- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Published: 8/5/25
- IBSN: 9781636142364
- e-IBSN: 9781636142371
- Genre: Nonfiction
Catalog » Browse by Title: A » And Then Came the Blues: My Journey from Survivor to NYPD Detective First Grade and Beyond
And Then Came the Blues: My Journey from Survivor to NYPD Detective First Grade and Beyond
After being shot ten times by her fiancé and left for dead, Katrina Brownlee miraculously survived and became a decorated NYPD detective, a mentor, and founder of a nonprofit support group for at-risk women.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before August 5, 2025.
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Forthcoming: 8/5/25
What people are saying…
“Ms. Brownlee, who had only ever been let down and ignored by men with badges, even as she stood as living evidence of the beatings and violence one of them had delivered, approached an institution she deeply distrusted, and stepped inside . . . In 2001 she entered the police academy. What followed was a twenty-year career of promotions to busy, dangerous areas of policing, from the streets of Brooklyn to undercover work in narcotics and prostitution stings. She ended up on the elite executive protection detail, as a bodyguard to the mayor of New York . . . She retired . . . as a first-grade detective. Only when she decided to put away those uniforms for good did her story finally spill forth.”
—New York Times
Additional praise for Katrina Brownlee:
“Detective Katrina Brownlee is a true game changer. She embodies the power of survivors to build successful lives after trauma, demand improvements to the current system, and inspire a brighter future for the next generations.”
—End Violence Against Women International
“Each time Katrina Cooke Brownlee called 911 after her correction officer fiancé beat her, she says the police walked away after seeing his shield . . . [S]he took matters into her own hands and joined the NYPD to change the system from within . . . As a police officer, she channeled her energy into helping others get the support she never had.”
—48 Hours
“Instead of revenge or retaliation, Brownlee turned her own trauma into a path forward for other women. In 2012, she started a program for at-risk teens, which was eventually renamed Young Ladies of Our Future. Today, she uses this platform to mentor, educate, and empower young women—showing them that where they were born doesn’t have to determine the outcome of their lives.”
—Yahoo! Life
Description
ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, in the United States, an average of twenty-four people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner, and one in three women have experienced some form of domestic violence. One of those women was Katrina Brownlee, who as a twenty-two-year-old mother of two experienced hell at the hands of her then-fiancé. He was a law enforcement officer—a group two to four times more likely than the general population to be abusive, and who are known for protecting their own. During his dangerous outbursts, Brownlee would call the police for help, only to see the cops turn their backs on her when her abuser flashed his badge. On a cold January morning in 1993, her fiancé shot her ten times and left her for dead.
Brownlee could have been just one more of the eleven women/girls killed per minute worldwide by a loved one. Instead, miraculously, she survived. Through hard work, faith, and perseverance, she recovered from her injuries and found a path through her trauma. She decided to become a police officer to help others in her situation, to be the “good cop” who had not been there for her when she had needed saving. In 2021, she retired from a highly decorated twenty-year career with the NYPD. As the founder of a support group for at-risk young women, Young Ladies of Our Future, Brownlee decided that the time had come to tell her story—the whole story—a story of self-empowerment, of healing generational trauma, and of turning pain into hope for herself and her community.
- Subjects: Black Interest, Forthcoming, Nonfiction, Open Lens, Women’s Studies
- Tags: And Then Came the Blues, Katrina Brownlee
Book Details
Author
KATRINA BROWNLEE, a retired NYPD police officer, is a sought-after speaker regarding her triumph over domestic violence; she also regularly teaches seminars to law enforcement officers on managing domestic violence incidents. Her story has been profiled on CBS’s 48 Hours and in the New York Times. Brownlee has received many accolades for her mentorship work as the founder of Young Ladies of Our Future, a nonprofit organization serving at-risk young women. The organization’s mission is to heal the wounds of interpersonal violence, build self-esteem, and promote health and wellness so young women can achieve their goals and live successful lives. Brownlee also established Can’t Be Silenced, an organization working on solutions to the urgent domestic violence crisis.