Sight Lines in Lesbian Mysteries

Dec 06, 2015 Megan added it

Shelves: lesbian-mystery

I’m going to start out by discussing the good things about this book. “Uh oh,” you are probably thinking, “that means that there must be bad parts.” Well, think what you want. I was impressed by the professional writing (i.e.; good but not special) and editing of this novel, which was better than I find in some higher-end lesbian publishers like Bold Strokes. I was impressed by the main character and the history she has with her boss—the captain of her division. I was impressed with the relation I’m going to start out by discussing the good things about this book. “Uh oh,” you are probably thinking, “that means that there must be bad parts.” Well, think what you want. I was impressed by the professional writing (i.e.; good but not special) and editing of this novel, which was better than I find in some higher-end lesbian publishers like Bold Strokes. I was impressed by the main character and the history she has with her boss—the captain of her division. I was impressed with the relationship she enters into and with the woman she brings into her life. There is a private investigator in this book, but DiCeglio resisted the temptation of using her as the narrator, instead using the police detective working on the same case.

Lacey Mills is that police detective and she serves the small town of Lyons, Ohio. She is recovering from the loss of her girlfriend two years before—murdered by persons unknown. Now it seems that there is another murderer on the loose, preying on young women. In the early part of her investigation, she meets Ali Rhodes, a web designer and the two hit it off. Of course Lacey is still hung up on the late Tara, but maybe things will work out. Their interactions keep the story moving well.

But then there is the ending, which unlike the rest of the book, is clichéd and predictable. In fact, when the author telegraphed the ending about three quarters of the way through the book, I couldn’t believe that she actually meant to follow up on it. And the closer I got to the final chapters the more I kept convincing myself that no, she wasn’t really going there. And then she did. What an intense disappointment. But hey, other books have had the same problem. Just check out Anne Laughlin's Veritas or Antoinette Azolakov’s The Contactees Die Young, etc. It’s almost like there is a formula for how to make a bad and unbelievable ending. But guess what—their endings cost them all a rating point. A novel is, after all is said and done, a story, and the story needs to ring true.

But in Sight Lines, something even worse results. It made me look back at the rest of the book—something I might not have thought of doing with a satisfactory ending—and see if anything else was amiss. Like why Lacey didn’t pay any attention to Detective Braxton’s idea that the killer may have been active in another state. Like there being no backstory on the killer at all and no real motive for the killings. There were also a few other inconsistencies I communicated privately to the author and which would have little effect on a rating. These are all problems that just can’t go unmentioned. So what was—for three-quarters of the novel—coasting toward an easy 4-star rating ends up with something close to a 3. Too bad.

The good news is the author is only in her mid-thirties and has a lot of time to improve—and to familiarize herself with the lesbian mystery canon so as to avoid some of the mistakes of the past and contribute something even more original to the future.

Note: I read the Advanced Review Copy of this novel, which was kindly provided by the publisher through Netgalley in e-book form.

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. ...more

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