Death Goes Overboard by David S. Pederson

Death Goes Overboard
by David S. Pederson
Pages: ?
Date: April 1 2017
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: Detective Heath Barrington Mystery (2nd in series)

Review
Rating: 3.65 to 3.85
Read: March 3-4 2017

*I received this book from NetGalley, and Bold Strokes Books in return for a fair review.*

Like the prior book in this series, and as expected, this book here stars Detective Heath Barrington of the Milwaukee Police Department. Unlike the prior book in this series, some part of the police work in this book actually occurs in Milwaukee. Though, despite jurisdiction issues, some of it also occurs outside Milwaukee’s city borders – like on a boat on one of the Great Lakes (Lake Michigan).

There are several plot lines but two main ones of importance: 1) Everyone, including literally an aunt, let Heath know that being a single man of his age is super risky and leads to talk of a certain nature (like, say, ‘it’s obvious that he is gay’; there’s an additional ‘especially the way he is so neat and how he dresses’ but I’ll let that pass) – as in: being a gay man in post WWII America is difficult and certain things are needed to be done to cover that up which can lead to a bunch of lying, deception, and the like (to be fair – without some level of lying, a gay man will find themselves out of work (at least with the police, and possibly in a mental institution somewhere getting electric shocks to their balls); 2) police work occurs.

Heath continues to date Officer Alan Keyes, though is having two issues in regards to that – 1) both are men and it is 1947; 2) does he actually want a steady relationship with anyone? That plot-line is followed throughout the book. Of major importance in the book. Regarding that ‘gay issue’, I have two things that came to mind while reading this book – 1) Heath seemed a lot more naïve than I would have expected for a man of his ‘advanced’ age (his exact age might have been given at some point, though he is somewhere in his 30s, and some comments would lead one to suspect him to be in the latter half of his thirties; the concept of a beard, of marrying a woman and having fun with men – with or without the wives knowledge, was something Heath never realized could happen; also something he had never heard of was a lavender marriage – gay man, lesbian woman, marry as each other’s ‘cover’ – granted, the first time I saw reference to that type of arrangement was in Ann Bannon’s book of the 1950s/60s – and I doubt she came up with the idea completely on her own (Bannon had both types of marriages in her series) and yes, I know 1959 is not 1947, and Heath seemed so naïve regarding gay issues, that I doubt he read gay fiction, much less lesbian pulp); 2) he and another gay man in the book seem to fall into a particular gay stereotype I didn’t expect to see – both him and Riker (another police officer in the book, more on him later), seem to be rather ‘causal’ about sex – more so Riker (Heath is more tempted by the idea and keeps being inches from falling into that type of lifestyle) – as in, all the sex they can get, with men, as much as they can get, regardless of the man or the circumstances (it was so much of a gay stereotype that I actually began to believe that Riker was actually bait – either from some higher ups in the police force trying to trick/trap Heath; or someone Alan Keyes got to ‘check on’ Heath since Heath was acting a little ‘pulling-away-ish’). So that story line flows through the book as well – that ‘should Heath, while eyeballing every man around him as a sexual object, decide that Alan is really ‘his’? Should Heath get a ‘beard’, get himself into a marriage? *proceeds to eyeball every woman around him as a means to an end – marriage cover*.

The other major plot being followed is a different type of mystery (what, there’s a kind of mystery involved in ‘will Heath chose some woman to marry? Stay with Alan? Stray?’). Gregor Slavinsky is taking a great lake cruise – and he is being followed by a man named Ballentine and his lackey George. Slavinsky has been in and out of prison – and has just recently gotten out. And has secured $25,000 of Ballentine’s money as a loan. And Slavinsky is beginning to miss payments. Not something criminals like to hear.

The police have wanted to ‘get’ Ballentine for a while now and believe that this is a perfect opportunity to catch him doing something illegal. So Heath is sent undercover on the Great Lake voyage as an insurance man. A new-to-the-series officer also is undercover as a steward – that would be the previously mentioned Riker.

There is a mystery, and plot A does lead to b, c, d, and the police are shown to use their brains to follow along. With the introduction of certain elements, I immediately knew ‘something’ was occurring, though it took a body going over the side of the boat for me to ‘know’ what was going on. And, while it took the rest of the book for the characters to catch up, I was correct. Mind you, despite that last sentence, the cops weren’t made to look too inexperienced/naïve/stupid – they followed logically along, including a few wrong guesses (real life isn’t ‘Cop: x occurred, didn’t it? Criminal: how did you know!!!’). I did have a problem with one element, maybe minor, maybe not important, but . . . well. As can occur in mystery novels – there comes the time when the brilliant detective reveals the plot points, or I mean, how he figured it out. One slight issue I had here is that the author went one step too far. He had his detective ‘know’ and ‘reveal’ why that whiskey bottle was in the cabin. But, while there is a logical explanation, and while he can logically come to the conclusion that ‘this’ is the reason for the whiskey bottle, he can’t ‘know’ that this is the reason – for everyone who could confirm the matter is dead – died before he put the facts together. Hence my ‘one step too far’ – one step too far in trying to make the police detective look brilliant. Now, all that needs to happen is a few word changes. Something like ‘it is likely that’ instead of ‘it was there because’. Semantics. Logically the steps, pieces, were laid for that specific clue to be found – except for the part where it had to remain speculation (’I also thought the bottle of whiskey in Gregor’s cabin was strange, as he drank martinis. [X] was the one who liked whiskey, but of course [x] didn’t’ want to risk [y] finding [x]’s bottle and getting smashed, so [x] kept it in Gregor’s cabin and used the connecting door . . . .’ - lot of speculation going on in that ‘reveal everything’ being treated as fact .

The time on the ship was quite interesting, the mystery, despite several things I’ve stated, was also well enough crafted (a little heavy handed, but well enough crafted). The wandering eye is a character issue, not exactly one I wished to read, but feasible. As is those several talks about marriage (lavender or not). Overall a good book. I liked the first book more than the second, but second was good enough.

Rating: 3.65 to 3.85

March 6 2017

Little Lies by Lila Bruce

Little Lies
by Lila Bruce
Pages: 228
Date: October 14 2016
Publisher: Self
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.00
Read: November 17 to 19 2016

It is hard to write something when I went on 'vacation' some point between reading this book and the time to try to write something.

Probably doesn't mean anything, but my 3 rating here now moves this author into 1 position way from 'hitting' all the possible stars. My take on the author is all over place. Four books read by them now, and 1 was 2 stars, 1 was 3 stars, 1 was 4 stars, and 1 was 5 stars. As I said, probably doesn't mean anything. Except that I'll probably be more tentative about trying my next book by this author.

Cover - Before, during, and now - seeing that cover? I imagine that the book will be, is, and was a western. That cover would be perfect for a Annie Oakley type (not Annie Oakley herself, as she didn't use a pistol, had long 'largish' hair (well the real one, not the who turned up in movies and the like - who, oddly, looks like a match to the cover here (other than color of hair).



Right, so - a woman long long ago had, in a fit of whatever married a guy. Almost immediately divorcing him. Amicable split. Though she hasn't seen him in a longish time and only then because that guy's grandmother had died. She hasn't see him in a long time, doesn't know what he did with himself after they split, and has no clue where he is located or how to contact him - they have no remaining connections.

The book opens with that specific woman resting on the ground in a bank. Because she was shot - by bank robbers. She is helped by a woman who happened to be there - a woman she recognizes from seeing her at a coffee shop. That woman helps slow/stop the bleeding and helps keep her alive.

Unknown to shot woman, Lia Broddock, the 'helper woman', Dylan McKenzie, is actually Special Agent Dylan McKenzie - an FBI agent whose 'target' is Lia Broddock - as in, she's been assigned to watch her in case that woman's ex-husband just happens to stumble nearby.

The ex-husband's been a bad boy - he went to work as an accountant for a specific firm and somewhere along the way picked up a specific special client - the head of a mob family.

For 'reasons', that guy, the ex-husband I mean, had looked at two people on his internet before going into hiding - which is why the FBI was/is watching Lia. Specifically Dylan and a man named 'Brock'.

That whole FBI thing was super weird - the boss was always screaming at Dylan, and the partner is a smug bastard (yet, for unknown reasons, Dylan seems to still respect and like both). Apparently the boss would have preferred that Dylan have let Lia die instead of helping her when she got shot - at least that's the impression I got from the screaming. That boss, Henry (or was it Harry?) sure seems incompetent - I mean, the FBI wish to know where that ex-husband guy is because he has information that will help take down a crime family. Someone who isn't a suspect for anything, other than a potential source of information on that ex-husband. And instead of seeing it as a good thing that an FBI agent has successfully injected themselves into the 'target's life, he instead sees it as this super bad thing that should never have happened. And has to be talked into taking advantage of the situation that has developed - the situation of having an FBI agent get close.

