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Valentine & Lovelace Mystery #3
Slate: Daniel Valentine and Clarisse Lovelace #3
Like the rest of this cracklingly witty, fast-paced series, Slate is set in an exuberantly pre-AIDS world, when to be young, attractive, and the owner of a successful gay bar was a dandy thing indeed. Clarisse has hauled her dainty posterior off to law school, Valentine has opened Boston s grooviest gay boite, Donna Summer is still on the radio, and there s a dead body at the Life doesn t get a whole lot more fun."
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1984
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79 people want to read
About the author
Nathan Aldyne
9 books11 followersNathan Aldyne is a joint pseudonym for Michael McDowell and Dennis Schuetz [1947-1988] aka Axel Young. They wrote four gay-themed mysteries together.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micha...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micha...
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 18, 2023
Overall: 3.5
The motor that drives this 3rd entry in this pseudonymed series is the same one that drives the first two: the refreshingly relaxed - never seriously ruffled (or needlessly bitchy) - friendship between Daniel Valentine and Clarisse Lovelace. It remains fun being in their company - even if, here, their usual zaniness comes down a notch.
~ as does the status of being a crime series: there is only one murder. For D&C as 'detectives', there's less to detect. Compared to 'Vermilion' and 'Cobalt', 'Slate' is a bit more on the fluff side. I'd've preferred there being a bit more to it but the minimum is evident in a solid way and, again, Daniel and Clarisse keep it going.
Along with some tasty dialogue, there's an action-packed finish. So there's that. Onward to the final chapter: 'Canary'.
The motor that drives this 3rd entry in this pseudonymed series is the same one that drives the first two: the refreshingly relaxed - never seriously ruffled (or needlessly bitchy) - friendship between Daniel Valentine and Clarisse Lovelace. It remains fun being in their company - even if, here, their usual zaniness comes down a notch.
~ as does the status of being a crime series: there is only one murder. For D&C as 'detectives', there's less to detect. Compared to 'Vermilion' and 'Cobalt', 'Slate' is a bit more on the fluff side. I'd've preferred there being a bit more to it but the minimum is evident in a solid way and, again, Daniel and Clarisse keep it going.
Along with some tasty dialogue, there's an action-packed finish. So there's that. Onward to the final chapter: 'Canary'.
March 13, 2013
this was not nearly as good as the first two, but I can't help it... this series is awesome
Read
June 16, 2008Armistead Maupin meets Joe Keenan? Despite the hedonistic philosophy and promiscuity, there is no sex shown, not even a kiss IIRC. It happens between chapters, as in all four books. Having previously read that they stopped the series because it's light treatment of affairs felt wrong after AIDS I was surprised to see it mentioned in an aside here already, but my thoughts on gay/lit and this issue need to wait.
Clothes, esp. Clarisse's, being described in detail every scene grated this time; the seller of my copy had marked it as lesbian fiction; Daniel's reason for dumping this time was one I normally understood - indeed I also cannot forgive one thing and that is lying as wel - but wasn't sold in in regards to Linc, who seemed really ok and whom for once DV didn't mind spending more than a night with.
The setting up of the bar takes up more space than the mystery. The police is pointedly more possitive than in Vermillion.
Clothes, esp. Clarisse's, being described in detail every scene grated this time; the seller of my copy had marked it as lesbian fiction; Daniel's reason for dumping this time was one I normally understood - indeed I also cannot forgive one thing and that is lying as wel - but wasn't sold in in regards to Linc, who seemed really ok and whom for once DV didn't mind spending more than a night with.
The setting up of the bar takes up more space than the mystery. The police is pointedly more possitive than in Vermillion.
February 26, 2016
In the days before AIDS decimated populations of gay men, Nathan Aldyne published four novels featuring a pair of sleuths, bartender Daniel Valentine and budding lawyer Clarisse Lovelace. These novels are pure camp and Aldyne wasn't afraid to throw in a bucket load of cliches: Valentine is ripped and hot; Lovelace is beautiful and brainy. But this was part of their naive charm in the long lost days of innocence.
May 15, 2016
I liked the secondary characters in this one more than the first two. Like the way the main character are developing. Will be sorry to see the series end with the next one.
February 12, 2022
This one was really oddly paced. The characterization toward the beginning (especially of Clarisse) borders on cartoonish, though it does even out. (Happy to see her killing it at law school!) I was thrown by the offhand mention of AIDS, because I thought these books were in part a fantasy in which it didn't exist; it was especially unsettling considering the opening when Clarisse visits Valentine in the hospital, where he's been laid up with pneumonia.
This volume's '80s cringe: lots of references to "gypsies," by which I think is meant squatters? Yikes. Also: Betamax drama.
This volume's '80s cringe: lots of references to "gypsies," by which I think is meant squatters? Yikes. Also: Betamax drama.
