police force. Tall and fiery, she takes no guff from her fellow officers, giving back as good as she gets. Brought up in Brooklyn in a family of cops, she knows well the human capacity for doing evil, the frustration of dealing with the recalcitrant, the utter boredom of stakeouts. Same in Texas as it was in New York, with subtle tweaks peculiar to the area.
It's an area teeming with drug cartels. The bunch she and her partner are dealing with here are frightening in the extreme. One delights in wielding a sharp knife, and is not opposed to slicing and dicing body parts for effect, humming while he "works". A brother who may or may not be a cop. And the mama who is their guiding light, soft-spoken as only a Southern lady can be, but her words are not gentle. Nor are her plans for expanding the family.
The title calls to mind all manner of phrases having to do with the modest ten cent piece. A dime a dozen, stopping on a dime, dropping a dime on someone, dime novels, one thin dime, etc. The dime used to carry a little more importance than it does now. Long ago in the days before cell phones, and when public telephone booths were everywhere you looked, a dime meant the difference in being able to make an emergency call or not. Nowadays, one is hard pressed to find a public phone booth at all.
September 2, 2020
Tall, ginger haired, steely and sportin' a sharp-edged Brooklyn attitude......
That's Betty Rhyzyk. Betty comes from a long line of cops that patrolled the unruly streets of Brooklyn. No shock that Betty would join the force herself. When the last of her family members, Uncle Benny, passes away, she knows that it's time to move on.
Never expected that Betty would leave the familiar and venture into the unknown panorama of Dallas. Because I'm a big Kathleen Kent fan and loved her historical fiction, I looked the other way as she painted my Texas as the land of hicks, socially backward rubes, and intolerant snobs to move along her storyline. No hard feelings, Kent, but move around this tremendous state and meet and greet some remarkable people.
Brooklyn smarts meet hardcore cartels sifting in with unspeakable crime as their calling card. Betty comes face-to-face with an unexpected tragedy when an undercover setup goes terribly wrong. Loss of face is one thing, but loss of life is quite another.
Betty feels the tension of trying to prove herself in the pecking order of detectives and higher-ups. She doesn't quite feel the fit yet with her new detective partner. And speaking of partners, Betty and Jackie, her life partner, are trying to buy a home together. I liked the character of Jackie who tries to keep Betty grounded. Jackie, a pediatric radiologist, suffers from her own kind of stress while she serves the needs of seriously ill patients.
The Dime dishes out some gritty, gruesome crimes. But the cartels don't play by anyone's rules. Be prepared for the body count that escalates right and left. I did have issues with the final scenes that seemed to go off the track for me. Be open minded as things wind down. It was a 3.5 kicked up to 4 stars. The girl can write and write she does.
That's Betty Rhyzyk. Betty comes from a long line of cops that patrolled the unruly streets of Brooklyn. No shock that Betty would join the force herself. When the last of her family members, Uncle Benny, passes away, she knows that it's time to move on.
Never expected that Betty would leave the familiar and venture into the unknown panorama of Dallas. Because I'm a big Kathleen Kent fan and loved her historical fiction, I looked the other way as she painted my Texas as the land of hicks, socially backward rubes, and intolerant snobs to move along her storyline. No hard feelings, Kent, but move around this tremendous state and meet and greet some remarkable people.
Brooklyn smarts meet hardcore cartels sifting in with unspeakable crime as their calling card. Betty comes face-to-face with an unexpected tragedy when an undercover setup goes terribly wrong. Loss of face is one thing, but loss of life is quite another.
Betty feels the tension of trying to prove herself in the pecking order of detectives and higher-ups. She doesn't quite feel the fit yet with her new detective partner. And speaking of partners, Betty and Jackie, her life partner, are trying to buy a home together. I liked the character of Jackie who tries to keep Betty grounded. Jackie, a pediatric radiologist, suffers from her own kind of stress while she serves the needs of seriously ill patients.
The Dime dishes out some gritty, gruesome crimes. But the cartels don't play by anyone's rules. Be prepared for the body count that escalates right and left. I did have issues with the final scenes that seemed to go off the track for me. Be open minded as things wind down. It was a 3.5 kicked up to 4 stars. The girl can write and write she does.
January 22, 2022
5 Stars for The Dime (Betty Rhyzyk series, book 1) (audiobook) by Kathleen Kent read by Cynthia Farrell. This is a reread for me. This is the story that I thought Rizzoli & Isles should have been. There is no innuendos here. It has real relationships and real drama. I can’t wait to get the next book in the series. This is one of my favorite books from last year. The narration is great too.
January 23, 2018
I read a fair amount of crime fiction, and this first in a series about a narcotics detective in Texas sounded like it might have some promise. It features Betty, an athletic flame-haired 6-foot Brooklyn cop who relocated to Dallas with her partner a few years previously. There's plenty of backstory about her Polish police family upbringing in NYC, which often veers toward the cliched when invoking her beloved Uncle Benny.
