Murder at the Nightwood Bar

August 5, 1988
Dory Quillin, a homeless 19-year-old cocaine addict and prostitute is found outside the Nightwood Bar, a lesbian hangout, with her head smashed in. Is one of the older lesbians who frequent the bar the murderer? Was it a random "fag bashing?'' Was her elusive ex-lover involved? What is the significance of the drugs and john list found in the victim's Volkswagen van? These are some of the questions facing Kate Delafield, an L.A.P.D. homicide detective and a lesbian herself, who must overcome the ingrained reticence of Dory's friends and her own discomfort at her official rolewhich antagonizes women she feels sympathy for. The trail to a solution goes by way of Dory's businessman clients, her wonderfully eccentric psychiatrist (a woman who regularly uses ``Goddess'' as an interjection), her repressed, deeply religious parents and her former lover. Refreshing in part for not portraying all women as wonderful and all men as evil, this bookwith its surprising endingmakes for a satisfying mystery.