Blackmail, My Love
A Murder Mystery
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3.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Lambda Award 2015 for Best Gay Mystery! Josie O'Conner travels to San Francisco in 1951 to locate her gay brother, a private eye investigating a blackmail ring targeting lesbians and gay men. Jimmy's friends claim that just before he disappeared he became a rat, informing the cops on the bar community. Josie adopts Jimmy's trousers and wingtips, to clear his name, halt the blackmailers, and exact justice for too many queer corpses. Along the way she rubs shoulders with a sultry chanteuse running a dyke tavern called Pandora's Box, gets intimate with a red-headed madam operating a brothel from the Police Personnel Department, and conspires with the star of Finocchio's, a dive so disreputable it's off limits to servicemen — so every man in uniform pays a visit.
Blackmail, My Love is an illustrated murder mystery deeply steeped in San Francisco's queer history, as established academic and first-time novelist Katie Gilmartin's diverse set of characters negotiate the risks of same-sex desire in a dangerous era. Set in such legendary locations as the Black Cat Cafe, the Fillmore, the Beat movement's North Beach, and the Tenderloin, Blackmail, My Love is a singular, stunning introduction to a new author and to gay noir.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in San Francisco in 1951, Gilmartin's debut artfully combines a murder mystery with a moving portrait of the thriving underground community of gays and lesbians and its institutionalized persecution. Josephine O'Conner comes to the city to find her brother Jimmy O'Conner, a closeted gay ex-cop, who's gone missing. With no help from the police, she searches among various gay gathering places, sometimes dressed as a man. Overcoming the initial distrust of the diverse people she meets, Josephine uncovers a vicious blackmail scheme targeting members of the gay community. Gilmartin effectively uses real sites such as the Black Cat as well as highlighting the laws and mores of the time that resulted in a purge of government employees suspected of being gay. When Josephine's search for answers leads to murder, a homophobic cop tries to shut her down. This is a searing reminder of an ugly time in our recent past.
