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Robin Miller Mystery #1
I Left My Heart
Travel writer and romance novelist Robin Miller is estranged from her lover, investigative writer Mary Oswell.
Suddenly, shockingly, Mary is dead. Accidental death - maybe even suicide - from allergic shock, says case Detective Thomas Ryan. Impossible, insists Robin.
Robin's own investigation uncovers one mystery after another. A lethal medication prescribed for an imposter. A secret assignment that Mary was working on. A sleazy politico acting as Mary's attorney. A "pavement princess" named Selma. And Mary's surprising liaisons with other women in her life apart from Robin.
As she follows a trail of painful memory into the gay community in San Francisco and down the coast to Mary's house on the cliffs of beautiful Big Sur, Robin finds distraction from her grief in the alluring and enigmatic Cathy. But Cathy has a secret of her own...
And as Robin draws ever closer to determining the real truth of Mary's final days, her own life becomes increasingly at risk...
You will enjoy this intelligent, sharply witty mystery, the debut of an exciting new mystery writing talent.
Suddenly, shockingly, Mary is dead. Accidental death - maybe even suicide - from allergic shock, says case Detective Thomas Ryan. Impossible, insists Robin.
Robin's own investigation uncovers one mystery after another. A lethal medication prescribed for an imposter. A secret assignment that Mary was working on. A sleazy politico acting as Mary's attorney. A "pavement princess" named Selma. And Mary's surprising liaisons with other women in her life apart from Robin.
As she follows a trail of painful memory into the gay community in San Francisco and down the coast to Mary's house on the cliffs of beautiful Big Sur, Robin finds distraction from her grief in the alluring and enigmatic Cathy. But Cathy has a secret of her own...
And as Robin draws ever closer to determining the real truth of Mary's final days, her own life becomes increasingly at risk...
You will enjoy this intelligent, sharply witty mystery, the debut of an exciting new mystery writing talent.
303 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1991
3 people are currently reading
148 people want to read
About the author
Jaye Maiman
9 books10 followersJaye Maiman is the author of the Lambda Literary Award Winning mystery series featuring lesbian travel writer and romance novelist Robin Miller.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 22, 2024
3 stars
The mystery was excellent. No question about that. I liked the twist too.
But I wasn't really fond of the writing style, for whatever reason. I really had to focus on reading instead of immersing myself in it as usual.
So I'm not putting the rest of the series into the "nope" pile, but I'm not sure I'll continue immediately.
The mystery was excellent. No question about that. I liked the twist too.
But I wasn't really fond of the writing style, for whatever reason. I really had to focus on reading instead of immersing myself in it as usual.
So I'm not putting the rest of the series into the "nope" pile, but I'm not sure I'll continue immediately.
June 5, 2019
Dang... what a twist! This was bloody good.
August 7, 2021
Robin Miller is called upon inheriting an estate by her ex-lover but ends up investigating her death instead, finding more and more gaps in the initial pronouncement of accidental allergic reaction.
Despite there being a few forced plot points, such as the many characters who have been interviewed by the police detectives once and told only a small percentage of what they know but are willing to spill all the beans to the protagonist, or the office mail of the victim containing important evidence that the investigator simply forgot to check upon or redirect, as well as the astounding lack of fingerprints analysis, this novel did not disappoint me. It didn't leave me thrilled by any stretch, but is not bad either. An average mystery story.
The characterization is pretty coherent, I liked that.
As for themes we have alcoholism, breast cancer, prostitution, grief, trauma, homophobic religion, corruption, and the most common theme in the lesbian detective fiction genre, infidelity, because who cares about STDs and respecting your partner enough not to cuckold them.
Despite there being a few forced plot points, such as the many characters who have been interviewed by the police detectives once and told only a small percentage of what they know but are willing to spill all the beans to the protagonist, or the office mail of the victim containing important evidence that the investigator simply forgot to check upon or redirect, as well as the astounding lack of fingerprints analysis, this novel did not disappoint me. It didn't leave me thrilled by any stretch, but is not bad either. An average mystery story.
