Grey Winter Reading

Portland was hit with a one-day ice storm on Sunday night. On Monday, ice closed down most of the city including my office. So I had the rare chance of settling down with my four cats under a nice snug cover and reading for most of the day. I picked up Cobalt by Nathan Aldyne from my collection. This gay mystery was number two in a series of four: Vermillion, Cobalt, Slate, and Canary all published in the 80s and before the subject of HIV and AIDS became de rigueur in gay writing. I have all four books and because of Cobalt will definitely pick up the other three and reread them.

Nathan Aldyne was the pseudonym of a writing duo one of which has subsequently died, so the Daniel Valentine/Clarisse Lovelace sleuthing duo series died along with one of the authors. That was a shame, really, because the writers had really gotten into their stride with Cobalt. I believe the stories could have only gotten better if the series had continued. These mysteries are witty, tightly written and exciting additions to the “gay mystery” genre.

The series all take place in Boston and Provincetown and as one review on the back cover of Cobalt explains, gives a fascinating and “realistic” insight into gay culture in the 80s. I tend to agree; the descriptions of the bar scene, the “meat rack” and tricking in the stories ring very true for the times. Attitudes towards monogamy, (or serial monogamy), drinking, and drugs all are used effectively as background for the plot. Also surprising for me was the author’s inclusion of the “straight” sexual proclivities of the 1980s. It wasn’t just gays hopping from one bed to another but our straight heroine, Clarisse Lovelace, too tended to look for non-committal sex with handsome men. Perhaps she wasn’t as sexually active as the gay characters, but her attitude and behavior reflected the 80s ideals of sexual freedom and liberation for all including women.

At the time these stories were written, the whole “gay mystery” genre was in its infancy and as far as I know, there were only a few out there, including the Dave Brandstetter series by Joseph Hansen. Aldyne’s series is not in the same league as Hansen’s but they were never meant to be. Hansen’s Dave Brandstetter mysteries were gritty, serious, realistic stories with an unapologetic homosexual detective as the hero and even after thirty years (the debut novel was published in the 70s) the writing is as contemporary today as back then. Aldyne’s mysteries were written as witty, lighter fare but still with a sharp feel for the mystery side of the stories, but the Daniel Valentine/Clarisse Lovelace stories show their age a bit more than do the Dave Brandstetter stories.

I recommend both series highly.