Short Synopsis: Catskill Scoops: A Georgia Batsheva Walker Mystery

Deputy Sheriff Georgia Walker is the first female Deputy Sheriff in Sullivan County, an area of the Catskills known as the “Borscht Belt,” an area that boomed at a time when Jews were banned from gentile vacation spots. The once crowded region is dying as Jews find other ways to vacation. Georgia has been conflicted by her rising sexual feelings for women since high school.
Georgia grows up on a farm with her parents, Peter and Malke. Peter is a former evangelical. Malke grew in an Ultra-Conservative Hassidic community. Georgia rides a mini-bus that picks up hotel kids and “scoopers,” the derogatory term used for farm kids. One of the kids is Anita Cooper, another scooper who lives with Elijah Cooper, the abusive father and pastor of the church Peter escaped from.
In 1977, Georgia is seventeen. When she’s not in school, she’s reluctantly friends with Anita, but ignores her in high school. On one awful winter day, Georgia enters the girls room to find Anita being bullied a group of mean girls, including the leader of the pack, Cassie Spellman from Spellman’s Hotel. In a moment of supreme cowardice, she flees. The repercussions unfold over time.
Georgia is having furtive clothed sex under the bleachers with a girl, Avi, whose parents work security at The Brick Palace. Georgia is an outsider until she joins the cast of the high school production of Grease. She now has an excuse to stop seeing Avi before the sex escalates. Her new crush is Jessie Brickner, whose parents run The Brick Place. She’s a straight girt who plays Sandy. The boy lead is Bruce Cohen who plays Danny. Bruce becomes Anita’s protector.
Georgia is friends with three gay boys. Bobo is an effeminate kid who Georgia defends on the playground when they’re little. Eddie is a talented kid who eventually becomes a drag queen. Walter is a rich, spoiled kid from Manhattan who is hidden, but eventually comes out of the closet.
At the wrap party, Georgia is shocked when Cassie kisses her. Worse, she responds.
Georgia goes on to community college majoring in Criminal Justice and onwards to police academy. All of her sexual encounters are furtive. After a short stint as a security guard, she joins the Sheriff’s Department. She settles into a comfortable misogyny with most of the guys.
Tragedy strikes when Georgia is called to Pocohontas Acres, a ratty trailer park across from the racetrack. She finds Bruce and Anita sick from carbon monoxide poisoning. They’re too out of it to hide alcohol bottles and heroin residue from smoking. They beg her to not take them to a hospital. Georgia knows they don’t want to be taken from their drugs and alcohol. She weakens and lets free, when they promise to get clean.
In the next couple of years, Bruce and Anita go in and out of dependency. Anita gets clean when she gets pregnant and gives birth to Leah. But it doesn’t last.
Georgia gets a call from Cassie. Her grandfather is on the roof with his standard poodle, Rocky, threatening suicide. Turns out he doesn’t want to attend a charity event arranged by his children. He agrees to come down if Georgia will attend the event. The event is a success and Georgia shines.
During this time, Georgia is called back to Pocohontas Acres. At this point, Anita has given to a daughter, Leah. The couple mostly stayed off drugs and alcohol during Anita’s pregnancy. Now, Leah is six, and they’re both hooked again. Bruce gets clean. Anita takes up with a loser named Wade.
Bruce gets a job at the Spellman Hotel, arranged by Cassie. She gets him a place to live. Georgia wonders about Cassie’s motives, since Cassie seems so mean. Georgia continues her furtive sex, most importantly with a woman named Kitra, who comes up from an ultraconservative community in Brooklyn, to work with Uncle Chickie, who runs a deli in South Fallsburg.
Georgia would like to be done with Spellman’s, but she keeps getting involved with new Spellman intrigue. She agrees to work security when Raven, one of the cousins, comes up to a documentary about the hotel.
Georgia and Cassie go to Manhattan when a gay guy gets AIDs and Cassie pulls strings to get a spot for the guy a premiere hospital specializing in AIDs care. They bond, although both are conflicted about their relationship.
Their relationship intensifies when Bruce runs off to Mexico with a woman, both hooked again. Both woman come to the aid of Leah, who is emotionally devasted. Leah has her dog. Cassie gets Georgia a poodle, a relative of Rocky. Georgia and Cassie realize they are meant to be together. Leah feels like their child. Will Georgia be open to the public about her sexuality and her relationship? That remains to be seen.