The characterization is pretty coherent, I liked that.
As for themes we have alcoholism, breast cancer, prostitution, grief, trauma, homophobic religion, corruption, and the most common theme in the lesbian detective fiction genre, infidelity, because who cares about STDs and respecting your partner enough not to cuckold them.
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June 18, 2020I’m not sure why, but it’s harder for me to write a review of a book I like than one I dislike. Partly, it’s because I don’t have anything to whine about, and in I left My Heart, I have very few quibbles.
It took a few pages for me to get into this book and more than a few chapters before I totally trusted the author, but by the end I realized that Maiman is in the top rank of lesbian mystery authors. Her first novel is well-plotted, has a cast of interesting characters (and suspects), and features a protagonist who truly cares about finding the truth.
Robin Miller is a travel writer and romance novelist living in New York. When her ex-lover dies in California, Robin learns that she is the beneficiary of her friend’s will. But when she arrives in Los Angeles and determines that Mary’s death was not an accident, she becomes obsessed with finding the truth about why she died and who killer her. Everyone seems to be a suspect: the people she worked with, those she knew casually, and even those she loved. Which gets to be a problem when Robin becomes romantically involved with one of them.
At over 300 pages, I left My Heart is longer than most Naiad offerings by a third. In this case, it is exactly enough for Maiman to flesh out the ideas she is working with in the novel—politics, religion, love, guilt, grief, and passion are all given their due. Robin tells the story in the first person, but rather than the obsessive minutia we sometimes find in such narratives, hers is always necessary and to the point. Robin is hardly a lovable person, but she is honest, sincere, and determined. I have already ordered the second book in the series—in which she goes back to New York and apprentices as a PI. I will have to read it before I decide how far up in my list of favorites Maiman will climb.
Note: I read the fourth Naiad printing of this novel.
Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
It took a few pages for me to get into this book and more than a few chapters before I totally trusted the author, but by the end I realized that Maiman is in the top rank of lesbian mystery authors. Her first novel is well-plotted, has a cast of interesting characters (and suspects), and features a protagonist who truly cares about finding the truth.
Robin Miller is a travel writer and romance novelist living in New York. When her ex-lover dies in California, Robin learns that she is the beneficiary of her friend’s will. But when she arrives in Los Angeles and determines that Mary’s death was not an accident, she becomes obsessed with finding the truth about why she died and who killer her. Everyone seems to be a suspect: the people she worked with, those she knew casually, and even those she loved. Which gets to be a problem when Robin becomes romantically involved with one of them.
At over 300 pages, I left My Heart is longer than most Naiad offerings by a third. In this case, it is exactly enough for Maiman to flesh out the ideas she is working with in the novel—politics, religion, love, guilt, grief, and passion are all given their due. Robin tells the story in the first person, but rather than the obsessive minutia we sometimes find in such narratives, hers is always necessary and to the point. Robin is hardly a lovable person, but she is honest, sincere, and determined. I have already ordered the second book in the series—in which she goes back to New York and apprentices as a PI. I will have to read it before I decide how far up in my list of favorites Maiman will climb.
Note: I read the fourth Naiad printing of this novel.
Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
February 23, 2016
SUMMARY: Travel and romance writer Robin Miller is called to San Francisco following the death of her estranged lover Mary. While there, she learns that she is Mary's sole beneficiary, faces painful memories while dealing with her immense grief, discovers mysterious and frightening aspects about Mary's final days, begins to to suspect that Mary was murdered, falls for one of the prime suspects, and nearly gets herself killed while investigating Mary's death on her own. COMMENTS: A solid debut.
January 24, 2013
I originally bought book #4 in the series first, read it, thought it was ok, then decided to start reading the series from the start so I bought this one, the first in the series. If I had bought this one first, I wouldn't have bothered with the other one, this was so bad. I don't have time right now to write an actual review but I'll get back to it later.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews