Given that I like the idea of biker stories, but struggle to find many where the female characters are sufficiently developed in ways that suit my tastes, it seems that a lesbian biker story should be just right for my reading list. And seeing as how I love my protagonists to have flaws, finding out that the heroine served time for car theft and has a very messed up family background was bound to be further encouragement for me to read this book. It didn’t disappoint. This is most definitely a thriller rather than romantic suspense (a genre that never quite manages to enthral me anyway); Shea has a steady girlfriend, but we only really see them together when Shea needs someone to post bail or otherwise get her out of trouble. Shea has no great liking for the forces of law and order, even though she’s now a reformed character – having turned her back on her motorcycle club family and decided to make an honest living customising bikes for women: helped by a suitably diverse team of misfits and outcasts. This book scores plenty of points from me for representation across race, sexuality and the Trans* community, although tensions exist at times between the various groups. Shea’s first inkling that all is not well in her world comes when her business premises are broken into, resulting in the hospitalisation of one staff member and the loss of some very valuable stock – not all of it easily replaceable before the customers are due to collect their goods. Not trusting the police to find the most important items – three bikes from a very special commission – Shea sets out to find the culprits herself and instantly gets tangled up in a series of other crimes committed against her family and friends – including murder and kidnapping. Suspects for the various offences include Shea’s father’s old gang, and a rival gang of Mexican drug producers – not that these are the only Latino characters in the story, or that any of them are any worse in their lawlessness than the white characters. Shea’s attitudes to race, incidentally, are wildly different to those of the MC members she grew up with. Shea makes unwise decisions throughout the story, but they all feel in character for what we know of her – she witnessed multiple episodes of domestic violence which culminated in her mother’s killing by her father and so distrusts authority figures; her memories of the events following that episode are confused to say the least; she blames her sister for giving testimony at the trial, even though her sister claims to have very different memories of how that sequence of their lives turned out. This isn’t a happy story by any means, and I have my doubts as to how Shea’s relationship with her girlfriend will stand up to the repercussions from its conclusion. On the other hand, I’m greatly looking forward to the sequel and finding out more about Shea and her world – past as well as present.

Dharma Kelleher writes about "renegades, outlaws and misfits," but what's immediately clear upon cracking open her debut novel, IRON GODDESS (out from Alibi on June 28), is that she also writes characters with heart. Shea Stevens is an ex-con who's worked hard to make a happy life for herself, only to be sucked backed in when her bike shop is burglarized and she has to confront her troubled past. I'm delighted that Dharma graciously agreed to an interview about IRON GODDESS, how her life experiences inform her writing and diversity in crime fiction.