In any event, the story here starts with a large-scale meth dealer and quickly spirals out into all kinds of mayhem and creepiness. There's the usual police procedural setup, as we learn a little about her partner and the other detectives on her team, her sergeant, the jerks in homicide, and so forth. That's all perfectly fine, and if the harassment she faces is a little much, it's not implausible. What is implausible is the amount of bodies that pile up in the course of the story. I don't know that I've ever read a straight crime novel with such a high body count -- I think it ended up at about twenty or so. It kinds of felt like the author didn't quite know how to build tension within the case itself, so she instead built a stack of corpses.
Without spoiling things, I'll just say that the final third of the book gets more and more outlandish. Betty finds herself in a predicament that feels rather stale, even as the specifics of why are completely nuts. The villains are revealed as straight-up insane, which is a type of antagonist I've just never found that interesting. The city of Dallas is also fairly uninteresting as a setting -- I didn't get much of a sense of it, other than as a city where a notable portion of people might be bigoted to a lesbian couple. Speaking of which, some readers seem to have had a problem with lesbian relationship -- for me it felt pretty much like any other cop novel protagonist's relationship: thinly realized and idealized. There's certainly nothing explicit at all.
All in all, a disappointment -- readers who are seeking excellent Texas-set crime fiction would do much better checking out some of Attica Locke's work, such as the Houston-set Black Water Rising, or her recent Bluebird, Bluebird.
In any event, the story here starts with a large-scale meth dealer and quickly spirals out into all kinds of mayhem and creepiness. There's the usual police procedural setup, as we learn a little about her partner and the other detectives on her team, her sergeant, the jerks in homicide, and so forth. That's all perfectly fine, and if the harassment she faces is a little much, it's not implausible. What is implausible is the amount of bodies that pile up in the course of the story. I don't know that I've ever read a straight crime novel with such a high body count -- I think it ended up at about twenty or so. It kinds of felt like the author didn't quite know how to build tension within the case itself, so she instead built a stack of corpses.
Without spoiling things, I'll just say that the final third of the book gets more and more outlandish. Betty finds herself in a predicament that feels rather stale, even as the specifics of why are completely nuts. The villains are revealed as straight-up insane, which is a type of antagonist I've just never found that interesting. The city of Dallas is also fairly uninteresting as a setting -- I didn't get much of a sense of it, other than as a city where a notable portion of people might be bigoted to a lesbian couple. Speaking of which, some readers seem to have had a problem with lesbian relationship -- for me it felt pretty much like any other cop novel protagonist's relationship: thinly realized and idealized. There's certainly nothing explicit at all.
All in all, a disappointment -- readers who are seeking excellent Texas-set crime fiction would do much better checking out some of Attica Locke's work, such as the Houston-set Black Water Rising, or her recent Bluebird, Bluebird.
August 29, 2018
Whooooo boy, ALL the trigger warnings.
I love Betty Rhyzyk. She is the badass detective that I have been wanting to read, I was just so in the mood for this (what, I’ve been bingeing The Closer, sue me). This book kept me on my toes - I really didn’t know where it was going for so much of the time. Then when I did realize - well, I was practically reading through my fingers and almost had to put the book in the freezer for a while.
I cannot WAIT to see what’s in store in the next book!
I love Betty Rhyzyk. She is the badass detective that I have been wanting to read, I was just so in the mood for this (what, I’ve been bingeing The Closer, sue me). This book kept me on my toes - I really didn’t know where it was going for so much of the time. Then when I did realize - well, I was practically reading through my fingers and almost had to put the book in the freezer for a while.
I cannot WAIT to see what’s in store in the next book!
February 8, 2022
Kent introduces Detective Betty Rhyzyk in this debut police procedural thriller. Betty is a former Brooklyn cop now working in the narcotics division in Dallas. Kent packs plenty of action in the far-fetched plot. What starts out as a police procedural tracking down a cocaine drug dealer moves into ‘Stephen King’ territory for the last third of the book.
Kent provides no back story as to why Betty chose Dallas to move to. And her depiction of Dallas seems to be a caricature of the Texan stereotype—gun-loving, Evangelical Christian, and anti-gay. She has Lesbian Betty dealing with demeaning quips from her fellow officers repeatedly. I found it tiresome. Last, the body count in this offering was excessive. Couldn’t Kent build the tension another way?
BUT—Kathleen Kent can write and this was her debut novel in the series. I may read the next offering in the series to see how Kent develops her character and refines her plot-lines.
Kent provides no back story as to why Betty chose Dallas to move to. And her depiction of Dallas seems to be a caricature of the Texan stereotype—gun-loving, Evangelical Christian, and anti-gay. She has Lesbian Betty dealing with demeaning quips from her fellow officers repeatedly. I found it tiresome. Last, the body count in this offering was excessive. Couldn’t Kent build the tension another way?
BUT—Kathleen Kent can write and this was her debut novel in the series. I may read the next offering in the series to see how Kent develops her character and refines her plot-lines.
