Murder by Tradition (A Kate Delafield Mystery) - Softcover

Katherine V. Forrest is twice winner of the Lambda Literary Award for best mystery, and has been recently honored with the Pioneer Award from the Lambda Literary Foundation.

In the brutal murder of Teddie Crawford, co-owner of Tradition, a trendy restaurant/catering business, presence of cocaine, multiple stab wounds, and a blood-spattered crime scene initially suggest a coke party gone bad, but homicide detective Kate Delafield quickly senses that this answer is too simplistic. The first half of the book goes quickly as we watch Kate move through the painstaking process of identifying the suspect and booking him. This is more than just a police procedural, however. The story also explores public attitudes toward homosexuality and the paradoxical nature of a judicial system that sometimes thwarts justice. A high-powered attorney takes the suspect's case and it becomes apparent that he intends to persuade the jury that Crawford deserved his death for attempting to force himself sexually on his straight client. Kate allies herself with Linda Foster, a tough young female d.a., who takes center stage for the remainder of the book. The murder trial that follows is taut and at times more compelling than the police investigation that preceded it. Forrest also lets us see the strains on Kate's life as she pursues the case. The defense attorney knows she is a lesbian and could use it against the prosecution. Kate's male partner is lazy and contemptuous of gays. Her lover, Aimee, appears briefly to provide comfort, although her inability to truly understand the affect of the politically explosive case on her older lover is vaguely troubling. Apart from a couple of strident message scenes in a lesbian bar, Murder by Tradition is suspenseful and wellwritten and Forrest's realistic depiction of the uneven justice afforded gays adds an important dimension to a solid story. -- From Independent Publisher