Jackson Square Jazz
by Greg Herren

Order this book from Powell's secure web site.

Greg Herren gives readers a tantalizing glimpse of New Orleans.
 --The Midwest Book Review
 

Scotty Bradley is nobody's idea of a saint, but when you live in a place like New Orleans, the equivalent of a gay candy store, it's a bit hard to be monogamous. Unfortunately, Scotty's straight-arrow, FBI agent, sort-of boyfriend Frank has other ideas--deep, committed love ideas. It's enough to send a guy into full-fledged slut mode, which is how Scotty finds himself nursing a massive hangover in a hotel room with cutie pie Bryce Bell, he of the rounded backside and sheepish grin. It turns out that Bryce is the hottest young figure skater in the country. He's also hiding a secret bigger than his Joe Boxers. Always game for a good time, Scotty is thrilled to get a sly invitation and Bryce's hotel key card delivered via a Skate America usher. But what Scotty finds when he arrives at the hotel isn't the gay blade himself, but a dead body, stabbed through the heart. Suddenly, Scotty is thrust into Bryce's other life and his ambiguous connection to an unsolved crime that has haunted the New Orleans police for years--the theft of a priceless artifact from the Cabildo Museum, which was burned to the ground. Scotty is also drawn back into the arms of Colin, the world's sexiest cat burglar, who has a lot of light to shed on the Cabildo fire. Still, there's something not quite right about this case, something hidden and potentially devastating. Scotty feels it through his tarot readings and sees it in his increasingly terrifying visions. What is the connection that underlies Bryce's twisted family secrets, an artifact worth killing for, and a troubling incident from Scotty's own past? As he races to unravel the mystery, Scotty feels himself chilled by a foreboding unlike any he has ever known.As smooth and refreshing as an ice-cold bottle of Jax beer, as sexy as the smoky jazz clubs of New Orleans, Jackson Square Jazz is Greg Herren's most entertaining novel to date.

An Intimate Ghost

But someone in The Fireman's life can't let go, and, blaming Ray for the man's death, plots a meticulous revenge. Both Jane and her brother Peter, who is already under terrible stress because of a troubled marriage, feel the heat of the avenger's plan.
But Jane is intimately familiar with danger, and she's never been one to shrink from a fight. With the help of her best friend Cordelia, Jane sets out to discover why this person is so determined to undo her family. When she begins to dig into The Fireman's life, the puzzle unravels, leading Jane to a final confrontation with someone bent on making the Lawlesses pay, perhaps with their lives.

Author:
Ellen Hart, multiple Lambda Award winner and two-time Minnesota Book Award winner, is the author of twelve Jane Lawless mysteries, including most recently An Intimate Ghost, and the Sophie Greenway mystery series. She lives in Minneapolis.
 

The Long Firm

Harry Starks' barbarity and elan stand out, even among the firms (or mobs) of London's underworld in the sixties where he is a major hoodlum and gay impresario.

Review:  "British writer Arnott's ingeniously constructed first novel, set in the criminal world of London's West End and reminiscent of such recent films as The Long Good Friday and The Krays, is in fact already being made into a five-part BBC-TV miniseries. Ruthless mobster Harry Starks ('The Torture Gang Boss') is shown to us through the eyes of five 'associates' who cross his path at various points throughout the '60s, a decade when Harry's power is challenged only by the malevolent (real-life) Kray twins (briefly flickering offstage presences in a gaudy narrative that also notes appearances by Judy Garland, Johnnie Ray, and Evelyn Waugh, among other celebs)....Harry -- whom we see only as these others see him -- is a very considerable creation: a romantic who loves show business and its people (he owns a nightclub, the Stardust) as well as beautiful young men, and also a remorseless sadist....Arnott keeps us guessing how he'll continue topping himself, in an extravagantly energized narrative leavened by occasional outcroppings of grim humor (a carefully planned hit, for example, fizzles when its intended victim simply isn't home). A terrific debut." Kirkus Reviews

Review:
"In the opening paragraphs of this distinctive crime novel, the narrator is tied to a chair, about to be burned with a white-hot poker, while his tormentor recalls lyrics from an Ethel Merman song. With such a beginning, it's startling to find yourself feeling compassion for the tormentor. But Harry Starks is a complex and compelling character." Booklist

Review:
"The Long Firm is a great read from start to finish, gathering pace and depth as it goes. And that's in the face of the challenging construction Arnott sets himself, involving five first-person narrators who are drawn into the Starks orbit at different stages in his career. Picking up the story, each of them must win us around all over again -- and resoundingly do so....All these narrators offer rich doses of pathos and humor, but what distinguishes them as fictional creations is their touching self-knowledge....But overshadowing them is the towering figure of Harry. Viewed from the narrators' different angles, he comes to lodge in the mind as an almost historical presence; like every good gangster, he earns our respect, even affection, at the same time as our horror. With his manic depression, his adoration of Judy Garland, his touching domesticity with his rent-boys, and his octopus-like reach through the strata of British society (if the 60's swung, they also leveled), Harry emerges as a kind of demigod of the demimonde....There may be the odd lapse in tone, in particular a kind of essayishness that afflicts each voice now and then, but not enough to matter. A 60's gangster novel with a compelling plot, poignant characters and plenty of wit: who cares if the gangster is called Harry?" Henry Shukman, The New York Times Book Review
 

The Family Jewels: A Gay Comedic Mystery
by Iory Allison

The young antiquarian from an old Boston family and his sister had just inherited their aunt's Back Bay town house. As they walked through the home they felt the sorrow and excitement of new heirs and they reminisced about their childhood days in this antiquated residence where nothing had changed for years. Upstairs in a shuttered bedroom, an ornately enameled chest lured them by its barbaric splendor, and they were compelled to open it. Inside they found a key.
 

"The Family Jewels is a comedic mystery and the first book of the trilogy, "Glamour Galore. Our industrious author is madly scribbling away with frantic haste the next two novels.

 "Naughty Astronautess, the middle novel, recounts the adventures of the first drag queen astronaut. The concluding novel, "The Mermaid and the Sailor, is a romantic romp set in Provincetown. These three Gay novels are escapist froth intended to make you laugh while you ponder the human condition.
 

Blind Eye: A Benjamin Justice Novel
(Benjamin Justice Mysteries (Paperback))
by John Morgan Wilson
Available for Pre-Order Now

While looking into the murder of a friend's fiancé, disgraced journalist Benjamin Justice uncovers a plot surrounding the new cathedral being constructed in Los Angeles and the archbishop of the diocese, in this installment of the Edgar-Award winning Benjamin Justice series. Coming Soon --

2004 Winner
Gay Men's Mystery Lambda Literary Awards

2004 Winner
Lesbian Mystery
Lambda Literary Awards