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WORK TITLE: Shopping Cart Annie
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE: CO
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Children: two sons.
EDUCATION:Ph.D., education administration.
ADDRESS
CAREER
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Cordy Fitzgerald grew up in Washington DC, where her relatives filled her head with conspiracy theories about the government’s true activities. Fitzgerald read regularly as a child, and considered applying to work in the CIA. Instead, she pursued higher education and earned a Ph.D. in education administration. After living in Washington DC for thirty years, Fitzgerald moved across the country. Fitzgerald’s name is a pseudonym. ‘Cordy Fitzgerald’ was the writer’s grandmother, who died days after giving birth to the writer’s mother. Fitzgerald lives in Colorado, near her two grown sons. Shopping Cart Annie is her first book.
The book is set in Denver, Colorado in 2009. The protagonist, Inez Buchanan, is a recent retiree. Inez spent her forty-year career teaching middle school in the Denver public school system. Her side interest, however, is detective work. Most notably, six months prior to the story’s opening, Inez uncovered a massive international spying plot. With the help of the FBI, she exposed a plan by the Chinese to outsource its espionage against the United States.
Now, Inez must use her detective skills to help someone closer to home. The story opens with Inez receiving a visit from Dolly David. Dolly is the godmother of Inez’ former neighbor, Ted Wabely. Knowing Inez’ excellent detective skills, Ted referred his godmother to the retired teacher in the hopes that she could help the woman with a mystery of her own. Dolly explains to Inez that she needs help with a missing persons case. Her granddaughter, Kadija Campbell, disappeared fourteen years earlier in Fort Collins, Colorado. Kadija would be in her mid-thirties now. Dolly recently received, what she believes to be, contact from the woman. Dolly is certain that the woman is in Afghanistan and is married to a member of the Taliban. Though Dolly has called on U.S. government agencies to help find her granddaughter, they have ignored her pleas for help. Inez agrees to help.
Unfortunately, before Inez makes any progress on the case, she receives a call from her lawyer informing her that Dolly has committed suicide. The call comes from her lawyer, as it is his responsibility to inform her that Dolly named Inez as the primary executor of her billion-dollar estate. Saddened that she was unable to help Dolly while she was alive, Inez is now determined to uncover the mystery of the deceased woman’s granddaughter. Inez begins her investigation by examining the possibility that Kadija had been working as a spy at the time of her disappearance. Inez turns to her friends at the FBI to help sift through Kadija’s complex, and sometimes dark, history. The woman was tied to corruption, murder, and deceit, and as Inez digs deeper into her past, she learns that some people would rather Kadija’s history remain secret.
Subplots and broad themes unfold alongside the main narrative. As the primary story unfolds, the book is interspersed with flashbacks to the mid-1990s, which detail related CIA activities in Iraq. A central theme throughout the novel is racism in U.S. government agencies. The fact that Kadija was black is significant to the plot, as it is clear that the government viewed her as expendable due to her race.
A contributor to Kirkus Reviews website wrote: “The richest element of this novel is Inez herself, who’s memorable for her faults as well as her achievements,” adding: “her conjectures aren’t always accurate and she owns up to her mistakes, which makes her not only a credible character, but a commendable one, as well.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly noted that while Inez is an “unlikely action heroine, solid prose and an intriguing plot help the reader suspend disbelief.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, April 23, 2018, review of Shopping Cart Annie, p. 67.
ONLINE
Kirkus Reviews, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (December 8, 2017), review of Shopping Cart Annie.
Cordy Fitzgerald grew up in Washington, DC, and heard a number of different conspiracy theories about the government. This led to an interest in espionage and spy stories. Fitzgerald contemplated applying for the CIA but instead received her doctoral degree in education administration.
Fitzgerald now lives in Colorado and enjoys spending time with her two sons.
About the Author
I live in Colorado and feel fortunate to have both my grown sons live nearby. My first thirty years were spent in Washington, D.C. where relatives and family friends customarily had their own conspiracy theory about what really happens in government. As an only child, I read a lot and by high school, wanted to become a spy for CIA. I never applied, but instead read loads of book on the topic.
With a Ph.D. in Education Administration, I’ve gained another set of tools to address my passion for investigative research and espionage.