January 27, 2019
To be totally honest, I had planned on skipping this one since I wasn’t really in the mood for the whole Mexican gang rapist/drug dealers thing (what I assumed it would be about–it’s not!) BUT Mulholland Books has yet to disappoint at all AND Rioter Liberty Hardy recommended it. I AM SO GLAD I READ THIS ONE. After a huge weekend reading slump where nothing I picked up made me want to keep reading, this one enveloped me into its pages and wouldn’t let me go. I tell you all this because I don’t think the summary does this awesome book justice. Rhyzyk is a hard-ass, take-no-shit detective trying to balance her career, her personal relationship with her doctor girlfriend, and the ghosts of her past. And by ghost I mean her recently deceased uncle who’d always been the only true family and good advice giver in her life. While she may start out investigating a Mexican cartel in Texas, this takes some hard turns into different territory and leaves you with an ending you wouldn’t expect. Kent has written a brilliant detective with hard-edges and heart while striking the perfect balance of humor, violence, action, and procedural. I want more!
--from Book Riot's Unusual Suspects newsletter: http://link.bookriot.com/view/56a8200...
--from Book Riot's Unusual Suspects newsletter: http://link.bookriot.com/view/56a8200...
February 17, 2017
Interesting police mystery/procedural, highlighted by an unusual protagonist: a 5 foot, 10 inch, exuberant red headed lesbian, of Polish extraction, from Brooklyn, who moves to Dallas with her girlfriend and joins the Dallas PD. Assigned to Narcotics, she is on the trail of a Mexican Meth dealer--but that case goes South in a hurry. Almost a dozen bodies pile up including, eventually, the Mexican--or his head, anyway.
Obviously, competition has come to the Texas Meth market. But the competition turns out to have special, and especially bizarre, plans for the red head.
The writing is fluid, the dialogue snappy. The author tries for a bias three-some: transplanted Pole, New Yorker lost in the South, and lesbian in a man's world. This sometimes got a bit heavy-handed, but one-liners usually saved the tale from mere polemic.
Obviously, competition has come to the Texas Meth market. But the competition turns out to have special, and especially bizarre, plans for the red head.
The writing is fluid, the dialogue snappy. The author tries for a bias three-some: transplanted Pole, New Yorker lost in the South, and lesbian in a man's world. This sometimes got a bit heavy-handed, but one-liners usually saved the tale from mere polemic.
October 19, 2016
Welcome to present day Kathleen Kent, and thank you for bringing Detective Betty with you. I hope that there are more Betty Rhyzyk books coming from Kent - she has written a damn good police procedural with THE DIME. A Brooklyn cop moves to Dallas, that alone should make you want to read it, and gets involved in a case that nearly shatters her. Kent throws a lot into this story, everything working to bring Rhyzyk to life. It is not just all cops and drug dealers, you get a feel for home life too. Betty's girlfriend as well as Dallas's society wives add to her turmoil. Kent is in charge of her craft, moving from her previous novels set in the past into present day wonderfully. This should be the start of something good, Rhyzyk joining the ranks of 'tough-as-nails females' Kathleen Mallory and V. I. Warshawski.
February 26, 2020
The Dime by Kathleen Kent is the first novel of a series featuring hard-nosed Det. Betty Rhyzyk, a transplanted Brooklyn New York police officer now working as a narcotics detective in Texas.
Rhyzyk is a member of a unit investigating the drug sales of a violent drug dealer which intensifies after a large, surveilled drug sale goes off track, leaving three dead, including a police officer, and Kent's partner injured.
In the search for the violent drug dealer responsible for the murders, Ryhzyk and her domestic partner are soon being stalked, with the investigation branching out into directions involving possibly even more deadlier foes than cartel drug runners.
Through the story, Rhyzyk also has to deal with personal battles and the struggles of working in a field dominated by sexist and dinosaur-like men, while being confined by bureaucrats more interested in observing turf boundaries in police investigations.
For those familiar with police procedural novels, The Dime is in the upper tier when it comes to that genre of novels, especially for the opening novel in a series.
However, there were a few missteps, mostly of a technical nature, that hampered the full possibility of this opening novel.
To avoid spoilers, the only additional remark about the missteps is when authors create characters that are supposed to be more skilled than their counterparts, such as superior police officers, then when those skills are overcome, there has to be plausibly created reasons for the overcoming of those skills.
Other than that, The Dime is highly recommended to those that enjoy police procedurals with complex lead characters.
Rhyzyk is a member of a unit investigating the drug sales of a violent drug dealer which intensifies after a large, surveilled drug sale goes off track, leaving three dead, including a police officer, and Kent's partner injured.
In the search for the violent drug dealer responsible for the murders, Ryhzyk and her domestic partner are soon being stalked, with the investigation branching out into directions involving possibly even more deadlier foes than cartel drug runners.
