To answer a couple of questions:
I equipped Sgt. Elena Villareal with Glocks because that's the actual issue sidearm for the (real) Sheriff's Department I have assigned her to (in fiction). She's a plain clothes detective on the County's Joint Homicide Task Force (again, a real agency). She'd normally dress in a blouse, light jacket and skirt or slacks, prefers the slacks. Back when she was in uniform, before the Department went to Glocks, she carried a Smith Model 19.
Her Dad was also Military Police and Sheriff's Deputy. He taught her to shoot early and she's a "gun person". I'm thinking of having her shoot some IDPA in a later book (if some brilliant publisher picks it up as a series). It will give her a way to compete with the male protagonist, an ex-military special ops guy who carries a .45 HK SOCOM in a "Famous Jackass" shoulder holster (an original Chicago model, not the recent Galco re-issue).
So far, the Coronado handbag for the G31 and the DeSantis SOB for the G33 sounds workable. If I do give her the handbag I'll be sure to indicate how well she keeps tabs on it (thanks, Tamara -- sounds like personal experience).
There are other gun matters to settle -- for instance, I have to arm three dope runners and figure out what sort of gun a 16 year old could get on the sly (so she can shoot the blackmailer in the back). That stuff's easier to figure out, but when and if the book's published I don't want female LEO's writing me letters about the wrong choices of gunleather.
I appreciate the help, I want to get the gun details right. I'm tired of reading detective novels where the hero thumbs off the safety catch on his blue-nosed revolver.
[This message has been edited by David Scott (edited May 23, 2000).]
