Eek. Cleaning up my Netgalley account and realize I never reviewed this. It's been a few years, but I still remember enough to cover the highlights (no hair pun intended).

As a story of a transwoman struggling to survive in a world of hatred and discrimination, this was a 5-star read. It felt genuine to me, and it felt fair - even when other characters were being unfair. Some of the language/terminology was a bit dated even when I read this, but not enough to detract from the story.

As a mystery or crime thriller, though, this was a 2-star read at best, with a definite 1-star ending. It was boring and slow, and the crime seemed to be more of an excuse to introduce conflict than a real mystery to be resolved. As for the twist ending, the twist itself was fine, but the fallout (or lack thereof, which is the problem) infuriated me.

As a character study, this was a 3.5-star read. I didn't like a lot of the characters and loathed some of them, but they felt real, with motivations and personalities that made sense.

So, on average a 3-star read that I wish I could rate higher.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I did appreciate the trans main character though – it's a good thing to read about. I'd read more from this author in the future.

This unfortunately just wasn't too my taste. I think there are a lot of crime and thriller readers who could find lots to love but it was a story I couldn't get into.

I have loved the opportunity to spend time researching novels to re-stockl our senior bookshelves in the school library that plays a central role in the life of the school. When I first took over the library was filled with dusty tomes that were never borrowed and languished there totally unloved.
Books like this, play a central role in ensuring that the library is stocked with fresh relevant fiction that appeals to the readers. It has a strong voice and a compelling plot that ensures that you speed through its pages, enjoying both its characterisation and dialogue whilst wanting to find out how all of its strands will be resolved by the end.
I have no hesitation in adding this to the 'must buy' list so that the senior students and staff of the school can enjoy it as much as I did. This is a gripping read that will be sure to grip its readers whether they are fans of this genre or coming to it for the first time through our now-thriving school library recommendation system. Thanks so much for allowing me to review it!

I DNF this one at 13%. I don’t usually DNF books because it happened so many times that I changed my opinion on something when I reached the middle or the end of it. I feel really bad about it. I wanted to like this book so badly and I wanted to seriously give it a chance but I couldn’t bring myself to read anything more.
I expected something centered about LGBT+. I found a book that takes LGBT+ only to the background. I read very few pages, but I couldn’t help but feel that the LGBT+ elements weren’t used at all to contribute to the story and they were just… there. So yeah, most of the problem wasn’t even the story itself, but the fact that it wasn’t what I expected it to be. But the main point is that even though the story was different from what I imagined, it didn’t manage to make me care about what was happening at all. I simply didn’t care. I didn’t care about the characters, I didn’t care about what was happening and what would happen next. And of course it’s in English, which required an amount of concentration and effort from me that I wasn’t willing to give.

*I do not identify as Trans* but I was extremely uncomfortable with the blatant transphobia from the main antagonist and the subtle transphobia and negative attitudes from the protagonists supposed best friends and support system. I understand there is nasty transphobia in the real world and this probably reflects a good part of it, but I do not like how it was written and do not feel comfortable finishing this book and writing a public review about it. Just like I know there is racism and sexism and other kinds of -isms, I prefer my fiction to be optimistic and have an adequate support system full of love and compassion to fight it, with the emphasis on the good rather than the bad, but I felt like this was not that.

This is my first book with a transgender person as the main character. It definitely had me hooked from the first few pages. We meet Bobbi Logan, a salon owner who is under a lot of stress, one of which is her new identity, the other from her ex-wife. The mystery is on-point, I really enjoyed it. The writing was well done and immersing (a big problem in LGBTQIA currently, in my opinion). This book is part two in a series and I have no read the second one. It causes minor confusion in some areas but I was still able to follow along and enjoy it. This is not a knock to the book, I suppose I should be diligent about reading a series in order, especially one in the mystery genre.

The book staggers a little near the middle but manages to right itself for the finish line.

As a side-note, I have a particularly hard time with depictions of rape which this book did contain. I was able to get through it because I felt it was poignant and important to the story. It was very real which, while difficult for me, made me appreciate the effort of the author in not shying away from scenes like this.


All in all a solid 4 out 5 stars, very well done.

I just love love LOVE genre books (scifi/fantasy, horror, mystery) that just casually feature LGBT protagonists like this one. Bobbi is a GREAT protagonist, and I really felt the love and effort the author put into him.

However, I found the pacing of the plot all over the place - too slow focusing on mundane life scenes, or too fast, not giving some plot elements the build up they needed. Maybe because I went in with the expectation that it would be a straight up mystery novel - really, it's still got a lot of exploration of Bobbi's life.

I wanted to like this book but I couldn't get to grips with the story. I will give it another try at some point but I found it quite slow and ploddy.

A transgender crime mystery book.

Robert Logan was a successful 40-something businessman, married without children. He transitioned into Bobbi Logan , a woman who has become a hairstylist running a successful salon. Bobbi's life is anything but simple- her ex wife and daughter are now living with her. The hairdressing business Bobbi runs is suffering due to the recession, and to top it all she's being investigated by Detective Sergeant Wilkins who has reopened a 5-year-old murder case of a man called John Strand, he is convinced that Bobbi is the killer.

A Kind of Justice is a unique written mystery, it is also an emotional roller-coaster ride that leaves you to fall in love with the characters. This book will give you an insight into the transgender world, and make you think about life.

Thanks to NetGalley and everyone involved for letting me read this.

I don't usually enjoy mystery type novels, but the main character really pulled me forward all through the book. I really loved the narration and found myself enjoying this one a lot.