Through the story, Rhyzyk also has to deal with personal battles and the struggles of working in a field dominated by sexist and dinosaur-like men, while being confined by bureaucrats more interested in observing turf boundaries in police investigations.
For those familiar with police procedural novels, The Dime is in the upper tier when it comes to that genre of novels, especially for the opening novel in a series.
However, there were a few missteps, mostly of a technical nature, that hampered the full possibility of this opening novel.
To avoid spoilers, the only additional remark about the missteps is when authors create characters that are supposed to be more skilled than their counterparts, such as superior police officers, then when those skills are overcome, there has to be plausibly created reasons for the overcoming of those skills.
Other than that, The Dime is highly recommended to those that enjoy police procedurals with complex lead characters.
December 25, 2017
My first thought after finishing Kathleen Kent's The Dime was: Wow. I really did not see any of that coming. I give many kudos to Kent and her fantastic storytelling.The Dime is a modern day hard boiled topsy turvy fascinating mystery.
The Dime is about a Brooklyn transplant legacy cop named Detective Betty Rhyzyk who now works narcotics at the Dallas Police Department. Betty is red headed sharp, sarcastic, and gay which gives her some ire from the veterans on the department. Her girlfriend, Jackie, is a prominent doctor with a very old fashioned family.
Betty comes from a legacy of Brooklyn cops: her father, brother, and uncle were cops with the latter, Uncle Benny, being her mentor even after death. Her narcotics squad is looking after a very dangerous Mexican drug kingpin. It should be moderately simple.
However, after the kingpin's girlfriend and the dealer himself are brutally murdered, Betty's case take a HELLUVA turn and I do mean, HELLUVA.
What happens next is a case of abhorrent religion, fate, and willpower that will try Betty to her very last fiber.
As I previously mentioned, Kent really did a double whammy on this case in The Dime. When that paradigm shift happened, I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. Like what in tarnation is going on here? That was the fun of The Dime. Not all cases are so cut and dry. Some are intricate and complicated and can endanger everyone.
I liked Detective Betty Rhyzyk. I thought she was a strong and funny character. If she existed in real life, we could be friends. I liked her relationship with Jackie. It was sweet and realistic. It's odd that the synopsis would describe Jackie as an unsympathetic girlfriend to Betty and that clearly wasn't the case at all.
I liked Betty's relationship with her Uncle Benny. Even, posthumously as he was a guiding her, keeping her sane when things got hairy. And, things really got hairy. Even when he was alive, he taught everything she needed to know about becoming a good cop. He was also a very stabilizing force in contract to her unstable, self-destructive father.
Also, Betty's relationship with James Earle, a relative of Jackie' s was also very endearing. It was easy for Jackie's family to be dismissive of him as he is the family drunk but he was very smart and a very good resource and sounding board for Betty.
I would really like if Kathleen Kent continued with this character and made it into a series. According to my fellow Goodreads reviewers, The Dime was very different from Kent's usual fare. But I really enjoyed this. I could see this as a show in Hulu.
The Dime is about a Brooklyn transplant legacy cop named Detective Betty Rhyzyk who now works narcotics at the Dallas Police Department. Betty is red headed sharp, sarcastic, and gay which gives her some ire from the veterans on the department. Her girlfriend, Jackie, is a prominent doctor with a very old fashioned family.
Betty comes from a legacy of Brooklyn cops: her father, brother, and uncle were cops with the latter, Uncle Benny, being her mentor even after death. Her narcotics squad is looking after a very dangerous Mexican drug kingpin. It should be moderately simple.
However, after the kingpin's girlfriend and the dealer himself are brutally murdered, Betty's case take a HELLUVA turn and I do mean, HELLUVA.
What happens next is a case of abhorrent religion, fate, and willpower that will try Betty to her very last fiber.
As I previously mentioned, Kent really did a double whammy on this case in The Dime. When that paradigm shift happened, I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. Like what in tarnation is going on here? That was the fun of The Dime. Not all cases are so cut and dry. Some are intricate and complicated and can endanger everyone.
I liked Detective Betty Rhyzyk. I thought she was a strong and funny character. If she existed in real life, we could be friends. I liked her relationship with Jackie. It was sweet and realistic. It's odd that the synopsis would describe Jackie as an unsympathetic girlfriend to Betty and that clearly wasn't the case at all.
I liked Betty's relationship with her Uncle Benny. Even, posthumously as he was a guiding her, keeping her sane when things got hairy. And, things really got hairy. Even when he was alive, he taught everything she needed to know about becoming a good cop. He was also a very stabilizing force in contract to her unstable, self-destructive father.
Also, Betty's relationship with James Earle, a relative of Jackie' s was also very endearing. It was easy for Jackie's family to be dismissive of him as he is the family drunk but he was very smart and a very good resource and sounding board for Betty.
I would really like if Kathleen Kent continued with this character and made it into a series. According to my fellow Goodreads reviewers, The Dime was very different from Kent's usual fare. But I really enjoyed this. I could see this as a show in Hulu.