The characterization for both lead women is odd - there's a kind of rich/poor dynamic that gets built up but . . . neither of them actually are poor; neither of them are 'resting' on money - neither are living a live of high expense or luxury. Yet there's still that dynamic there. What with Lia constant squeaks of surprise when she learns of Dylan's 'rich' background - not in a 'what is a rich person doing as an FBI agent' but in a 'what is this rich person doing near me?' - yet, Lia herself seems to not care particularly about money - I mean, she herself was married to a guy who apparently was the only living relative to two people who had mounds of cash. She's been around money. Bah. Again bah. It's hard to think about that I could possible be meaning here. mmphs.

Okay then - I've babbled incoherently long enough - book was okay, nothing overly great about it. Couple of moments of annoyance felt by me about the events occurring. I would neither recommend nor not recommend this book. It was . . . there and I read it and now it is done.

November 20 2016

Arrested Hearts by Holly Stratimore

Arrested Hearts
by Holly Stratimore
Pages: 312
Date: December 13 2016
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.7
Read: November 7 to 8 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley, and Bold Strokes Books in return for a fair review.*

A book about a cop and a factory worker. I was excited to read this one after reading and rather enjoying the author's first book.

Characters
Officer Randi Hartwell is a thirty-something police officer who hates her job, is corrupt, and - in general - hates her life. Oh, and she's a player.
Friends: Nikki from the band that appeared in this author's first book.
pets: none
drink of choice: unknown, though known to drink beer.

Jule Chapin is around 32 years old and is a factory worker. She spends her free time drinking, smoking and in general hanging around wasting time - or at least she did. Very early on in the book she decides to turn her life around (based partly on the fact that her longish term girlfriend had dropped dead on her, about a year before the start of this book).
Friends: Mostly Brenda, though she also hangs out with/hung out with Kathy and Toni - all three are fellow factory workers with Jule.
pet: dog - Sirius.
Drink of choice: something other than alcohol.

Plot
A cop pulls over a woman who is on her way home from a bar. The cop claims she pulled the woman over because of the bumper sticker (no not the rainbow one, the one about how her dog is smarter than an honor roll student). The cop then proceeds to order the woman to walk a straight line; and performs an illegal search and seizure while the woman is distracted - finding an illegal substance. The cop then produces this substances and cockily says 'sleep with me or I'll arrest you'; to which the woman responds with a 'I'd prefer to be arrested.' And this is how Jule and Randi meet.

For some unfathomable reason, Jule can't stop thinking about 'Officer Hartwell', despite, you know, how they first meet. Oddly, Randi also has a certain problem of keeping Jule off her mind. And so the two gingerly circle each other. Jule continuing to attempt to better her life (stop smoking and drinking, taking up jogging/exercise/yoga/dating 'appropriate' women); while Randi continues to stalk and harass Jule (and get caught up in a serial sexual rapist case (she keeps finding the victims, but isn't assigned to the case)).

Overall
I do not find corrupt cops fun, and do not find sexual harassment funny or sexy. An argument could be made about consent, choices, etc. - well 1) I mention sexual harassment and not rape; 2) cops and the justice system are intimidating.

It's quite possible that I could have and would have given a higher rating but for both the use of sexual harassment in the story with the addition of the hand waving - the, well because of a traumatic experience . . . it's okay. Hmm, no. No. No.

So we are in a case of - I liked the book (for the most part) despite my strong opinions on the matters of corrupt cops, and weak justifications for poor behavior.

Oh, as an aside - there is a massive amount of sex in this book. Also a bunch of softball played, if we are filling out 'other stuff that occurs in the book' type things.

Rating: 3.7

November 8 2016

Women With Handcuffs: Lesbian Cop Erotica edited by Sacchi Green

Women With Handcuffs: Lesbian Cop Erotica
edited by Sacchi Green
Pages: 234
Date: April 21 2014
Publisher: Cleis Press
Series: None

Review
Rating: Overall - 3.5
Read: September 7 to October 21 2016

16 stories that involve lesbians and police. Certain amount of erotica involved.

NOTE: If you previously read 'Lesbian Cops: Erotic Investigations', also edited by Sacchi Green, then you have already read this book here. At least going by the Kindle sample - exact same set of stories in both books without an addition or subtraction.

Hollis by Jove Belle
A woman who is both a police detective and someone who sees themselves as being on the verge of middle age, is at a training . . . um . . thingie. Story opens while she's running for seven miles under the supervision of a FBI agent.

Apparently this police detective has a certain level of submissiveness, though only to those who she sees as being . . . um . . . strong enough. Which works out here, since she sees the FBI agent as strong enough, and that agent is quite happy with the concept of dominating another.

They have a moment in the agent's office.

Quite exciting, in its brief way.

Rating: 4.89

Only Game in Town by Delilah Devlin
The only two female police officers in the small Louisiana town hook up. No handcuffs involved. Nice characterization.

rating: 4.15

Dress Uniform by Teresa Noelle Roberts
Not sure what to think of this one. Some hot moments. Some not so hot moments.

A woman with something of an anime fetish (which is good since her girlfriend looks quite anime girl-ish) is a police officer. She, the police officer, kind of losses it when her girlfriend suggests going to a fetish thingie wearing her uniform. Sex occurs. Then more lossing it. Then more sex.

hmms. Rating. hmms.

Rating: 3.80

A Cop's Wife by Evan Mora
kids (not really seen much), family, crime, suspense

This . . . I do not really know how to rate this story. This story feels like it belongs in a different collection. it is technically 'good' but . . . it's kind of the opposite of erotica. You expect a certain something with erotica, and while I know there's a segment that involves 'dangerous erotica' or 'in danger'. But this isn't really that either.

A woman answers the phone. A man on it says that he is going to kill that woman's wife. That wife is a cop. The story involves both being super stressed and not having much in the way of sleep (as in none). This story is an 'impact' story - as in the impact and experience of what it actually means to be a cop's spouse. It is not, though, as mentioned, an erotic story.

Remove that 'Lesbian Cop Erotica' part from the title and this story would fit perfectly. Or at least remove that erotica part. But it does include that title.

I do not know how to rate this. I tentatively place a '3' on this while cringing a little while doing so.

October 19 2016

Charity and Splendor by Andrea Dale
Dog, Kid, Single mom, Latina

Interesting enough story, though all but the 1 POV are distant from reader.

Kid learns of a police dog that got injured, learns that not all dogs have bulletproof vests because of the cost, talks with her mother. Talks mother into setting up charity to get some money for vests.

The police head dog person is a hot latina. As you would expect in a book like this, cop and mother hook up.

Nice enough story but kind of bland.

Rating: 3.5

CHAPEL STREET BLUE by R.V. Raiment

I believe nearly half, maybe even 75% of this story was spent on how absolutely fabulously gorgeous the cop truly is. And how she knows it. And how every man whistles when she is near, even if they do not wish to do so. And how . . . bah.

Some portion was sex while talking about a creepy partner (the cop's partner), and the death of a hooker. Kind of . . . odd vibe combo.

Unfortunately, I didn't particularly like this one.

Rating: 2

COP AT MY DOOR by R.G. Emanuelle
Wasn't sure where I was and accidentally read this one out of order.

Two women live in a house in NY (I know because a badge on a cops uniform says NYPD on it). They live next to a 'crazy neighbor' who is always calling the cops on them. So they see police at their door often - usually involves the same two police, though this specific occasion sees one of those two police with a different partner. One of the women who live in that house are literally dripping with excitement every time she sees one of these two police officers. Since this is a lesbian novel - it's the female officer she drools over.

One thing leads to another and . . . the officer yet again leaves without Lisa (or is Lisa the roommates name? mmphs. Yeah, the roommate is Lisa, the officer is 'Officer Brewer', and the lead POV in this story is 'Ms. Janssen'. The temp partner is named 'Officer Nolan'. Oh and when I say that she literally drips with excitement, I'll give an example: 'When I caught sight of those amazing brown eyes, my muscles went limp and my underwear got damp.' Finally - the lead POV, the non-cop, is named 'Morgan'. And Officer Brewer is Nicole Brewer).

Okay, now that's out of the way, let's try that paragraph above again: Morgan lusts after Officer Nicole, and Lisa pushes Morgan to ask Nicole out but Morgan constantly chickens out and takes all positive signs that Nicole is interested as meaning something else. One night, though, Nicole takes things into her own hands and stops by on her way home - as in off-duty.

Interesting quick brief story. Got an impression of Morgan, Nicole, and tiny tiny impression of Lisa. Vaguely hot graphic sex.

