“The book reads like fiction, but knowing it was all true made it so compelling. Well written with raw honesty – will pull at your heart strings. Highly recommended.”
-Linda Aragon
“I was pulled into the story and held on throughout the last details. It is an amazing tale of courage and love.”
-Connie Potter
“I finished the book in two days; once I started it, I had trouble breaking away to do anything other than read, because I really wanted to follow the story through to the final page.”
-Ziasunbird
“Each chapter unfolds with a perfect balance of tension and reflection. A truly unforgettable story that will stay with you long after you turn the final page.”
-AGGIES35
“A look back to the party ‘70s and the bigger picture of how there were women amongst us, who broke down doors so that those women coming behind have more opportunities.”
-Teresa Valenzuela
“When Tough Cookies Crumble; A True Story of Friendship, Murder, and Healing”
Janice Starr and Eva Booker were young soldiers when they met in Korea in 1978. As women in the military, they found themselves on the front lines of the women’s liberation movement, pushing the boundaries of what women could do in their professional and personal lives. When the friends were separated during the last year of their enlistment in the Army, they wrote each other detailed letters about their daily lives.
After they were discharged from active duty, Janice and Eva relocated to the Washington, D.C. area together. Eva attended law school and Janice eventually enrolled in college. They both continued their military careers in the Army Reserves and worked other jobs to support themselves. They had to navigate the challenges of class, cultural differences, interracial dating, and a playgirl lifestyle. Their bond was often tested but never broken.
In the summer of 1981, Janice moved to southern Virginia on her own. She attended Old Dominion University full-time and joined the R.O.T.C. program. Only three months later, she disappeared without a trace. Eva knew Janice had been murdered by a fellow soldier, a psychopath. The only one who believed her was Detective Kay Lewis, who had her own challenges as a pioneering woman in law enforcement. Together these tough cookies would not stop until they found Janice. After Janice’s murder, Eva also fell into a trap set by a sociopath.
The final chapters tell the story of how Eva came to write this book forty years after Janice’s murder. The process proved to be a healing journey for Eva, Kay, and Janice’s family.
Each chapter begins with one or more relevant photographs.
Prologue: Missing
My calls to my best friend Janice from early morning to late at night went unanswered, and her weekly letters stopped appearing in my mailbox. When I learned she hadn’t been to school or work since early November, I feared the worst.
The two hundred miles I drove from Alexandria to Chesapeake, Virginia that cold November morning in 1981 would prove to be the longest drive of my life. Ironically, it was Friday the 13th, an ominous sign of the nightmare ahead.
Was there something I could have said or done to protect her?
Janice was like a sister to me. We were roommates in 1978 in the barracks for the Eighth Army Headquarters at the Yongsan Army Base in Seoul, Korea. After we were discharged in the summer of 1979, we moved to the Washington, D.C. area together. Two years later, she decided to strike out on her own in southern Virginia. After three months there, Janice was missing.
Why didn’t I take the things she told me in her last letter and phone call more seriously? She knew her life might be in danger and she told me who would be responsible if anything happened to her.
What happened to Janice?
I knew whatever it was, it was bad.