March 4, 2017
Kathleen Kent has just released her new novel The Dime. I've read and really liked her historical novels and was looking forward to this newest book.
Wow. This latest was a complete departure from her previous work - and I loved it!
The Dime introduces us to Betty Rhyzyk - a Brooklyn cop from a long line of law enforcement. She and her girlfriend have relocated to Dallas. Now working as a Narcotics Detective, Riz has no lack of cases. The Mexican drug cartels are making sure of that. But when her latest case results in disaster, Riz is determined to avenge her colleagues and her reputation. Drug dealers, stalkers, white supremacists, the rich, the poor, a cult and more populate the pages of The Dime.
I loved this character! I could absolutely picture her physically and her personality comes through in her thoughts, dialogue and actions. There are two sides to Riz - the tough cop she needs to be at work and the softer personal side at home with Julie. The supporting cast is just as well drawn. There's a wide variety of personalities on the squad. I really liked Riz's partner Seth. And of course, there are those that don't want a lesbian leader. Kent handles these conflicts and attitudes with a deft hand in both Betty's personal and work lives.
Extremely well plotted, great police procedural work and the action will keep you turning pages. The ground has been laid - and this reader will be waiting for the next in the series. More please.
Wow. This latest was a complete departure from her previous work - and I loved it!
The Dime introduces us to Betty Rhyzyk - a Brooklyn cop from a long line of law enforcement. She and her girlfriend have relocated to Dallas. Now working as a Narcotics Detective, Riz has no lack of cases. The Mexican drug cartels are making sure of that. But when her latest case results in disaster, Riz is determined to avenge her colleagues and her reputation. Drug dealers, stalkers, white supremacists, the rich, the poor, a cult and more populate the pages of The Dime.
I loved this character! I could absolutely picture her physically and her personality comes through in her thoughts, dialogue and actions. There are two sides to Riz - the tough cop she needs to be at work and the softer personal side at home with Julie. The supporting cast is just as well drawn. There's a wide variety of personalities on the squad. I really liked Riz's partner Seth. And of course, there are those that don't want a lesbian leader. Kent handles these conflicts and attitudes with a deft hand in both Betty's personal and work lives.
Extremely well plotted, great police procedural work and the action will keep you turning pages. The ground has been laid - and this reader will be waiting for the next in the series. More please.
September 23, 2021
2-2,5*
January 6, 2022
Enjoyable and a fast-read detective story. A narcotics detective in Dallas who is smart and funny. A great story for the beach or airplane as it moves very fast-short chapters and easy to read.
November 16, 2019
I've read some of Kathleen Kent's historical fiction and liked it so I was interested to see how she did with a contemporary mystery series.
If you've read the blurb for the book you know it's about a gay Polish-American detective from NYC who relocates to Dallas. This was the part of the book that made me feel like I was almost coming from another planet than the author. The author made a huge deal about Betty's sexuality and all the crap she took from her co-workers. I know that this is still very much a thing in conservative work environments and parts of the country, but it felt played out to me. I've read about female cops and the shit they take that's been written in much more interesting ways ( Tana French and Jane Casey are two authors that come immediately to mind who also write about this theme) and The Dime felt like it was trying to get me to time travel back to the 90's when writing a gay main character would have been far more "edgy". There was a scene where Betty takes her partner to a gay bar and it felt like the author was trying to explain to her audience what a gay bar is and how you might be surprised that lesbians might still wear make-up or dress in short shorts and cowboy boots instead of all flannel, jeans and wallet chains. It felt sort of like a "Law and Order" episode trying to educate the viewer about a "ripped from the headlines" topic that will expand their horizons. I guess she's just not writing to or for me. Maybe there are other readers that will find this illuminating.
There was also a bit of racist-feeling description early in the book where the author talks about a Mexican drug dealer with a look in his eyes "like the one in his ancestors' eyes before they raced to the top of a pyramid and removed someone's heart" (I may not be getting this exactly right but that's the general sentiment) that I didn't care for either. I skipped on to the end because about a hundred pages in I was getting bored with the book spinning its wheels and giving me unsurprising "revelations" ( Betty gets a phone call that she doesn't bother to take-bad detective!- that turns out to be from a potential witness who shows up dead next thing, very tropy and unsurprising), and it looks like the whole first part of the book doesn't even have anything to do with the last part of the book.
I ended up disappointed with this one and am less likely to try the next book in the series because of it.
If you've read the blurb for the book you know it's about a gay Polish-American detective from NYC who relocates to Dallas. This was the part of the book that made me feel like I was almost coming from another planet than the author. The author made a huge deal about Betty's sexuality and all the crap she took from her co-workers. I know that this is still very much a thing in conservative work environments and parts of the country, but it felt played out to me. I've read about female cops and the shit they take that's been written in much more interesting ways ( Tana French and Jane Casey are two authors that come immediately to mind who also write about this theme) and The Dime felt like it was trying to get me to time travel back to the 90's when writing a gay main character would have been far more "edgy". There was a scene where Betty takes her partner to a gay bar and it felt like the author was trying to explain to her audience what a gay bar is and how you might be surprised that lesbians might still wear make-up or dress in short shorts and cowboy boots instead of all flannel, jeans and wallet chains. It felt sort of like a "Law and Order" episode trying to educate the viewer about a "ripped from the headlines" topic that will expand their horizons. I guess she's just not writing to or for me. Maybe there are other readers that will find this illuminating.