Rating: 3.77

TORN OFF A STRIP by Elizabeth Coldwell
Female cop and male cop are called by a concerned neighbor to a disturbance in the neighborhood. They arrive to find a stripper wearing a fake cop outfit handcuffed outside a house. Apparently the stripper had decided to try to lift a wallet. Got caught.

Female cop sends male cop inside. Once the way is clear, female cop molests the stripper. The end.

The story is from the point of view from the female cop. And she's just sure that the stripper appreciated the attention and got off on it. To me, it just reminds me that women can rape women.

I'd like to give this story some kind of negative stars rating.

Officer Birch by J.N. Gallagher
Mental illness

Hmm. This is a super creepy story. A young woman is rescued by the school security officer. A friend there makes a comment like 'I'll bet [she] is into some really hard-core dyke sex shit' and the young woman seemed to run with that concept.

The story is basically a note to that police officer, years later. It's very 'me me me me me me me', and not a love note. The character tells the cop that she developed this belief as to what kind of woman the cop was, and so the young woman went about the process of learning - watching hard core lesbian porn, writing stories based off of that -- etc etc.

The point I am attempting to make is that the character comes off as a deranged person suffering mental illness - there is nothing in the story that indicates that she actually knows anything about the police officer. She even says, in the beginning '... Officer Birch. No, I'm not going to call you Melissa, or Mel.' - The character is fixated on the idea of Officer Birch, not on whoever the fuck 'Melissa' might be - who the woman under the uniform might be.

So. Another one I have no clue how to rate. Another non-erotica story in a 'erotica' collection.

I'll give this one a rating of . . . I've no idea. It's not a story so much as a rant. A deranged rant. By someone who should be in a mental hospital. So, on the one hand, this is not in any way erotica. On the other, the author did a rather good job creating a deranged psycho. So . . . um. I'll tentatively give this one a 2.75.

October 19 2016

Raven Brings the Light by Kenzie Mathews
Alaska, small town, frozen dead body, teacher, cop, native/Norwegian/Irish

Told from the point of view of the teacher in the story - the story consists of learning that someone who had gone missing for six months had their body found - and the ramifications on the police (and their families) of finding the body. Though, as mentioned, told through the eyes of the teacher, who, while she knew the dead woman, didn't have to find and deal with the body.

Good solid interesting story.

Rating: 4.3

October 21 2016

Healing Hand by Lynn Mixon
Witness Protection, US Marshal

The story is from the point of view of a woman who was a professional gambler, and has now been in witness protection for the last 5 years. The story kicks off with that woman hearing a car, grabbing a shotgun, and looking outside. Spotting a slick SUV - out of place in the mountains of her home. A US Marshal steps out - one that the woman knows.

That US Marshal mentions that the evil dude who is the reason for the woman to be in protective custody had escaped.

The story then proceeds to have the protector and protectee engage in a display of erotic play. Though in a much better and more satisfying way that my little comment might make it seem.

rating: 4.95

October 21 2016

Undercover by Ily Goyanes
A vice detective goes undercover as a hooker. Stands on a cold rainy street corner in December in a miniskirt and halter top. Waiting. Standing. Getting wet from rain. Finally a car appears - the detective knows what she needs to do - get the 'John' to say the right words. But . . . it's a Jane. And a rather attractive Jane. Despite not saying the right words, the detective joins the 'Jane' in the car.

A quite fun little story.
rating: 4.34

Riding the Rails by Sacchi Green
Butch-Butch, Cop, Writer

A sergeant is escorting a Sultan's wife on a train. The sergeant hasn't had sex in a while, and the wife is very . . . touchy and interested in action. With any and everyone. Therefore the sergeant is kind of quite tense when an old college friend turned up.

That college friend joins them and sits across from the princess (apparently a Sultan's wife is a princess). Princess ups her game, and her breasts may or may not fall out, and some foot action might or might not occur.

One thing to note right off . . though I forgot to note it right off - you can tell how much I enjoyed this story by one specific factor - that college friend is packing. And I don't mean a gun (no, the sergeant is the one with the gun). By packing, I mean she's wearing a 8 inch strap on under her tight leather pants. I've never exactly been that thrilled when a character like that pops up - sounds painful. Heck, I don't even like wearing watches (or jewelry or whatever) because I don't like things tied down on me, clutching me (none of my shoes have laces).

And yet . . . this was a quite interesting and exciting little story. Two butch women, both normally the aggressors, and a third woman rubbing against them. Naturally, because of rules, they handcuff the third woman so she can't get a hand on them, but allow her to watch. As the butch women get it on in a train bathroom (by the way, wha? Somewhere in the story it was mentioned this was an Amtrak train - Amtrak bathrooms are barely larger than linen closets (by linen closet, I mean a room with a door - room wide enough for shelves right up against the door, as in there's no room in there but for towels and stuff) - so three women in there? And with 'action' occurring? hmms).

Right. So. Unexpectedly liked it. I'd rate it 4.73

October 20 2016

Blazing June by J.L. Merrow
kid, single mother, housewife, cop, romance

A woman's next door neighbor seems unresponsive, so that woman contacts the police. The story starts with the police already there. They had to break in as the neighbor had had a fall.

Interesting story. Somewhat more romance in this one than some of the other stories in this collection. Solid story. I liked it well enough.

Rating: 4.23

October 20 2016

A Prayer before Bed by Annabeth Leong

Hmm. I'd read this one but then didn't include something here. Might be I only put something in a status update.

Ah, good, I did.

Prayer before bed - cop arrives at a crime scene. Is tasked to interview a witness. While her partner is in another room watching 'the kids'. Witness is somewhat insane, hostile, and - at one point - reaches forward and grips the cops nipple through her shirt.

Creepy, disturbing vibe.

Rating: 1.3

How does your Garden Grow by Cheyenne Blue
erotica

cop keeps getting sent to an out of the way place to look for dope. Finds woman. Humps woman (after making sure no dope there)

rating: 4.6

October 19 2016

Overall

Hollis by Jove Belle - 4.89
Only Game in Town by Delilah Devlin - 4.15
Dress Uniform by Teresa Noelle Roberts - 3.80
A Cop's Wife by Evan Mora - 3
Charity and Splendor by Andrea Dale - 3.5
Chapel Street Blue by R.V. Raiment - 2
Cop at my Door by R.G. Emanuelle - 3.77
Torn off a Strip by Elizabeth Coldwell - negative stars
Officer Birch by J.N. Gallagher - 2.75
Raven Brings the Light by Kenzie Mathews - 4.3
Healing Hand by Lynn Mixon - 4.95
Undercover by Ily Goyanes - 4.34
Riding the Rails by Sacchi Green - 4.73
Blazing June by J.L. Merrow - 4.23
A Prayer before Bed by Annabeth Leong - 1.3
How does your Garden Grow by Cheyenne Blue - 4.6

Overall Rating for the 16 stories: 3.519375 (which is impressive in and off itself since one of the stories received the equivalent of 0 stars).

There are over 120,000 "full-time law enforcement officers who were authorized to make arrests and carry firearms in the United States" (as of 2008) spread across 73 Federal agencies (as of an article from 2012). State and local agencies have 765,000 full-time police with the power to make arrests, plus an additional 44,000 part-time (and therefore carry handcuffs - based on a 2008 Gov't report). The state and local agencies come in a wide range of places and occupations, from state, local, city, port, etc.

I mention all of the above because I noticed something along the way. The vast majority of the people walking around with handcuffs in this book were local police. It was not always obvious what specific department they worked for, but it was obvious that they were local police. There was at least one vice cop, one homicide detective, and one patrol officer. In addition, there was one FBI agent (hooked up with a local cop who was the POV), and one US Marshal. It's a book of erotic stories, I guess the lack of variation, the opportunity not taken is somewhat acceptable. I guess.

An interesting collection of stories. Some seemed misplaced - as in, while they might have included sex, they were not erotica stories. Most seemed relatively well-written, even the ones I rated poorly - I just didn't like those stories based on the meat of the story, not the underlying writing abilities of the author.

Of the sixteen authors present in this collection, I had previously read 2 of them - and liked their stories here. Both of whom fall into my 'highlights'.

Top stories:
1. Healing Hand by Lynn Mixon - 4.95
2. Hollis by Jove Belle - 4.89
3. Riding the Rails by Sacchi Green - 4.73
4. How does your Garden Grow by Cheyenne Blue - 4.6

October 21 2016

Warriors of the Heart by BadSquirrel

Warriors of the Heart
by BadSquirrel
Pages: 173
Date: December 2012
Publisher: Self
Series: None
URL: http://xenafiction.net/scrolls/badsquirrel_warriors_of_the_heart.html

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 17 2016

It is funny in it's way. One of the reasons I decided to try this book was because it involved an undercover police officer. More directly, because it involved said police officer operating undercover as a stripper.

