In Chapter 23 of Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit, Constance and Geraldine go to visit John Ward, a real-life attorney who did actually continue to turn up in the Kopps’ lives over the years. He was, I suspect, a bit of a playboy, and I definitely play up that part of his personality in my version of events. (There’s a photo and brief bio of him here.) In this scene, Ward and his law partner, Peter McGinnis, start joking about cocktails and making up names of cocktails to fit their client.
Willful Deserter is one drink they mention (referring to a divorce case in which a man deserts his wife), and you’ll recognize the ingredients from other lines in that conversation. This is basically a fancy version of a Moscow Mule, a drink that wasn’t popular until the 1950s—but Constance Kopp is always ahead of her time.
Amy Stewart’s New Jersey Automobile Cocktail Recipe
The Willful Deserter Cocktail, a recipe for book clubs and readers from Amy Stewart, inspired by her novel MISS KOPP JUST WON'T QUIT, the fourth book in the Kopp Sisters series.
Ingredients
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 ounces pineapple juice
2 ounces vodka
4 ounces ginger beer
Sprig of mint, for garnish
Pineapple slice or lime slice, for garnish
Instructions
Combine lime juice, pineapple juice and vodka in a cocktail shaker with ice and and shake well. Pour into a glass filled with crushed ice.
Top with ginger beer, and garnish.