There was also a bit of racist-feeling description early in the book where the author talks about a Mexican drug dealer with a look in his eyes "like the one in his ancestors' eyes before they raced to the top of a pyramid and removed someone's heart" (I may not be getting this exactly right but that's the general sentiment) that I didn't care for either. I skipped on to the end because about a hundred pages in I was getting bored with the book spinning its wheels and giving me unsurprising "revelations" ( Betty gets a phone call that she doesn't bother to take-bad detective!- that turns out to be from a potential witness who shows up dead next thing, very tropy and unsurprising), and it looks like the whole first part of the book doesn't even have anything to do with the last part of the book.
I ended up disappointed with this one and am less likely to try the next book in the series because of it.
November 10, 2021
Detective Betty Rhyzyk arbeitet noch nicht sehr lange beim Dallas Police Department. In der Drogenfahndung leitet sie – zum gewissen Ärger mancher Kollegen – ihren ersten Einsatz. Das DPD fahndet nach dem Kokaindealer Tomás Ruiz. Der Mexikaner hat sich zum größten Dealer in Nordtexas aufgeschwungen. Nun bietet sich die Gelegenheit, Ruiz bei einem Deal festzusetzen, den er in Dallas mit dem lokalen Dealer William Bender machen will. Betty und ihr Team liegen vor Benders Haus auf der Lauer. Doch der Einsatz gerät völlig außer Kontrolle, als eine Passantin sich einmischt und ein lokaler Streifenwagen ebenfalls anhält. Die Folge sind drei Leichen und ein Drogenboss, der sich aus dem Staub gemacht hat.
Betty ist fest entschlossen, diesen Tiefschlag wieder wettzumachen. Hilfe zum Aufenthaltsort von Ruiz könnte dessen Freundin Lana Yu geben, doch diese wird wenig später brutal ermordet aufgefunden. Der Mörder hat ihr zudem eine rote Strähne abgeschnitten. Art und Weise des Mordes passen nicht zu Ruiz, sodass Betty vermutet, dass hier noch jemand Ruiz‘ Aufenthalthaltsort erfahren wollte. Und dieser jemand hat offenbar auch Betty im Blick, denn kurz darauf findet sie eine rote Strähne in ihrem Bett.
Drogenfahndung, mexikanische Drogenbosse, der heiße und staubige Süden der USA – das sind alles wohlbekannte Themen, die erstmal kein Alleinstellungsmerkmal bieten. Warum hat sich die Autorin Kathleen Kent, bisher vor allem für historische Roman bekannt, dennoch diesen Stoff ausgesucht? Vielleicht weil sie die Idee zu einer wirklich erfrischenden Protagonistin hatte. Betty Rhyzyk, Ende 30, lange rote Haare, entspringt einer New Yorker Copfamilie von polnischen Einwandern – und sie ist offen lesbisch, lebt in einer längeren Partnerschaft mit der Ärztin Jackie. Betty ist eine leidenschaftliche, kämpferische Polizistin, durchsetzungsfähig, mit großer Schlagfertigkeit, aber dabei nicht völlig unnahbar und unfehlbar. Mit dieser wirklich gelungenen Hauptfigur wurde Kathleen Kent direkt bei ihrem Thrillerdebüt für den Edgar und Nero Award nominiert.
„Die Tote mit der roten Strähne“ geht direkt ins Geschehen (ist auch im Präsens geschrieben), zeigt viel Action und eine gelungene Präzision zwischen Spannung und Entspannung. Dabei streut die Autorin bei aller Härte auch einiges an Humor, Selbstironie (immerhin ist sie selbst Texanerin) und Zwischenmenschlichem ein. Daneben hat sie immer wieder überraschende Einfälle, beispielsweise ein Schusswechsel zwischen einer mexikanischen Drogengang und eine Reenactmenttruppe, die die Mexikaner mit Bürgerkriegsflinten und einer Kanone in Schach hält. Das macht insgesamt doch sehr viel Spaß und sorgt für keine Langeweile. Und das ist ja kein schlechtes Zeugnis für einen Thriller.
Betty ist fest entschlossen, diesen Tiefschlag wieder wettzumachen. Hilfe zum Aufenthaltsort von Ruiz könnte dessen Freundin Lana Yu geben, doch diese wird wenig später brutal ermordet aufgefunden. Der Mörder hat ihr zudem eine rote Strähne abgeschnitten. Art und Weise des Mordes passen nicht zu Ruiz, sodass Betty vermutet, dass hier noch jemand Ruiz‘ Aufenthalthaltsort erfahren wollte. Und dieser jemand hat offenbar auch Betty im Blick, denn kurz darauf findet sie eine rote Strähne in ihrem Bett.