And nearly the first scene, or around there, involved a lap dance by said undercover officer given to a woman. Who promptly orgasmed. One of those 'quickest to orgasm' type moments, eh?

Who knew, from that background, what I'd actually find when I continued reading? The two main characters, Rachel and Stevie, are probably my two favorite characters I've come across. There's family turmoil, religious turmoil, crime, passion, thrills and chills.

This might be the best family/religious/LGBT-related book I've read.

While reading I was thinking several thoughts, one of which is - why am I able to read this book for free? Other than a few mentions here or there of green eyes, I noticed nothing that would put either woman as being stamped from the mold of the two main women from Xena. Maybe Stevie and Rachel are modeled on some other couple?

There was one moment wherein I think the author or someone got confused (maybe it is I who got confused), but there is one moment when it appeared that Rachel, for one brief scene, had her name switch from Rachel to Teresa, to Rachel again. Other than that specific issue, this was a lot more polished than I'd have expected (granted I'm not talking about the formatting, that was annoying how scenes/etc, meshed together; while other scenes kept getting interupted by large blocks of text informing everyone the name of the book and the page number). Right, think I lost my focus there, I had meant to just note that I did not see anything specifically that would have kept this book from being published for pay.

Not sure which would have lead me to it quicker, free, published for pay, or published for free. *shrugs* No matter. I rather enjoyed the book.

August 17 2016

Innocent Catch by Weebod

Innocent Catch
by Weebod
Pages: 316
Date: 2009
Publisher: Self
Series: None
Fanfiction: Xena uber
URL: http://www.academyofbards.org/fanfic/w/weebod_innocentcatch1.html

Review
Rating: 4.8 out of 5.0
Read: August 10 to 11 2016

Two things I was to mention immediately:

1) I do not understand why this hasn't been published - put out there for sale. a) It appears to be a well polished work, - though I am not always the best at spotting 'need for editing'; b) other than a little too many times the two main characters getting referred to by hair color or job title, there's nothing much that makes this appear to be 'unpublishable fanfiction'. It is true that one of the leads is a tall dark haired woman, and the other is a shorter blond haired woman, but they seemed very much their own characters - not reflections of any other characters out there.

2) I rather loved this book. I may have laughed once or twice. Got misty eyed once or twice. Damn good book - romance-wise and police wise (I'd say 'mystery wise' though I know some people might have certain issues - the only one I'll mention, feel free to mention, would be the part where the undercover agent fell for one of their 'targets' (more targets to get information rather than targets for arrest)).

Oh, and since I mentioned it in my status updates:
3) There is graphic sex in this book. Involving both men and women (one man and one woman together), and women and women (one woman and one woman; though there was another coupling that I forget if it got graphic or not). There may have been one or two of these graphic scenes involving women that I liked. I shall not speak more on this topic.

4) I'd rate this, if I could, something around 4.8... 4.80 stars (hesitated there if I wanted to give more than 4.8).

August 11 2016

Another One Goes Tonight by Peter Lovesey

Another One Goes Tonight
by Peter Lovesey
Pages: 401
Date: July 5 2016
Publisher: Soho Crime
Series: Peter Diamond (16th in series)

Review Rating: 5.5 out of 5.0
Read: July 17 to 18 2016


This is my 34th book by Lovesey, 16th in the Peter Diamond series. Actually, 35th book, I forgot that I read 1 book by Lovesey under another name. Though I forget, at the moment, the specific name. Peter Lear, I think.

Other than random short stories floating around in places I cannot reach, a couple, I think, of Lear books I do not have access to, and 2 books in one of Lovesey's series, I've read everything by this author.

I have not always loved everything I've read, and, for the most part, I'd say that he is a damned good writer. Barring a few exceptions here and there. The only book by him that I've rated as low as 2 stars is the first book in his 'Albert Edward Prince of Wales' series - which leads directly to the reason as to why I haven't read the two other books in that series. And, other than that 2 star book, this book here (which I gave 5.5 stars to), the book 'On the Edge' (3 stars), and the Lear book (another 3 star book), everything I've read by Lovesey I've given 4 stars to. Well, some rest on a 4.5 shelf and the like, and some might have been closer to being 3.8 books, but none of that matters here at Goodreads, not when we do not have half stars and the like, so 31 books rated, by Goodreads standards, 4 stars.

Doesn't really take much thinking to understand how happy I am when I happen to notice a new book appear by Lovesey.

Lovesey's something of an odd one when it comes to plot lines and characters. He has had killers as the main character, and murder suspects, and one or several that involve the point of view of an amateur doing some deducting, while one of his series regulars works on the case from another direction. Even when you think of series, there are oddities - like you do not expect a police series to start off with the main character in the police, then - for various reasons, he suddenly isn't in the police any longer and is a P.I. (or working security, I've forgotten now what jobs he had during his break), then back to being a police person.

I mention all that, the odd little things that turn up, because that occurs in this book as well. This is both not a straight forward murder mystery, while at the same time it is a book about a serial killer (that part isn't a spoiler, the serial killer part, because the reader has snippets from the killer's journal at various points of the novel).

It is not a straight forward murder mystery, because no one actually realizes that there are any murders to investigate. For, you see, Peter Diamond has been tasked by his boss to work as the local professional standards guy to investigate a motor vehicle crash. That's right; one of the top homicide detectives has been tasked to be something like a crime scene investigator for a motor vehicle accident, specifically tasked with the assignment to determine if the people in the vehicle handled themselves in a professional manner . . . or something like that. The police are looking into that because the car that crashed was a police car. And, when Diamond gets the assignment, there is one dead police officer, and one severally injured one.

So, Diamond and two of his underlings investigate. Diamond arrives at the accident scene about 45 minutes or so after getting the assignment, which was about 3 hours after the accident occurred. Which I mention because Diamond spots something no one else spotted in the 3 hours that the scene had been investigated – he finds that another vehicle had been involved in the accident and that there was an unconscious, possibly dead body up in the bushes (I have it perfectly outlined in my mind the scene, and bushes isn’t correct, let me see – the body was up a hill in some vegetation and hard to spot without being up the hill).

I mention all that because the book focuses directly on the person who was found, and the possible activities that individual might have been involved in. Activities, based on various objects and papers found, that might involve murder – murder of various people whose deaths had been declared natural or accidental (mostly natural – old people dying in their sleep). But were they actually natural deaths, or is there a serial killer on the loose?

A quite interesting book. Quite enjoyable read.

July 20 2016

Picture Imperfect by Lea Santos

Picture Imperfect
by Lea Santos
Pages: 208
Date: September 1 2010
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: Amigas y Amor (3rd in series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 21 2016

My third book by this author. This is the third of the four Lea Santos books. I gave the first two I read ratings of 5 stars each. The third book is the one that I had noticed, even before trying the first Santos book, that everyone loved most of all.

Paloma Perea Vargas and Deanne Vargas have been together seventeen years, since high school, specifically some time in sophomore year (baring a brief father induced separation during sophomore-junior summer break). They have been ‘married’ for fourteen years now. But Paloma has just had enough with feeling like Deanne doesn’t even see her any longer, and has kicked Deanne out of the house they share together with their two children (one is 8, other is 6 – the children, not Paloma and Deanne, that would be weird).

Their relationship problems stem directly from their own childhood experiences, and from the fact that they have never had a romantic relationship beyond the one they share with each other, so they do not have any personal experience with relationships beyond whatever they’ve picked up together.

By ‘directly from their own childhood experiences’ I mean: Deanne developed two traits that she picked up in reaction from growing up. Victor, Deanne’s father (who she always refers to as Victor), left Deanne’s mother at some point when Deanne was still a child. He was lazy and lived to party. Victor, by leaving, abandoned both a wife, and five children. The mother, Rosario, had to pick up three jobs just to make ends meet. In reaction to this issue, Deanne has developed the need to not be her father. To not be lazy, to not run out/party/etc. So she shows her love by working, by providing, by self-sacrificing her free time. So, sometimes, certain ‘events’ get forgotten or missed, because of ‘work’. Deanne sees this as providing for her family the way she knows how. Paloma sees this as putting work first as priority, and basically abandoning her family – though she never actually says anything, but we’ll get to Paloma shortly.

To add to that need to work in reaction to her lazy father, Deanne also picked up something from her mother. Though based on her interactions with her mother, not based on her mother’s own experiences. At times Deanne did certain things that caused her mother to become angry with her. Deanne reacted by hiding from the problem. Her mother would, eventually, return to her normal happy personality. Deanne learned, from repeated cycles of this hiding, that the way to deal with issues is to hide from them. They will fix themselves. So, when Deanne feels/knows/senses that Paloma is upset, and angry with her, she reverts to her childhood – she hides. Paloma, though, just seems to get angrier and not revert to a happy state. Deanne does not know how to react to this situation. Like the part about not having sex for the last six months – Deanne wants to hump Paloma, but Paloma is giving off massive ‘keep away’ vibes. So, Deanne keeps away.

