Valerie Saul’s debut novel:

The Badass Widows

• Women’s fiction

• 67,000 words

How do badass women deal with grief? They form a secret band of crime fighters.

What could possibly go wrong?

Former FBI agent Beth Winstead has recently lost her husband after a long isolating decline. As part of her “new life plan,” she joins a rowing club on San Francisco Bay. When Beth rescues a rape victim from the bay it’s a catalyst. Together with three other widows, she forms a secret group of crime fighters. They begin with minor capers but before long, they’re committing bold acts and are hooked on the “rush” of secret justice. Not every plan is successful and a betrayal from within puts their lives in danger.

In the end, the widows must decide whether they have found their new calling or admit it was a foolish and dangerous mistake.

The Badass Widows is about four gutsy women defying society’s expectations while grappling with love, loss and new beginnings.