Drogenfahndung, mexikanische Drogenbosse, der heiße und staubige Süden der USA – das sind alles wohlbekannte Themen, die erstmal kein Alleinstellungsmerkmal bieten. Warum hat sich die Autorin Kathleen Kent, bisher vor allem für historische Roman bekannt, dennoch diesen Stoff ausgesucht? Vielleicht weil sie die Idee zu einer wirklich erfrischenden Protagonistin hatte. Betty Rhyzyk, Ende 30, lange rote Haare, entspringt einer New Yorker Copfamilie von polnischen Einwandern – und sie ist offen lesbisch, lebt in einer längeren Partnerschaft mit der Ärztin Jackie. Betty ist eine leidenschaftliche, kämpferische Polizistin, durchsetzungsfähig, mit großer Schlagfertigkeit, aber dabei nicht völlig unnahbar und unfehlbar. Mit dieser wirklich gelungenen Hauptfigur wurde Kathleen Kent direkt bei ihrem Thrillerdebüt für den Edgar und Nero Award nominiert.
„Die Tote mit der roten Strähne“ geht direkt ins Geschehen (ist auch im Präsens geschrieben), zeigt viel Action und eine gelungene Präzision zwischen Spannung und Entspannung. Dabei streut die Autorin bei aller Härte auch einiges an Humor, Selbstironie (immerhin ist sie selbst Texanerin) und Zwischenmenschlichem ein. Daneben hat sie immer wieder überraschende Einfälle, beispielsweise ein Schusswechsel zwischen einer mexikanischen Drogengang und eine Reenactmenttruppe, die die Mexikaner mit Bürgerkriegsflinten und einer Kanone in Schach hält. Das macht insgesamt doch sehr viel Spaß und sorgt für keine Langeweile. Und das ist ja kein schlechtes Zeugnis für einen Thriller.
June 11, 2023
I've read two of Kent's earlier novels, The Heretic's Daughter, an historical novel about the Salem witch trials, and The Outcasts, a thrilling historical western taking place in the old west of 1870. In The Dime, Kent takes us in another direction writing a very engaging present-day crime thriller. The protagonist is six-foot tall redhead Betty Rhyzyk, a lesbian police woman who comes from a line of New York cops and is now working in the narcotics division in Dallas, Texas. She and her crew get involved in a drug deal gone bad when the supplier ends up being gunned down by a Mexican Cartel group. But then the Mexicans are eliminated by a rival group who are out to control the meth business in Eastern Texas. Betty is for some reason pulled by the rival group into its plans but for what purpose?
This was a very compelling and intense read. I really empathized with Betty and her significant other as they tried to fit in among the rednecks and bigots of east Texas. This is the first in a series by Kent and I'll be looking forward to reading more of these.
This was a very compelling and intense read. I really empathized with Betty and her significant other as they tried to fit in among the rednecks and bigots of east Texas. This is the first in a series by Kent and I'll be looking forward to reading more of these.
June 1, 2017
Betty Rhyzyk is the last member of a Brooklyn family of blue (cops), and moves to Dallas for a fresh start along with Jackie, her doctor girlfriend. Of course, her sexuality is a major source of harassment from her mostly male colleagues. When drug deaths start escalating, there seems to be a turf battle, and Betty seems to be at the epicenter. Off trying to find a hillbilly meth family, she is taken prisoner for an odd purpose. Her escape is preposterous. The best parts are Uncle Benny and James Earle.
July 5, 2020
A fairly competent police procedural, but one that never really grabbed hold of me. It is great when our hero can be a lesbian detective, less great when the lesbianism is referenced so much that it ends up defining her. It is an important step to accept people’s sexual preference. A more important step will be when we stop seeing that sexual preference as their prime essential characteristic. It's the difference between someone being a lesbian detective and someone being a detective who happens to be a lesbian. Fairly good read.
April 22, 2017
4.5 *
June 6, 2020
In Kathleen Kent's initial foray into crime fiction, she introduces a character that will hopefully be with us for awhile. Betty Rhyzyk (pronounced just as it's spelled....) is a Dallas detective, born and raised in a law enforcement family in Brooklyn. She's also beautiful, nearly 6' tall, red-headed, and an out lesbian with a physician girlfriend/partner and a sharp tongue. The author does a fine job exposing us to the approach and thoughts of this main character, generally through her narration of the story.
Betty's first big assignment in the Big D is to lead a team that's trying to take down a big Mexican drug dealer. The project goes south, the dealer escapes, and there's a death and injuries. The drug kingpin seems to have disappeared, but during the continuing investigation strange, disconcerting things begin to happen to Betty and those around her. At this point there's a risk in my spoiling the plot, but suffice to say there are differences in opinion as to whether the cartel, the Aryan Brotherhood, or the more local dealers are responsible for the mayhem. The conclusion is just downright weird.
