High Desert by Katherine V. Forrest

High Desert
by Katherine V. Forrest
Pages: 290
Date: December 31 2013
Publisher: Spinsters Ink
Series: Kate Delafield (Ninth book in the series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: February 22 2015

This is just a note, not a review: One of the things I keep coming across in the Delafield series, at least in the later books, is the idea that Kate knows that she needs to work on her relationship with Aimee, keeps hinting at this knowledge in the book and then . . . . oh look, books over, let's now repeat this in the next book while at the same time undoing what little had been promised in previous books.

One of the books ends with Kate agreeing to go to couples counseling and thinking about how she will need to contact, wants to contact, that therapist who she meet when she got shot.

The book after this promise occurs indicates that Kate has not spoken with this therapist since her last session years ago related to the being shot incident.

And her relationship with Aimee is in even worse shape.

It's an interesting series in one specific way. The first book came out in 1984. And a few came out that decade, the '90s, one in the '00s, and then this one in the '10s. 29 years. Some series allow their characters to age and the like. Most, though, tend to stick to a certain range. Like, if a series started with a character at a specific age, somewhere along the line, they just become "an adult" without spending too much time indicating that the character started at roughly 29, and is now 58. Just keeping it at "youngish, middle-agish, still alive" type.

I mention all that because Kate does age. The book is filled with remembrances of her past. The various cases, various locations of her life. Buildings that meant a lot to her which are completely gone now. The book is deeply tied to past and its impact on the present.

Murder by Tradition by Katherine V. Forrest

Murder by Tradition
by Katherine V. Forrest
Pages: 272
Date: May 1 1993
Publisher: Naiad Press
Series: Kate Delafield (Fourth book in series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars
Read: February 9 to February 10 2015

Every book up until this one involved an investigation into murder. This time it's Law and Order. Opens with murder. Shortly thereafter the police arrest a man for the crime and he confesses. Rest of book is the murder trial.

One of the big points that pop up in both the defense of the defendant and among police officers who are supposed to be investigating the case is the "Homosexual Defense". Two-fold: 1) guy deserved to die because he was gay; 2) defendant deserves to get off due to how a "normal common sense person" would freak out if a homosexual person attempted . . . well, breathing near them.

Oh, and less seen, but this "homosexual element" also impacts the prosecution. None of the male attorneys want the case, so it gets "dumped" onto a female attorney who has never done a murder trial before.

Kate's police partner basically shuts down and wants nothing to do with the case when it turns out that the murder victim is a gay man, and the murderer, during the confession, notes that he freaked out and that's why he killed. Ed wants the guy to get involuntary manslaughter, if that, because gay people are icky. Also, the police officers interviewing neighbors, witnesses, etc., are quite brief as they don't wish to be involved with the case. So Kate has to handle the police side by herself. Mostly.

I wasn't sure how the murder trial would go. How it would be written. I had not read one written by Forrest before. First two witnesses were basically described as "they got up, they gave their testimony, they got off the stand." So, it wasn't looking that thrilling, but then things picked up. In the end, the trial parts were probably among the best scenes I've read.

The Beverly Malibu by Katherine V. Forrest

The Beverly Malibu
by Katherine V. Forrest
Pages: 280 pages
Date: September 1 2003 (originally published 1989)
Publisher: Alyson Books
Series: Kate Delafield (Third Book)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: February 5 2015

The Beverly Malibu, the third book in the series, involves the murder of Owen Sinclair, a man who gleefully and proudly testified for the House Un-American Activites Committee in the 1950s. A rotten horrible man. Smelly. Rude. Unrepentant. He was murdered in his room at the "Beverly Malibu", the name of the apartment complex. Most of his neighbors loath him. Most of his neighbors are in one way or another related and/or former Hollywood people. Actors, script supervisors, editors, directors (Sinclair), etc.

Once again Kate Delafield falls into a fling with someone she meets at a crime scene. The first time with Ellen O'Neil, a woman struggling with her long term lesbian lover (Amateur City). The second time with . . . um. Name isn't given in the description. I believe her name was Andrea. A woman who also had struggled with a long term lesbian lover, though for a different reason. She had been a gorgeous woman. She could not stand the reaction her lover gave when she first removed the bandages and revealed her scared body. And so, another "people in need" hook up for Delafield.

The hook up in Beverly Malibu . . . hmms. Kate hadn't gotten over the death of her lover in the first book. It had been years, but Anne had been her only love and they had lived together for . . . I believe 12 years. Kate had started to get over the death in the second book, but was still iffy/leery/shattered. Andrea was in need. Need to be reassured that she was still attractive. But not in need for a relationship. Right. So, the hook up in Bevelry Malibu finds Kate beginning to be ready to move on from Anne.

While at the crime scene at the Malibu, she spots Paula. An elegant majestic woman. Who lived next to the murder victim. There was another woman there, Paula's niece Aimee, but Kate barely noticed her. Trapped by Paula. So much so that she kept having to recover her detective persona while in her presence. Ed Taylor noticed Aimee though. Mentioned she was a 10. Gorgeous. Kate just kind of looked at him in confusion. As mentioned, she didn't really pay much attention to the fact that there was another woman in Paula's room. It was Aimee, though, who had been most effected by the death of Owen Sinclair. Shocked. Horrified. Unable to sleep. Paula was ice water. Walked right in and starred at the tortured murdered man.

Kate's kind of distracted during the investigation. Ed's focused on a playwright who has been blocked since 1974 when Sinclair stole his script. One thing leads to another and . . . case solved. 1989

Murder at the Nightwood Bar by Katherine V. Forrest

Murder at the Nightwood Bar
by Katherine V. Forrest
Pages: 184
Date: October 17 2011 (originally published 1987)
Publisher: Bella Books
Series: Kate Delafield (second in the series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars
Read: January 22 to January 23 2015

Most books I rate five stars I know right away that it's possible. Oh, something might happen that lowers it, sometimes all the way to 1 star, or even no stars, but I tend to know.  This one?  Sneaked up on me.  I figured for the longest time, while I was reading it, that it would likely end up being somewhere between a three and four star work.  There wasn't really anything to put it there, just nothing that leapt out at me grabbed me by the neck and screamed "this will be a five star book".  At least not till the last part of the book. Where it kind of hit me how deep the book was.  How . . . bah.

Mostly I was noticing things, before this revelation, like how this head homicide detective only seemed to get involved with women when they are part of her investigation.  There's a back story there that may or may not be spoiler-y.  Happened in the first book. Happened in this one.  And they are the kind where people in need hook up, and not people in love.  That's one of the things I noticed.  It is not something I'd add or subtract stars for.

The racial, homophobic annoyances that popped up in the first book were toned down.  A lot of the things like that were toned down.  Still there but milder.  Which is odd, in a way, when you consider the plot of the book.  heh.

Amateur City by Katherine V. Forrest

Amateur City
by Katherine V. Forrest
Pages: 210
Date: October 31 2011 (originally published 1984)
Publisher: Bella Books
Series: Kate Delafield (first book)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: January 20 2015

Amateur City, book 1 in the series, involves an executive who was murdered. Two LA police detectives, Kate Delafield (lesbian), and Ed Taylor (bigot), investigate. Oddly the story seemed to be more focused on someone who just joined the firm as a secretary. Ellen O'Neil.

It's actually a rather rich detailed little book that might even have ended up rated higher by me if it had cut back on the bigotry. Which later books, at least the second and third, had done. - Amateur City is something Ed Taylor says that the case should be. Or, that the case is "Amateur City", an amateur killer, so it should be an easy case to solve.