This reinforces the problems, adding to them. In Paloma’s own mind, Deanne’s lack of attention, lack of pouncing on her indicates that Deanne doesn’t want her any longer. Is physically repulsed by her or something. Plus she senses that Deanne has had some odd change that occurred 8 years ago – right around the time their first child was born. But Paloma also picked up something from her childhood. Directly from her mother. The need to self-sacrifice, to support, to be a housewife. To not complain. So Paloma shows her ‘problems’ with the current situation by withdrawing, though with a smile, to keeping her emotions bottled up, to never, once, using her mouth to actually convey that there is an issue.

Discussing the break-up, after Paloma kicked Deanne out of the house, one of Paloma’s friends made some comment or another. Probably along the lines of ‘well, did you ever tell her what the issue(s) were?’ to which Paloma responded with something like ‘but I shouldn’t have to if she really loved me!’ I’ve seen that attitude in MF books. This might be the first time I’ve seen that in an FF book.

Well, as noted, 14 – 17 year relationship. Poof. Gone. Because neither party knew how to communicate and things got steadily worse. Until one finally broke down and kicked the other out of the house. Instead of, you know, ever actually mentioning that there were issues. Or talking. Hell, they never even fought. Just, boom.

Paloma: ‘We haven’t had sex in six months! She hasn’t made a move on me!’
A friend: ‘Did you?’
Paloma: ‘I shouldn’t have to!’
A friend: ‘How did ‘action’ initiate in the past?’
Paloma: ‘Well, I’d make a move first.’
*stares*

Right. So. The friends saw Paloma and Deanne’s relationship as perfect. From the outside. But it wasn’t, not from the inside. Hence the book title – ‘Picture Imperfect’. Though I mentioned the friends more so that I could indicate that the other couples from books 1 and 2 of this series pop up in this book. And the one who turns up in the fourth book, Madeira Pacias, Torien Pacias sister, is mentioned in this book (in an ‘I haven’t had sex in six months, I need sex, I should hump Madeira, and she humps everyone.’ ‘Don’t talk about my future sister that way; even if I admit that she is a player’).

Ah, this book. I felt a certain wave of anger at both parties while reading this book. That is not how I wish to spend my time reading, in a state of anger. Of the four Santos books, though, this one is the one everyone apparently loved the most.

Oh, and for those who care about such things – the series moved from super fit and chiseled gardener hooking up with a supermodel to a woman who self-describes herself as being chubby (‘I had two children!’). Though she might have lost that chubbiness along the way. There was some indication of that.

And, another tidbit of information I do not know where to put: “I’m thirty-two years old, for God’s sake.” (As said by Paloma, so, she is 32).

Right, so, good book. *nods* On to next.

June 21 2016

Collide-O-Scope by Andrea Bramhall

Collide-O-Scope
by Andrea Bramhall
Pages: 390
Date: April 10 2016
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series: Norfolk Coast Investigation Story (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 4.70 out of 5.0
Read: May 3 to 4 2016

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Ylva Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

This is my second book by this author. I rather enjoyed the first book I had read by this author.

Location
A small village, Brandale Staite, in North Norfolk England. A place of 39 year round residents (there had been 40, but Connie’s dead now). The village swells to four hundred ‘in season’. ‘The campsite holds six hundred people per night.’

Note: there is a map at the front of the book. It shows King’s Lynn (where Kate lives and where a second murder investigation takes place off-scene), Hunstanton (where the police work out of while investigating) but does not show Brandale Staite (unless that is also called Brancaster?).

Main Characters
There are two points of views in this book.
Detective Sergeant Kate Brannon is relatively newly promoted to her position (three weeks before the beginning of this book), and relatively newly arrived in the area (moved to Kings Lynn from Norwich at same time as promotion). Though she grew up in a small village like setting near the sea. Nearish to an oil rig. This is important since her pop worked on one. Before it burned – it and him on it. Mother died when Kate was young. So she was raised by her grandmother, but she’s passed on now as well (when Kate was 17). Kate is currently 35. Drives a BMW Mini.
Of Importance: There is a question that Gina asks Kate, something like ‘will someone miss you when you die?’ the answer is ‘no’.

Georgina ‘Gina’ Temple is a woman who works as the second in command at Wells campsite (the manager). She is a mother of 9 year old Sammy, who she had when she was 17, making her 26 when the book opens. Had liked drinking a bottle of Shiraz with Connie. Also drinks Rioja.
Of Importance: Sammy (daughter), Matt Green (father of her child), and Connie Wells (boss and friend).

Secondary Characters
NOTE: Since this is a mystery and ‘everyone’s a suspect’ I’ve attempted to add people as their names came up the first time. Not by order of importance.

Police
Inspector Savage is the person in control of the crime scene where Wells body was found. He is meet at the beginning of the book, and mentioned several times thereafter but has little to no interaction with the story after the beginning.

Detective Inspector Timmons is Kate’s direct boss and would have normally lead the investigation of Wells death but for a slightly higher priority murder investigation involving three women in a ‘the middle of King’s Lynn.‘

Dr. Ruth Anderson is the medical examiner.

Sergeant Stella Goodwin is ‘an experienced sergeant’ who will handle the inside the office stuff, while Kate handles the outside the office investigation. Technically she has been 'left in charge' when Timmons goes off to attempt to solve some other 'more important' case. I say technically because Goodwin and Brannon more often work together than have Goodwin dictate what Brannon will do.

Detective Constable Jimmy Powers is Kate’s assistant. ‘A guy in his late twenties.’

Police Constable Collier is a newbie partnered up DC Brothers. Both working on the investigation.

Detective Constable Tom Brothers works on the investigation. Makes jokes a lot. He ‘looked a little like a panda in reverse.’

Len Wild is the head of the forensics team working on the murder investigation.

Villagers
William Clapp is a worker at Wells’ campsite. He is a ‘thin, blonde guy’ with a ‘diamond earring . . . in his left ear.’

Leah Shaw is Connie’s ex. Described as being the people person of the relationship, though that is not in evidence in the book. Leah is currently bunking with Ally Robbins.

Matthew ‘Matt’ Green is the father of Sammy Temple, and works for Sands. Lives in ‘Pebbles Cottage, Brandale Staithe.’

Ally ‘the Cat’ Robbins works on a lobster boat (or a fishing boat at least). Has a reputation of being ‘a tramp who’ll sleep with anything that doesn’t say no.’

Edward and Rupert Sands are the people that own half the village. Something like bitter rivals of Connie Wells.

Murder Victim
Connie Wells is/was a woman who ran the successful camp site in the village – the one that, in season, provides a great deal of support to the rest of the business in the village. The campsite is called ‘Brandale Backpackers and Camping.’ She was formerly attached to a woman named Leah, but sometime in the past, prior to the start of the book, they had split apart (six months prior?). Everyone, including the ex, but not including Gina and Sammy, describes Connie as being a bitch. And kind of disliked her. Medical examiner gave an approximate age for Wells of between 30 and 40.
Of Importance: Merlin (dog), Leah (ex.), workers of her business, villagers

Plot
The book opens with a prologue. One that I see occasionally and kind of dislike for one specific reason. It allows the reader to see the character alive and bouncing around as a fully realized character. Then kills them. There’s a reason I stopped reading so many mysteries. Gets depressing – that.

Well, so, the book opens, and a woman is out walking her dog along a particular path near a marshy flood plain. She has her camera with her and is taking pictures. Unlike most of her times taking pictures, she is less focused on nature and the like, and more on what is happening involving some lobster traps.

Gun shots go off. Merlin, Connie’s dog, squeals in terror. The birds flee. Connie shrugs. The noise makers have gone off – sounds that are made in the morning by farmers to drive off birds.

Connie raises her camera and focuses. Another shot goes off.

Chapter one finds a Detective Sergeant Kate Brannon heading to a crime scene. There’s a frantic dog being held by a police officer, a crime scene inspector, and police. The police do not yet know who the victim is, since she does not have any identification on her, and she is missing her face.

The book proceeds with following Brannon as she investigates. Timmons, her boss, would normally be the lead investigator, but another case comes up of slightly more importance.

Relatively quickly, like in the first chapter (I think I recall), the identity is revealed to the police, though, of course, the reader already knew. Connie Wells has died. By gunshot.

Wells, it turns out, has a business in the village, or on the outskirts, that involves a seasonal campsite. That campsite adds a ton of business to the village, and, as some note, the village itself would greatly suffer if that campsite were to close. Which, as it turns out, Wells was within a week of doing. And the whole village knew about this issue.