I'm giving The Dime 4 stars, since I think the 'star' is a fine new character in the genre and has some staying power. The first 75% of the book was strong, with good writing, lots of action, nice forensic work, and excellent development of the lead character. The last portion was just a disappointment. When you succeed in hooking your readers with a great new character and decent plot, my recommendation would be to not venture too far into strange territory for the conclusion. A more conventional ending would've served the plot much more effectively. I'm looking forward to the next installment in the series, though.
Betty's first big assignment in the Big D is to lead a team that's trying to take down a big Mexican drug dealer. The project goes south, the dealer escapes, and there's a death and injuries. The drug kingpin seems to have disappeared, but during the continuing investigation strange, disconcerting things begin to happen to Betty and those around her. At this point there's a risk in my spoiling the plot, but suffice to say there are differences in opinion as to whether the cartel, the Aryan Brotherhood, or the more local dealers are responsible for the mayhem. The conclusion is just downright weird.
I'm giving The Dime 4 stars, since I think the 'star' is a fine new character in the genre and has some staying power. The first 75% of the book was strong, with good writing, lots of action, nice forensic work, and excellent development of the lead character. The last portion was just a disappointment. When you succeed in hooking your readers with a great new character and decent plot, my recommendation would be to not venture too far into strange territory for the conclusion. A more conventional ending would've served the plot much more effectively. I'm looking forward to the next installment in the series, though.
March 26, 2017
THE DIME had a slow-ish build with a few time jumps for context before the latter 50% of the story took off like a rocket. This definitely went in a direction I didn't see coming and I loved it. I loved the rich vividness of Texas, the struggle of a Brooklyn cop to adapt to her new home, the fact that this tall, tough as nails, detective was a lesbian (and all the conflict that brings not only as a police officer but as a individual living in the south), and I definitely enjoyed all the secondary characters in the precinct.
"My uncle Benny once told me a joke that went like this : 'what's the difference between yogurt and Texas?' The answer is 'yogurt's the one with the live culture.'"
I would definitely read on if Kent intends to make Betty the star of a new series. This story was a good introduction to this character, and this world, with an ending that was definitely worth pushing on through the start of the book.
3.5 "if I'm thankful for anything this day, it's my poodle-toting partner" stars
"My uncle Benny once told me a joke that went like this : 'what's the difference between yogurt and Texas?' The answer is 'yogurt's the one with the live culture.'"
I would definitely read on if Kent intends to make Betty the star of a new series. This story was a good introduction to this character, and this world, with an ending that was definitely worth pushing on through the start of the book.
3.5 "if I'm thankful for anything this day, it's my poodle-toting partner" stars
March 6, 2019
Incredibly well written, I'm already in the midst of a book hangover. Incredibly violent in almost every way possible, so just a heads up if you're thinking about picking this up. I loved these characters so much and I can't wait until the next in the series (which might be this year?). Kent managed to keep me guessing and I kept having to pause the book at work because it was so tense and distracting that I wasn't getting work done.
September 8, 2018
This was better because the detective is gay and married. It was nice to get past the hard working male detective with ignored wife plot. The book was so much better for showing the same dynamic no matter what kind of couple you are. The scene showing how the doctor spouse handled discrimination at a restaurant was classic. I loved it.
September 6, 2017
Super well-written police procedural: Brooklyn cop from a family of police moves to Texas, finds herself involved in a frighteningly complicated narcotics case.
December 28, 2018
Elizabeth “Betty” Rhyzyk is a tough Police Detective, originally from Brooklyn she has recently been transplanted in Dallas, Texas; and that is strike one against her! Srike two is that she is taller than most of the men on her squad. Strike three is that she is one half of a gay couple, so what can and will this three strike Amazon do?
Thinking of herself as unbreakable will stretch Betty to her own limit when her first investigation into a Mexican drug cartel takes a turn towards disaster; but that is simply the beginning! This story has so many twists and turns that the reader will have difficulty keeping their head screwed on straight! But, don’t give up, every step takes the reader to another level of excitement towards the climatic conclusion of this tale!
5 stars!
Thinking of herself as unbreakable will stretch Betty to her own limit when her first investigation into a Mexican drug cartel takes a turn towards disaster; but that is simply the beginning! This story has so many twists and turns that the reader will have difficulty keeping their head screwed on straight! But, don’t give up, every step takes the reader to another level of excitement towards the climatic conclusion of this tale!
5 stars!
dnf
July 6, 2021I was excited to see a police procedural with some LGBTQ+ representation but I was more than a little disappointed to see racism and the use of a slur against transgender folx within the first five chapters.
June 11, 2023
4 1/2 ... richtig guter Reihenauftakt. Band 2 wird auf jeden Fall auch gelesen. Ganz klare Empfehlung 👍🏻
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