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Ruby Dee Philippa’s Old Tricks, New Treats, book three in the Bag of Tricks trilogy, feels like stumbling across an old photo album from the early ’80s, only instead of smiling faces, it’s cigarette smoke, torn fishnets, and the wild heartbeat of San Francisco’s punk scene. The story “New Little Friend” grabbed me first. Babs, with her orange hair and restless energy, is that friend you both worry about and admire. She’s reckless, messy, alive—and when she decides to learn how to shoot a gun, the tension between survival and self-destruction hits hard. What I loved most is how real everything feels. Philippa doesn’t glamorize the scene. She writes it the way you imagine it really was: dirty, dangerous, and full of people trying to find belonging in the cracks of society. You can practically smell the mix of beer, sweat, and hair dye as Babs darts through the Haight in the middle of the night. There’s a rough beauty to it, a kind of poetry in the chaos. The dialogue, especially between Babs and Ed, is sharp and unfiltered. When Ed teaches her how to shoot, his ex-Vietnam veteran vibe clashes perfectly with Babs’s jittery curiosity. I caught myself … Continue reading Old Tricks, New Treats (Bag of Tricks, book 3)

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