Meanwhile, Wells has an ex-girlfriend who has made threats against her.

The richest family, or at least the one that owns half the village (I rephrase as I do not know how wealthy Connie might have been), also despise Wells. It was mutal.

So – everyone wanted her dead. Well . . . not exactly. One at least wanted her dead. The rest? Baring a few here and there (including Gina and Sammy Temple, and possible one or more of her other employees), just thought she was a bitch.

So Brannon must first determine who the victim was, then who killed her.

Overall
There are many types of police books – a few of the varieties include (1) those that are mostly about the crimes and the people who investigate them (emphasis on investigation – police procedural – ‘just the facts’); (2) those that are like 1, but include a heavier emphasis on characters; (3) similar to 2 but injects romance while still focused mainly on the investigation; (4) like 3 but focus is mainly on the romance, while the investigation takes something of a back seat; (5) those which are mostly romance in nature, maybe mixed with danger, but the focus is heavily focused on the romance; plus a million and one other variations.

This book is one that leans between 2 and 3 above – the book is heavily into the murder investigation (Kate), with some character development stuff (Gina), while having a bit of romance floating in the air . . . lightly in some places (beginning), a lot heavier in others (80%+) (Kate, Gina).

I was thinking, while reading this book, that it reminds me of reading a Peter Lovesey book. I did not have a fully developed thought when I was thinking of Lovesey – beyond the idea that, unlike many/most lesbian fiction mysteries that involve the police, this specific book had a Lovesey vibe. This means nothing to those who have no idea what I’m talking about, of course. See, not fully developed thought. My point of thinking of him, had to do with emphasis – a lot of the lesbian fiction mysteries I’ve read have had romance be something of much greater importance than the mystery (at least those that include the police – there are many wherein it seems as if the characters in the story forget that there’s actually a mystery to solve, in favor of . . . um . . humping); while this book here gives greater importance to the mystery.

Still, no inherent reason to bring Lovesey up. It was just a thought that had crossed my mind at some point. Lovesey’s books, specifically those that involve Peter Diamond, are ones that involve murder investigations set in England which is a more leaning 2 (depending on book and scene) with occasional dips into injecting romance. As in there is a lot of importance on characters.

Right. No idea why I had that thought. Let’s move on.

This book was a rather thrilling exciting mystery that included the right mix of romance. Granted, those who look for romance, as in capital R Romance, should probably look elsewhere, but there is a flavor of it here.

There is one slight issue I have with the book. Though it is hard to indicate my 'issue' when it occurs so late in the book that I can't really mention it. I'll just say that there is something of a cliche in lesbian mystery books that pops up near the end. Though, to be fair, I've seen the scenario play out similarly in 'mainstream' fiction. I've just seen it more often in lesbian mystery books for whatever reason. Also, to be fair, this "cliche' is handled quite well in this book.

Despite my 'issue', this a rather good book. Quite enjoyable. I would probably give the book a relatively solid rating of 4.70.

May 4 2016

Girls With Guns by Carsen Taite, Michelle Grubb, Ali Vali

Girls With Guns
by Carsen Taite, Michelle Grubb, Ali Vali
Pages: 240
Date: April 12 2016
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: N/A

Review
Rating: 4.85, 4.74, and 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 29 2016

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book containing short works by three different authors. Michelle Grubb, Carsen Taite, and Ali Vali. Vali is someone who has been on my radar for two or more years now. This will be my first time reading something by her. Grubb and Taite were, oddly enough, two I looked at for the first time earlier this month. I am not certain, though, if I checked them out this month because of this book, or because I'd spotted their names among books read by friends and others. I occasionally go through authors other people have read and liked, and believe I checked Taite and Grubb out because of that tactic.

First Story: Bow and Arrow by Carsen Taite
The first story in the book, despite the line up of the authors on the cover, is Bow and Arrow by Carsen Taite. As noted, this is my first story by this author. So I do not know if Luca Bennett, Jessica Chance, or, for that matter, if Teresa Perez or Cris Perez-Soria have appeared in anything by Taite before now (ETA: there is a three book Luca Bennett series that Chance appears in. Going by the book descriptions, this story here might be considered 3.5 (not rating, but series order number; three books then this short story). I know books like this have a tendency to have one of three types of stories – (1) a story involving a character from a series (either as a cameo or as the lead character in the story); (2) a completely new set of characters; or (3) stories by different authors that are, in some way, linked together by character, story, events, or some other issue. I do not know, yet, which category these stories in the book fall under.

Bow and Arrow follows Luca Bennett, ex-cop, and current bounty hunter. The story starts with her returning to work after having been shot. At work she's a bounty hunter, so it's a good thing that she's on the hunt for a fugitive (since that's what they pay her to do). She’d rather be at home wiggling around with her love, Jessica Chance, but her boss would be annoyed if she didn’t actually return to work at some point. So there she is, in her car, watching a place she believes a suspect is located. She has her dog Cash with her.

Relatively easily . . . well, I’ll go ahead and note this issue. She momentarily captures the fugitive but he has information on another fugitive, someone by the name of Teresa Perez. Another ex-cop, and someone who had previous run-ins with Chance and Bennett (a kidnapping of Chance was mentioned, the part where Bennett had been shot might be related, but not sure – the events that occur in this story kind of lead me to believe I might be following up on a previous story). Perez is someone both Chance and Bennett really want. So Bennett is going to go after her.

Just a quick note – I do not know why I keep calling her Bennett, I believe she gets called Luca a lot more often, but I got kind of trapped there in which names to use.

Okay then, the story will be about a former cop, current bounty hunter who will be investigating a fugitive cop (though she herself had not specifically been assigned to find said ex-cop). Except . . . complications ensue. Luca has jury-duty. Heh. Kind of neat in its way. Must investigate! Have leads! Must . . . wait? What? Well crap. *sitting impatiently in a jury waiting room . . . waiting for the obvious dismissal . . . waiting. Name called. Waiting for the questions from the lawyers. She’s an ex-cop who lives with a cop, and hunts fugitives, obviously she’s going to be bumped . . . except she isn’t bumped*.

It’s neat to see a case from the jury-perspective, especially through someone who knows investigations and the like. So the story turns to Luca investigating the missing/fugitive cop and attending trial. As a jury-member.

I mentioned another name above. Way way above. That of Cris Perez-Soria. But hadn’t mentioned her yet. She’s a fellow jury-member and really talkative. Really enjoys the chance to be a jury-member. And stuff. She had too many lines, so to speak, for me not to include her name above in the list of people who might have previously appeared in a Taite book.

I rather liked Luca Bennett. And the story was quite neat. I didn’t particularly like Cris, but she’s not the lead so whatever. A few more things before I give a rating: (1) Romance – Jess and Luca are already a couple when this story opens. They appear lovey-dovey, though there are a few complications. (2) Sex – possible I missed it, but there wasn’t any. (3) Mystery/Trial – both were about what I’d expect for a short work and I have no complaints there. (4) Short work - I was at 28% of the file when the story ended. The book is listed as being 240 pages. So that’s 67.2 pages for this part of the book.

This specific short story I’d give a rating of 4.85 out of 5 stars. I’m quite interested in looking into other stories by Carsen Taite, though I have ‘experiences’ with tackling people who write both short and long work. Boiled down – I grew up reading short story collections (best of [insert year]; Treasury of the best [insert genre]) and short story magazines. I found out several things. Short stories are something in and of themselves (and not just fragments of a larger story; though serial stories exist as well). There are good ones, great ones, and crap ones. And the skill to write an outstanding short story does not always translate to the ability to write a great book (and the opposite also applies). There are some authors who I hated when I tried them in short story form (Jack McDevitt), but loved in long form (McDevitt – tried a long form by accident). And some I love in short form, but never really loved anything they wrote long form (many names could go here, I’ll just use Lawrence Block as an example). So, my near 5 star rating for this short story does not mean I’ll instantly love anything and everything by Taite.

Second Story: Hammersmith by Michelle Grubb
As I mentioned, I’ve read none of these authors before, including Grubb. Hammersmith involves a woman named Belinda Riley. She works for an anti-terrorism unit in London England, specifically the unit that monitors the underground (as in the mass-transit trains that run underground; USA – mass transit trains running underground get called subways, not sure ‘underground’ gets used for anything in the USA (except, say, underground railroad (which, to confuse things, wasn't actually a railroad)); UK – mass transit trains running underground get called ‘underground’ (or ‘tube’), ‘subway’ is an underground passage for pedestrians to use. At least these were the definitions in use when I was in London in the ‘90s).

