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.

Right. I'm not great with reviews so I'll just leave it as normal. Just some notes randomly strewn about in a small "what do you thing" box. ( )

This second book in the Kate Delafield mystery series is so much better than the first one on multiple levels. They mystery itself seems more tightly constructed and there's more of a 'usual' mystery than in "Amateur City", one set up in a more conventional way.

It's the murder of a young woman in the parking lot of a strip mall that also includes a lesbian bar that begins this mystery. From there it wasn't too surprising a middle or an ending, but it was an enjoyable read.

Again, there were lots of characters and each of them was just as --unique-- as in the first book.

I will say that the whole 'fling with a person somehow related to the case' thing got a bit old, but, we'll see what happens in the next book in the series. ( )

This was probably one of the first lesbian detective fiction books i read - and the rest of the series in quick succession afterwards.
At one time Cybill Shepherd had the rights to this book and tried to get a movie made. ( )