After I got used to the narrating style of the book I really started to love it. It has so many beautiful messages about how people can change their mind towards each other and about acceptance. I enjoyed it a lot and would definitively recommend it.

I was unable to review this book because of a conflict in my schedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused the publisher or the author of the work. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review for you and I look forward to reviewing for you in the future.

Great book. Very intriguing. Definitely a subject for this time and age. Highly recommend

I’m having a complicated reaction to this book. To start with, I didn’t know it was a sequel until I went to Goodreads to review it, after finishing it. So, now I wonder what I missed, having not read book one. One the upside, the fact that I never felt I was missing anything until I knew there was a previous book means it stands alone just fine.

Secondly, I liked Bobbi. I loved her relationship to her ex-wife. I thought it was one of the sweetest things I’ve read in a while. It wasn’t perfect, they had some issues to work through. But work through them they did and made a family of sorts and I LOVED that. I liked that Bobbi had close platonic friends and that generational differences within communities was addressed. Not to mention that she was a tad older than the average heroine.

I disliked the detective, but appreciate the transformative journey he went through. I liked the possible love interest and that the book doesn’t end with an unrealistic perfect Happily Ever After. It might get there, but wasn’t at the end of this novel.

I liked that this book isn’t just a murder mystery with a transgendered main character. In a very real way, it’s about being a transgendered woman around whom there is a mystery. It’s why I picked the book up in fact.

Having said that (and here is my complication because I don’t want to sound like I’m saying, ‘the trans book was just too trans’), I felt bludgeoned by Bobbi’s transgenderism. Trans/transsexual/transgender/transwoman/transwomen/tranny is used 197 times in the 320 page book, not counting that the charity is called TransRising and any time it’s talked about but not named. Now, my issue isn’t with the individual words or subject that I felt bludgeoned by, but that I felt bludgeoned at all.

I don’t want to take away from the importance of Bobbi’s real world experiences. They are important. I rather just mean the writing was heavy-handed at times and the constant emphasis on one aspect of the character, even an important one that would be expected to effect every area of her life, blotted out some others that in a mystery novel needed more page-time to develop.

Other than the occasionally heavy-handed writing and the fact that I thought the book was slow at times, I mostly really enjoyed it (even having not read the first book). I’d be more than happy to read another story by James.

I received an ARC from NetGalley to read and review. The below is my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you, Renee James, the publisher, and NetGalley, for allowing me to review.

Against all odds, Bobbi Logan, a statuesque transgender woman, has become one of Chicago's most celebrated hair stylists and the owner of one of the city's poshest salons. She is finally comfortable with who she is, widely admired in her community, about to enjoy the success she deserves. Then her impossibly perfect life falls apart. In the space of a few weeks, the Great Recession drags her business to the brink of failure, her beloved ex-wife needs help in facing a terrible tragedy, and a hateful police detective storms back into her life, determined to convict her of the five-year-old murder of John Strand—pillar of the community—and a sexual predator. As the detective builds an ever more convincing case against her, both of them will be shaken by revelations—about themselves, about their own deeply held secrets, and about the bizarre ritual murder of John Strand.

A KIND OF JUSTICE is the second novel in Renee James's Bobbi Logan series. While the first book does not need to be read prior to reading this book, it still should be. A series is always better when read in order.

This was my first James novel and my first trans novel, and I really enjoyed it. It was a brilliant mystery that really tugged at your heartstrings for so many reasons. I also felt a deep connection with the main characters struggles because of the horror we see the LGBT+ community face in society today. You definitely don't need to be a member of the trans (or LGBT+) community to truly enjoy Bobbi's story. James really shines at the end of the novel. I feel like endings are so hard to write, and James gave us a realistic, satisfying ending. Overall, I enjoyed this one and would read more.

I am so sad to say this, but I disliked almost everything about this book. Awful characters, cliché over cliché and no matter if you are a transwoman, a biological woman, if you are hetero or LGBT, each and every beeing in this book is just awful, whiny, homophobe or toxic in one way or the other.

After receiving the book from Net Galley I realized it was the second book in a series. I had to go back and read the first one, and I am glad I did, though you really did not have to in order to enjoy this one. The book does build on the events of the first book but a lot of it is rehashed in case you were not able to read the book. Bobbi Logan, a trans woman and hair stylist has gone through a lot in her life and she is not allowed to enjoy anything with a detective from the previous book who is making her life a living hell, by trying to pin a crime on her.

The book shines in the personal drama and life of the main characters. All are painted in great detail and are fully drawn real life characters that we can believe live off of the page. I believe that the "mystery" is the weakest part of the book and there seems to be a "deus ex machina" quality to the overall tone of that aspect, but as a continuing character study it is brilliant and is allowed to shine. I do look forward to the further exploits of Bobbi Logan.

This novel, centered around a transgender hairdresser and the murder investigation following her, feels real and authentic to a level I didn't expect. I loved Bobbi Logan, and I feel like I gained some genuine insight on what it's like to be a trans person, likely due to the fact that Renee James is both transgender herself and an excellent writer.

The central "mystery," if you can call it that, is really secondary to the story of Bobbi's life and relationships with the people around her. One of the central themes of the book is that outward appearances can be deceiving, and people can change/be much different than you thought initially. The warmth that radiates from the main character (and the book itself) makes this theme feel true and moving, but even with that warmth, the book never shies away from the violence, bigotry, and turmoil trans people often face. The characters in A Kind of Justice are so well-drawn and compassionately written that it might even make you think twice about easy judgments, and that's a takeaway message that couldn't be more necessary in the world.