GunnShots: Spring 2013
Posted on May 17, 2013 by Drewey Wayne Gunn in Mystery, Reviews
This spring the books that most caught my attention were a trio by old friends — Neil S. Plakcy, Jack Ricardo, and Marshall Thornton — plus a 1995 novel by Pete Dexter, which he adapted as the script for a quasi-controversial 2012 film. (more…)
‘Cold Feet’ by Karen Pullen
Posted on March 6, 2013 by Rita Salner in Mystery, Reviews
The novel Cold Feet by Karen Pullen is the first in a series of Stella Lavender Mysteries. Written in the first person, the story of Cold Feet is primarily seen and told through the eyes of North Carolina Special Agent Stella Lavender. Stella works as an undercover drug agent, usually at night and in dark, dangerous places. As the book opens, she is looking forward to attending an upscale outdoor wedding with her grandmother, Fern, an artist commissioned to illustrate a book cover for the mother of the groom. The ceremony is held at Rosscairn Castle Bed and Breakfast, built in 1915 as a replica of a Scottish castle. (more…)
‘Coming Out Can Be Murder’ by Renee James
Posted on January 31, 2013 by Rachel Wexelbaum in Mystery, Reviews
Experts estimate that the number of transgender people in the human population ranges from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 10,000. Compared to the estimated number of lesbian, gay, or bisexual people in any given human population, the number of transpeople appears quite small. This is why the following statistics may shock you: (more…)
‘The Retribution’ and ‘The Vanishing Point’ by Val McDermid
Posted on January 23, 2013 by Victoria Brownworth in Mystery, Reviews
I started my life of crime when I was nine. I was home sick from school—in bed for several days—and my mother brought me a little stack of books that were once hers. Poe, Conan Doyle and the inimitable Nancy Drew. Scenes from The Tell-Tale Heart, A Study in Scarlet and The Password of Larkspur Lane all resonate, still. (more…)
‘Rest for the Wicked: A Jane Lawless Mystery’ by Ellen Hart
Posted on December 20, 2012 by Lori L. Lake in Mystery, Reviews
When Jane Lawless, newly minted private eye, receives a voicemail message from her PI partner’s nephew, she has no idea that he’s already dead. DeAndre Moore was knifed outside a strip club, Gaudy Lights, before Jane ever had a chance to contact him. DeAndre’s uncle, Alf Nolan, is stunned. Alf’s sister had adopted DeAndre many years earlier, and the young man was the last person anyone expected to be murdered. When Alf is hospitalized due to complications from an old gunshot wound (which he received while protecting Jane), it’s up to Jane to find out what happened to DeAndre.
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GunnShots: Fall 2012
Posted on October 23, 2012 by Drewey Wayne Gunn in Features, Mystery
Here are my recommendations for good reads in crime fiction for this fall: ten novels by Rob Byrnes, Dorien Grey, Steve Neil Johnson, Geoffrey Knight/Ethan Day, Christopher Lord, Elliott Mackle, Melissa Scott, Scott Sherman, Richard Stevenson, and Mark Zubro as well as two short stories by Marshall Thornton and Zubro. They are all, with the exception of Zubro’s story, additions to already established series or the first in a proposed new series.
Amanda Kyle Williams: Creating Kick-Ass Women
Posted on October 14, 2012 by Collin Kelley in Features, Interviews
“I didn’t want to write a victim. I wanted Keye to have the kind of baggage that makes you wise and have a sense of humor so she could laugh at her fuck-ups. I was a practicing cocaine addict for many years, so I’m very familiar with the tricks of addiction. I wanted to talk about that in the series, so that the books are about more than just the cases but about Keye’s life and recovery.”
Atlanta mystery writer Amanda Kyle Williams first made her mark on the publishing world in the early 90s with the Madison McGuire novels (A Singular Spy, The Providence Files) from Naiad Press. Madison was Williams’ answer to The Avengers’ Emma Peel – a redheaded, kick-ass, deep cover operative, who happened to be a lesbian.
Twenty years later, Williams is now with Random House and her new kick-ass heroine is Keye Street, an Asian-American former FBI analyst tracking serial killers across the south, who happens to be straight. Keye made her first appearance in the bestselling The Stranger You Seek in 2011 (which was nominated for a Shamus Award and the Townsend Prize for Fiction) and is back in the newly published Stranger in the Room. (more…)
‘Ill Will’ by JM Redmann
Posted on June 12, 2012 by Lori L. Lake in Mystery, Reviews
Ill Will (Bold Strokes Books) is book number seven in the powerfully engaging Micky Knight series, and upon finishing this latest installment, readers will be left begging for more. In the opening, Mickey and her lover Cordelia have reunited, and two years have passed since the dramatic post-Katrina events that unfolded in Watermark. (more…)
GunnShots: Spring 2012
Posted on May 1, 2012 by Drewey Wayne Gunn in Features, Mystery
Giving up trying to stay abreast of all the gay crime novels and m/m romance-mysteries appearing weekly, I relied heavily this winter on name recognition, blurbs, and the impression created by opening pages to guide me to my reading choices. Thus, new works by old friends dominate this column: Hal Bodner, Dorien Grey, Greg Herren, Steve Johnson, Jeffrey Round, and Stephen E. Stanley, with two newcomers: J. Timothy Hunt and Charles Alan Long. It is a sign of the troubled publishing world how many of these novels are self-published. (more…)
Bits & Pieces: Mysteries You Should Have Read
Posted on February 15, 2012 by Victoria Brownworth in Features, Mystery
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to be less of a procrastinator and to read more–and more broadly. Mystery is still my favourite genre, however, so in keeping with at least one of those resolves, here are some of my picks for lesbian mysteries you should have read in 2011. (more…)
