Pretty cool – Penny Ellis, writing under her boy name of Peter Ellis, has written a novel about a transwoman detective. I confess to being amused that copies of the book are being sold at the Leominster Tourist Information Centre. Having visited innumerable English towns and their respective tourist centres, I can just imagine “Here’s a book about our Roman ruins, here’s a book about the county wax festival, here’s a book about a transgender private detective…no dears, it’s fiction, we don’t get many serial killers in this county…well, there was Fergus last year…”
When I read the book (it’s on my wish list) I’ll post a review. From the article:
Peter Ellis’s first crime thriller Painted Ladies follows Jasmine Frame – a pre-op transsexual on the trail for a knife-killer.
Her own sense of identity is tested in the search to find the murderer, and Peter’s attempt to tackle transgenderism in the novel stems from his own experiences. … “I thought it might be useful to make the central character someone who is transsexual and use the novel to present the transition to a place where she wants to be,” Peter said.
It took 10 years for Painted Ladies to come together but this isn’t the last of Jasmine Frame and Peter is already half way through the next book with plans for another three or more.