Riley is relatively new in the unit, though she’s been in the police for a while now. She’s 30, but can pass for 21. This is important, not specifically being able to pass as 21, but being able to ‘blend in’, to not look like an obvious cop. Because that’s what she does for half her day, ride around (or stand around on platforms) underground. Other half of the day is spent in training. Oh, and for those who recall the title of this book – ‘Girls with Guns’ and know UK police tend to not be armed, they have special units that are armed, well – as luck would have it, anti-terrorism is one of the units that are armed.

The story consists of Riley riding around on the train, and, separately, unwinding with her current new-ish girlfriend Esther (who is, apparently, around 36). Quite an interesting story, though for a moment there I was recalling how the first story didn’t have sex. And how lesbian romance/fiction tends to at least hint at it. And, for a moment or two, I was thinking that this story here, Hammersmith, was the sex part. Because Riley and Esther spend a rather good amount of time humping. But no, there is also police work as well.

By the way, I’m writing these notes before I’ve finished the story. Not sure how far along I am, though I could be close to the end (I was at the 40% mark when I wrote this sentence, and the story ends at the 63% mark). And I kind of got a feeling about how things are going to unfold. Though they haven’t exactly unfolded yet. As of now, Riley is on alert for a ‘cleaner’ (suicide bomber). And is following orders to get off trains, get on trains, etc.

Note: I read most of this story . . . um, I don’t know how long this story is. Okay, I read the start of this story while on the train. While Riley was on the train. Checking people out. Seeing if they might be a suicide bomber. Hearing something that heightens her alertness . . etc. Quite a way to heighten my own tension and the suspense of the story – to read that while actually being on the train. Conversely, I read the sex part on the train as well. Not exactly where I wish to read about someone being bent over, their pants lowered, and their knickers lowered, and stuff occurs.

More to come . . . now.

Baring the note about sex, I last left things with me hovering in the middle of the story with a strong sense of how things were going to unfold. I was both wrong and right. I can’t really say what I mean without giving too much away.

I feel like a giant hand picked me up, put me into a blender, then a giant finger hovered over a button for a while. Then pressed the button. That’s the way this story made me feel. Like I’d been blended. Or, well, like I’d been put through a blender.

I rather liked Riley. I’m not certain how I feel about anyone else in the story, including Esther, but Riley I liked. It was a rather neat story – the action and adventure, the twists and turns, the danger. Quite exciting. Can’t say anything about the sex, though. There were two sex scenes – one occurred while I was on a crowded train, and the other occurred while I was out in public eating lunch. So I mostly skimmed those parts to make sure I didn’t miss anything, but didn’t get too involved with the graphic sexual stuff. So I can’t say anything about the quality of that specific issue. I know people were dying to know what I thought of the sex. Hehe.

A good story. I’ll look for more by Michelle Grubb. If the story had unfolded the way I thought it might be unfolding I probably would have given the story something around 4 something out of 5 stars. Because it unfolded the way it did unfold, I’d give it closer to 4.75 out of 5 stars.

I’ve now read 63% percent of the book. So, I can say that I’d rate the first 63% of the book 4.8. Oh, and taking up 35% of the book, as ‘Hammersmith’ did, puts it at roughly 84 pages in length. Assuming the second half has ‘extra stuff’ (tiny brief mentions of other books by the publisher) as books by this publisher normally does, then the last story is something shorter than 37% of the whole book (or roughly 88.8 pages).

Third Story: Hell Fire by Ali Vali
Hell Fire involves someone named Dr. Abigail Langois Eaton. And someone named Agent Riley Abbott (shesh, bad parents! Don’t give your kid the first name of Agent! *I weird*). And . . . I don’t know any more than what anyone can read from the book description. As noted, I’ve not yet finished the second story yet.

Abigail Eaton is in New York with her three young children (6 year old Victoria, 3 year old Liam, and 8 year old Sadie. They are there to meet up with Eaton’s in-laws. The Eaton’s are, apparently, wealthy, and the kids stand to inherit some money. Especially as Frederick and Nicola are now dead (Nicola being Abigail’s partner, and Frederick being Nicola’s brother).

While hurrying to meet up with the in-laws in some restaurant, Abigail and family run into a bunch of people holding weapons and shooting them into a limo bus. Abigail, naturally, flees from the scene with her kids.

Riley Abbott, first introduced in the story as ‘Detective Riley Abbott’ despite the description calling her ‘Agent Riley Abbott’, is in the Bronx tracking . . . something. Involving computers. She’s a computer expert. As far as the guy whose Bronx precinct she is in, Captain Brock Howard, Abbott is a detective sent there, with Roberta Schumer, to tackle some kind of signal that got sent through a computer in Howard’s building. Sent there by the Police Commissioner, at least that’s what Howard thinks . . . was told . . whatever. In reality, though, Detective Riley Abbott is in fact Agent Riley Abbott, of the FBI. She’s working undercover as a detective in the NYPD police department.

During a visit with her FBI boss, Riley gets involved with the earlier mentioned shooting that is in the process of being investigated. Since she’s good with computers, she is asked to sit and move the camera around. The shooters all wore masks. The driver of the limo is gone. The riders of the limo are dead. The cameras do pick up, though, a woman with kids fleeing the scene. Riley’s tasked with tracking down that woman.

I rather dislike Abigail. Life in danger, what’s she do? Everything, it seems, that’s stupid so that her life and her children’s life’s are put into more danger. At least that’s the way things seemed. Bah I disliked her. I’m not sure if putting Dr. in front of her name saves her from TSTL (To Stupid To Live), but maybe. Let me be more exact. As an example – after being shot in the arm, she’s taken to a hotel. A cop is there to try to help. That ‘cop’ being Riley. Harsh pounding on the door. The cop tells Abigail to step back into the bedroom (which she just exited so she’s inches from there), the same bedroom that contains her kids. Abigail, just like earlier when the in-laws told her to leave the city, does the opposite of everything she’s told to do. She refuses to do the smart thing. Like take cover. Gun fire erupts. TSTL? Probably. Heheheheh. Crap. Stubbornly resisting all advice. Up to know she’s been weirdly strong (get shot in the arm? Pfft, whatever. For fuck sake, she didn’t even bother to check to see if her kids were okay). Then the cop tells her to take a breath and she screams hysterically (Abigail, that is), and can’t stop crying. WTF? What the hell kind of personality is being revealed here? Abigail really annoys me.

Shesh, everyone except for Riley, and possibly Riley’s boss Russell, are super emotional freaks of nature.

This short story started off well enough. And it kept my attention. But . . . I had problems with everything except, possibly, Riley. The plot/emotions/everything was over the top. The romance was quite odd on several levels. It was if I had accidentally missed an important scene or something several times. Two reasons - they went from 'I'm a cop protecting you' to 'we love each other' kind of in a single bound without much in the way of connecting text; there is a scene wherein Abigail was profusely apologizing to Riley - I had no inherent problem with that except for the part where I had no clue why she was apologizing. Maybe there was a scene that got left out of my copy of the book? Riley left to go do something, came back and . . . Abigail became stating things like how she needed to apologize. I was super confused.

Overall
I'm reminded of what I put in one of the paragraphs up with the first story - I've long experience with reading short stories hoping to find authors to pursue. Some authors are good at short, medium, and long stories. Some are not. So, just because I loved the first two stories in this book doesn't mean I'd love a full length book by either (though I hope I will); nor does it mean that the fact that I didn't particularly like the last short story in this collection that I'd never like anything by that author. So, I'll probably run across all three authors again.

It is unfortunate that I ended up with two stories near 5 stars each and ended with a story closer to 3 stars. Means I end up with an overall rating for the book of 4.2 stars.

March 29 2016

True Blue Colors by Kelli Jae Baeli

True Blue Colors
by Kelli Jae Baeli
Pages: 12
Date: December 20 2013
Publisher: Self
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 16 2016
Always the best reason to read a story, eh? Because it's been on my possibilities list for a longish time, and I'm tired of it being there. Plus, it's only 12 pages in length. So . . I'm going to 'get rid of it' now. I go in knowing that this is just a snippet, a scene, a not-complete story. So maybe I'll get something out of it, eh?

This will be my 11th thing read by this author.

Well, story started off interesting - a woman, Veronica Polk, is floating in the ocean recalling how she ended up there (hmms, I've read at least one other book like that, I don't think it's going to be like Pincher Martin, though, since that one involved someone getting flashes of their life while dying/drowning out on the ocean . . . at least I hope it isn't like that).

She pushed herself upright in the water, kicking to stay afloat, and studied the shoreline. It appeared like the view of a photograph held in front of her face. Not exactly to scale. Who'd be fool enough to believe she could swim that far? (Kindle Locations 32-34).

Interesting little itty bitty tiny snippet of a story. A police officer goes undercover. Goes all out to try to do her duty. The end. hmms. Ah well, I knew it was just a snippet.