Admittedly, Cordy Fitzgerald is a pen name. It belonged to my grandmother who died a few days after giving birth to my mother. I can’t tell from my mother’s birth certificate whether she was married at the time of the birth or not. But what is evident through the testimony of relatives now dead is that they were all dirt poor people in Culpepper, Virginia.
I use the name now in a feeble but a most reverent attempt to add a few years of life to hers, albeit on the Internet.
Interview With the Author
Noelle: So tell us what this story is like. What would you compare it to?
Cordy Fitzgerald: It’s Miss Marple meets Foley’s War, your 8th grade teacher meets Kim Jong-un, a smart old lady saves the universe with finesse.
Noelle: Why are there so many dates in the chapter headings?
Cordy Fitzgerald: Political thriller buffs like to compare fictional events with real life timelines. It helps establish plausibility and who was in power. Spies use code names and readers can figure out to whom those names refer.
Noelle: So is this a thriller or a mystery?
Cordy Fitzgerald: It’s the marriage of both.
Shopping Cart Annie
Publishers Weekly. 265.17 (Apr. 23, 2018): p67.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Shopping Cart Annie
Cordy Fitzgerald. Cordy Fitzgerald, $12.99
trade paper (323p) ISBN 978-0-692932-07-0
Early in Fitzgerald's suspenseful thriller, amateur sleuth Inez Buchanan, who has retired after 40 years of teaching in the Denver public school system, is visited by Dolly David, the godmother of her former neighbor, Ted Wabely. Ted has referred Dolly to Inez because six months earlier Inez managed to expose "China's attempt to outsource its espionage against the United States." Dolly now hopes that Inez will help her find her missing granddaughter, Kadija Campbell, who she believes is in Afghanistan, married to a Taliban soldier. Inez agrees to reach out to a friend at the FBI who can help. Later, Dolly's lawyer informs Inez that his client, who he believes fantasized her story about Kadija's whereabouts, has killed herself and left Inez as the executor of her estate. Inez plunges into life-threatening situations as she commits herself to finding the truth about Kadija. While Inez is an unlikely action heroine, solid prose and an intriguing plot help the reader suspend disbelief. (BookLife)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Shopping Cart Annie." Publishers Weekly, 23 Apr. 2018, p. 67. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536532894/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=113642d8. Accessed 31 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536532894
SHOPPING CART ANNIE
by Cordy Fitzgerald
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KIRKUS REVIEW
In Fitzgerald’s debut thriller, a retired schoolteacher takes it upon herself to find a neighbor’s missing granddaughter, whom federal authorities believe is dead.
In 2009, Denver native Dr. Inez Buchanan, a former middle school teacher, doesn’t know Dolly David, who shows up at her door, saying that she needs Inez’s help in finding her granddaughter. (After all, Inez once played a part in thwarting a Chinese espionage plot.) Dolly says that her granddaughter, Kadija Campbell, disappeared 14 years ago in Fort Collins, Colorado, and would now be in her mid-30s. She now has reason to believe that Kadija is in Afghanistan with a Taliban husband, but U.S. government agencies have disregarded her pleas for help. Later, Inez gets news that Dolly has allegedly committed suicide; surprisingly, she’d named Inez as the primary executor of her billion-dollar estate. Now, Inez is determined to track down Kadija’s whereabouts, starting with evidence that she’d been working as a spy. With assistance from FBI pal Trace Mitchell and her best friend, Sophie, she sifts through Kadija’s complex history, uncovering deceit, corruption, and murder. Concurrent flashbacks to the mid-1990s, meanwhile, follow CIA assets in an Iraq operation that goes awry. Fitzgerald’s story maintains suspense with a bevy of plot twists, including an apparent break-in at Inez’s house. Dangerous, armed assailants crop up in both plotlines. The author addresses racism as a prominent, ongoing theme; there’s the implication, for example, that an American agency considers people of color, like the African-American Inez, to be expendable. But the richest element of this novel is Inez herself, who’s memorable for her faults as well as her achievements; her conjectures aren’t always accurate and she owns up to her mistakes, which makes her not only a credible character, but a commendable one, as well.
A twisty mystery featuring a bright, if fallible, investigator.
Pub Date: Sept. 5th, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-692-93207-0
Page count: 332pp
Publisher: CreateSpace
Program: Kirkus Indie
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8th, 2017