January 21, 2025
Not top-notch McDowell (for that, try The Elementals.) An ok entry in the series, but I still found Clarisse a little hard to take. Although she and Valentine give up smoking (maybe), they do seem to drink an awful lot, maybe understandably since the Slate in question is a new Boston gay bar they are opening. The murder mystery isn't really dealt with until late in the book and we don't get the information needed to unravel who did it. A few of the main characters were also annoying and not people I'd want to spend time with. Plus, as before, too much detailing what people are wearing.
May 10, 2025
Another fun read with the playful team of Lovelace and Valentine
September 4, 2021
Picture it: Boston in the mid-1980s. Those halcyon days post-Stonewall but right before HIV/AIDS would come to decimate and dominate gay culture. This time out our heroes, Valentine and Lovelace, decide to grow up. He’s opening a gay bar, she’s going to law school. But once again, they end up involved in murder. Smart, chic, campy mystery ensues.
This is the third book in the Valentine and Lovelace series and it’s a little like reading a novel set in the mid-1930s—the writer and his characters don’t know that the world will soon be turned upside down, but the reader does. And while the book is a light-hearted romp, an air of tragedy does lurk in the shadows. This is probably my favorite gay era, maybe because I didn’t live through it, but I find it more interesting than the speakeasy culture that preceded it and the dark, depressing medical dystopia that followed. I wish more stories were set here.
As usual, the setting itself is so well-rendered you’ll wish you could travel back in time. I’d love to have been a regular at Buddies myself. (If you search online, you can find some photos and it looks so wholesome and carefree.) I did go to Fritz and the Eagle, but the pre-AIDS scene just seemed so much cozier and personal.
Nathan Aldyne is a pseudonym for “paperback extraordinaire” Michael McDowell and Dennis Schuetz. The latter died from AIDS complications in 1989, the former 10 years later. You can’t help but wonder: if AIDS decimated an entire generation of gay men, it also decimated their creativity. These men were somebody’s sons, brothers, friends, and lovers. Those somebodies were deprived of their loved ones, posterity was deprived of their creativity. Which is why it’s important to cherish what we do have. I’m already a big fan of McDowell, and at some point I’ll track Schuetz’s stuff down.
I miss the days when even potboiler paperbacks were well-written and reliably readable. Even if they didn’t blow you away, they’d have a coherent plot, interesting characters, and detectives that actually investigated instead of just bumbling from plot point to plot point. This series is much better than that, of course, and I’m surprised they’re not more well-known. Highly recommended. All of the characters are very singular and kitschy, the descriptions are colorful and fun; I’d love to see these books adapted some day.
This is the third book in the Valentine and Lovelace series and it’s a little like reading a novel set in the mid-1930s—the writer and his characters don’t know that the world will soon be turned upside down, but the reader does. And while the book is a light-hearted romp, an air of tragedy does lurk in the shadows. This is probably my favorite gay era, maybe because I didn’t live through it, but I find it more interesting than the speakeasy culture that preceded it and the dark, depressing medical dystopia that followed. I wish more stories were set here.
As usual, the setting itself is so well-rendered you’ll wish you could travel back in time. I’d love to have been a regular at Buddies myself. (If you search online, you can find some photos and it looks so wholesome and carefree.) I did go to Fritz and the Eagle, but the pre-AIDS scene just seemed so much cozier and personal.
Nathan Aldyne is a pseudonym for “paperback extraordinaire” Michael McDowell and Dennis Schuetz. The latter died from AIDS complications in 1989, the former 10 years later. You can’t help but wonder: if AIDS decimated an entire generation of gay men, it also decimated their creativity. These men were somebody’s sons, brothers, friends, and lovers. Those somebodies were deprived of their loved ones, posterity was deprived of their creativity. Which is why it’s important to cherish what we do have. I’m already a big fan of McDowell, and at some point I’ll track Schuetz’s stuff down.
I miss the days when even potboiler paperbacks were well-written and reliably readable. Even if they didn’t blow you away, they’d have a coherent plot, interesting characters, and detectives that actually investigated instead of just bumbling from plot point to plot point. This series is much better than that, of course, and I’m surprised they’re not more well-known. Highly recommended. All of the characters are very singular and kitschy, the descriptions are colorful and fun; I’d love to see these books adapted some day.
July 21, 2015
Agree with the other reviews, this is not as good as the first two in the series. The humour is missing here. The laughter is supposed to come from a female wrestling club hosting an event for the union of prostitutes. Are you laughing yet? As that's about all we get.
The mystery is stronger than any of the other books but the reason you come to the series is the light-hearted take and there wasn't enough of that. It was still nice to see our main characters back together though.
The mystery is stronger than any of the other books but the reason you come to the series is the light-hearted take and there wasn't enough of that. It was still nice to see our main characters back together though.
February 29, 2024
Read several times over the years. This was my favorite of the four book series. An 80s(?) version of Nick and Nora Charles but as gay man and his straight girlfriend.. mystery and whimsy with wry observations of gay life and the world around them.
March 19, 2007
VGood mystery
February 20, 2011
In it's day it was wonderful and still is a good mystery now.
March 2, 2011
Very funny book!
February 5, 2013
Just a fun, campy romp through '80s Boston gay life as the setting for this Thin Man style noir reluctant detective novel.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews