Murder at the Nightwood Bar

This was a very well written crime novel. It has the interesting detective and a murder with a great many questions. The personal details of our lead character, are kept to a good minimum, allowing us to pursue the killer and not become entangled in the Dr. Phil problems of the lead characters (which is often the price we pay when indulging in the lesbian detective novel, or any female detective novel for that matter). This quality of crime novel is not easy to find among the Dectives of this genre. There are those of us who crave good crime novels and it would seem that many authors labor under the delusion that we are also looking to indulge in the psychological angst and the romantic prowess of the characters. I personally outgrew romance novels when I got my driver's license. Thanks to this author for a very well orchestrated mystery.

A young woman is found murdered outside a lesbian bar, and Kate Delafield is on the case. The young woman was a prostitute and a junkie who was rejected by her judgmental parents, all of which gives Kate a plethora of suspects. During the investigation, Kate has a brief liaison with a woman from the lesbian bar, and ultimately reconnects with the lesbian community, which she hadn't done for years. And when Kate discovers who killed the young woman, it's a jolt to the reader as well, even if, like myself, you suspected it. Forrest is a gifted writer, showing in her second Delafield mystery the reasons why she has such a devoted following.

This was the first in the Delafield series that I read and I've been an addict ever since. This book, along with Beverly Malibu, is one of the best in the series and an excellent read. Great story of how lesbians react to their own who wear badges, and how those women officers deal with it.

This book is perfect to me. Every actor seems to be alive. And if you know L.A., you know the Nightwood Bar and every place in this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The character development was well thought out, the plot was superiour, and the entire book held my attention from beginning to end! It's also nice to see a lesbian main character go through "real life".