Hancock Park (A Kate Delafield Mystery Series, 8) - Softcover

Katherine V. Forrest is the groundbreaking author of Curious Wine, the Kate Delafield mystery series and the Daughters science-fiction series. She’s also known as a prolific editor with anthology and non-fiction credits in her own name as well as the editor of hundreds of novels. Dozens of lesbian writers count her among their mentors. Selected as the 2009 recipient of the Publishing Triangle’s Bill Whitehead Lifetime Achievement award, winner of five Lambda Literary Awards and the GCLS 2009 Trailblazer Award, she is widely credited as a founding mother of lesbian fiction writing. Katherine lives with her partner Jo in the Southern California desert. In addition to writing and editing, Katherine is also the Supervising Editor of Spinsters Ink.

In Forrest's not quite noir, somewhat flat legal drama, the fifth in her Kate Delafield series (Amateur City, etc.), the seasoned LAPD detective investigates a murder in the affluent low-crime enclave of Hancock Park. Dysfunctional family values are scrutinized in the press and in a heated courtroom scrimmage, where the slip of a word or facial tic can arm a clever defense attorney. When the corpse of middle-aged matron Victoria Talbot turns up in her stately, suspiciously spick-and-span home, most of the evidence points to her unrepentant and loathsome ex-husband, entrepreneur Douglas Talbot. Kate and faithful partner Detective Joe Cameron structure the developing leads into a damning picture of guilt. The coldly competent deputy DA presents the circumstantial case against Talbot, whose harassment of his ex-wife long after the divorce speaks volumes. But a last-minute bombshell à la Perry Mason adds an unexpected twist. The author's realistic rendering of courtroom hijinks and her sympathetic, ultra-professional, strong yet vulnerable protagonist help salvage a less than exciting story line. Some of the more intriguing characters get short shrift, leeching color from the whole, but loyal fans won't be disappointed.
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