Danger in High Places: An Alix Nicholson Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Danger in High Places Doesn't Live Up to Its Potential
Review: Danger in High Places is set in 1993 and features Alix Nicholson, a freelance photographer who travels from Iowa to Washington, DC to snap photos of the AIDS quilt. As supporters for funding for AIDS research are reading the names of victims, a woman interrupts the reading to shout her opposition to AIDS funding when so many women were dying of various cancers for which there was little research funding. Alix is drawn to the woman and invites her to stay the night with her when it turns out that Sandra has no where to stay. Sandra is angry, mysterious, and piques Alix's interest and lust. During the next week, there is a murder, an arrest, and a confession. Alix is also drawn to a Congresswoman's aide and spends the night with her, too. While all this sounds interesting, even intriguing, the author was unable to make the reader care about any of the characters, from the murder victim to Alix. They are all cardboard characters and as the book progresses, the readers indifference grows. While I did finish reading the book, it was more because I wanted to know if the denouement was going to be as predictable as the characters were lackluster. It is to the author's credit that there was just enough of a twist at the end to be interesting although she pulled the murderer out of nowhere and didn't play fair with the reader by providing enough clues to even suspect the murderer. There are better written mysteries, there are better plotted mysteries, and there are more finely drawn characters in mysteries available. But if you're starved for a lesbian protagonist and a non-Naiad-formulaic read, this just might be your cup of tea.

Rating:
Summary: Danger in High Places Doesn't Live Up to Its Potential
Review: Danger in High Places is set in 1993 and features Alix Nicholson, a freelance photographer who travels from Iowa to Washington, DC to snap photos of the AIDS quilt. As supporters for funding for AIDS research are reading the names of victims, a woman interrupts the reading to shout her opposition to AIDS funding when so many women were dying of various cancers for which there was little research funding. Alix is drawn to the woman and invites her to stay the night with her when it turns out that Sandra has no where to stay. Sandra is angry, mysterious, and piques Alix's interest and lust. During the next week, there is a murder, an arrest, and a confession. Alix is also drawn to a Congresswoman's aide and spends the night with her, too. While all this sounds interesting, even intriguing, the author was unable to make the reader care about any of the characters, from the murder victim to Alix. They are all cardboard characters and as the book progresses, the readers indifference grows. While I did finish reading the book, it was more because I wanted to know if the denouement was going to be as predictable as the characters were lackluster. It is to the author's credit that there was just enough of a twist at the end to be interesting although she pulled the murderer out of nowhere and didn't play fair with the reader by providing enough clues to even suspect the murderer. There are better written mysteries, there are better plotted mysteries, and there are more finely drawn characters in mysteries available. But if you're starved for a lesbian protagonist and a non-Naiad-formulaic read, this just might be your cup of tea.