Oh, and by the way, there's no sex, no indication of gender orientation, no nothing like that. It matters, to the storyline, that the character is female, but otherwise she could have been an asexual blog of flesh for all it mattered to what occurred in the snippet.

March 16 2016

Death Comes Darkly by David S. Pederson

Death Comes Darkly
by David S. Pederson
Pages: 240
Date: April 1 2016
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series:

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 6 to 8 2016

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for a honest review.

My first book by this author and first MM book I’ve read through Bold Strokes Books.

I was going to add a comment about how I normally read lesbian romance fiction through Bold Strokes Books, both in relation to the MM nature of the book, and to the mystery. But then I looked it up. I’ve read at least 14 mysteries through Bold Strokes Books – granted the vast majority of those books are in one series, the Micky Knight series.

The Characters
The book is from the point of view of one Heath Barrington. If this was a romance I’d probably include a large amount of information about each character. Though, I’d probably just be talking about two characters, not all of them of importance. But since this is a mystery, and each little fact might be an important clue, my character descriptions will have to be relatively bare bones.

Heath Barrington - a police detective from Milwaukee. The reader learns relatively early on that Heath: (1) missed WWII because a) flat foot; b) was in the police force during the war; (2) is a gay man who is a) not out to his family or others; but b) has had homosexual relationships; and c) really, and I mean really, enjoys gazing lustfully upon the features of other men. The book opens with Heath in the last stages of getting ready to head off to Lake Geneva – he had been invited to go there by a rich stranger who indicated that he wanted to meet Heath – implication being that it’s related to Heath’s one police investigation, which he had just completed.
Significant other connections: Talks with his mother on the phone; father alive as well, though he is only mentioned; there’s an aunt – sister of his mother, who the reader is given to understand is more sophisticated than her sister; and there’s a boyfriend named Alan Keyes. But he’ll have his own little paragraph.

Alan Keyes - police officer in Milwaukee. Is, apparently, dating Heath Barrington, though the relationship is new-ish (they seemed to have a longer term relationship at the start of the book, but then things started popping up indicating that their relationship was actually of a much more recent occurrence). He gets his own little paragraph because he makes an appearance in Lake Geneva – he’s Heath’s plus one.

Dexter Darkly - a rich old man who has invited a bunch of people to his lake house for a weekend. He is, in his way, this books Mr. Boddy – the host in the film Clue who invited a bunch of people to his house, though all his visitors, it would appear, hate their host. In this case, Dexter’s invitations went to family members, and to a police detective. Everyone, though, but for the police, the butler, and the cook know each other. Unlike in Clue.
Significant other connections: Basically everyone he invited, plus Nigel Darkly – his favorite offspring; Constance Darkly – his first wife.

Harwood ‘Woody’ Acres - a young man who had been a ‘special’ friend of Nigel Darkly – Dexter’s son. Dexter drove off Woody as he didn’t think he was a good influence on his son. He received an invitation, like some of the others, and decided to attend the weekend festivities.
Significant other connections: Nigel Darkly – his dead gay lover (well, they were lovers when Nigel was alive; I didn’t mean to imply that Nigel was a vampire or anything like that, because he isn’t).

Lorraine Darkly - Dexter’s second wife. They divorced about 2 or so years ago. Received an invitation to attend the weekend events.

Violet Darkly Atwater - Dexter’s bitter daughter who had spent ten years on earth before her brother Nigel appeared. She was never in her father’s ‘good graces’, since she’s a girl, but she definitely got displaced completely when Nigel came along. She has kids and is married to Dr. Acres. Dexter didn’t attend the wedding, and it isn’t super clear, but I think Dexter has never met his daughter’s children.

Dr. Preston Atwater - Violet’s husband, a medical doctor, and not formally invited by Dexter to visit during the weekend (the invitation was to Violet Darkly, not Violet Atwater).

Mr. Donovan Doubleday - Dexter Darkly’s brother-in-law, brother of Dexter’s first wife Constance. Was not formally invited to the weekend events by Dexter, but by his niece Violet.

Henry and Nora Bishop - somewhat elderly butler and cook, who had just joined Darkly’s employee shortly before winterizing the house. In which they also lived during the winter, by themselves, to ‘watch over it’.

The Setting
The year is 1947. The place is Lake Geneva. I’m not exactly sure where that is located, though it appears to be within shortish train rides from Milwaukee and Chicago (possibly Lake Geneva Wisconsin). The ‘summer people’ normally turn up in the summer, specifically on or after Memorial Day.

Dexter Darkly, though, has invited a group of people for a weekend visit before the official start of the season. So things are, as would be expected, colder than normal. And the house wasn’t built to be a year round house. Most of the action in the book takes place in that house (or surrounding it).

The Mystery
With the set-up being the way it is, the murder victim should be clear as day, eh? There is a gathering of people at a lake house. Everyone, except supposedly the butler, cook, and the two police officers, has a motive – and a hatred of the owner of that house. Naturally, that means that the owner is the one who died. And everyone had opportunity and means.

There’s a storm that hit around the time the murder occurred, and outside communication, as it tends to do in these types of books, has been cut off for a short period of time (a night? Longer?).

So there is a murder. Due to the circumstances of the events, there are a limited number of possible suspects. All but four have stated motives (the husband of Violet, Dr. Acres, has a less visible motive but is the husband of Dexter’s daughter (implication being that whatever motive that Violet might have could conceivably be stretched to include the husband; or, you know, being the husband of the rich Dexter Darkly’s only living offspring could be a motive in and of itself). Those four without obvious motives being Heath Barrington, Alan Keyes, Nora & Henry Bishop. Those with obvious motives include Woody Acres, Violet Atwater, and Lorraine Darkly. Those with slightly less obvious motives would include Dr. Atwater, and Mr. Donovan Doubleday.

Just like I mentioned the film Clue in another section, there’s a vaguely strong vibe coming off the book for various reasons. Gathering of people who hate the host. Storm outside. Certain identity questions. Etc. But then again, there was also a vague vibe of Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie, at least there was before I started. A gathering of people to a remote location. Cut off for a certain amount of time. Death descends . . . except there’s less death here than I’d expect so that wipes that connection, eh?

The Police Work
Fiction of a certain era, the 1920s Golden Age, had a tendency to include a scene wherein the police talk in front of a crowd of suspects. Various ways that can come about, but they tended to do that when they wished to ‘reveal’ what happened, or – more often, wished to get a suspect to do or say something revealing. The point is that they already have the facts. There is a purpose to their madness, so to speak.

The idea of interviewing witnesses/suspects separate from one another was a concept known by 1947. At least in fiction. I know, because I’ve read books from before then (written before then; not referring to books set before then) that made a point of having separate interviews.

I mention because the very first interview, if I recall the sequence right, was a joint one. Involving both Nora and Henry Bishop (butler and cook – married to each other). Then some separate interviews, then an interview conducted before all parties during dinner – including in said interview those who had not yet had a discussion with the out-of-jurisdiction police (Heath Barrington and Alan Keyes are police in Milwaukee not Lake Geneva). And the thing you would expect to happen, happened – well, one of the things, a conflict broke out with people pointing fingers and the like. What do you expect if you start a discussion like that at dinner? (note: I mentioned that dramatic ‘reveal’ in the drawing room type of thing that occurred in 1920s books, well I didn’t mean to imply, by mentioning the dinner group interview, that the dramatic reveal did or didn’t occur. I think I’m being pointlessly cryptic there.)

Poor police work there. *shrugs* I don’t know, there’s a point of mentioning that Barrington has had only one case as a detective. Maybe he’s just really green?

That group interview thing gets repeated more than once. Annoying that. More police work appears much more in line with what I expect. That group interview thing, though, reads like something someone saw in a film or read in an old book (‘I strode about the room amongst them as I spoke. I’d seen a detective do that in a movie once.’ – location 2753 of 3140). Mmphs.

Overall
The book didn’t immediately pull me in, but there were definitely moments when I felt drawn into the action/events. Vaguely confusing about the number of gay men bouncing around in the book. Heath’s there because he’s the star of the show; Alan gets pulled in because he’s Heath’s ‘plus one’ for the weekend vacation at Lake Geneva. But then there’s also the dead son Nigel, and Nigel’s ‘special friend’ Woody Acres. I believe that’s four more than I usually encounter in mysteries set in the early part of the 20th century.

Moving on to the mystery – it’s well written for what it is. Intriguing even. It’s relatively thin, but still, you don’t need a whole lot to create a mystery novel. Some odd choices by the guy unofficially playing detective, sure he is a police detective, but not in that jurisdiction.

Overall . . . . you know how I keep mentioning the film Clue? Well, I have good reason for doing so. Complicated book, it was. Interesting. Enjoyable. Readable and entertaining. And if this actually is a start to a series, I’d read the next.

March 8 2016

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