Under the Mink

In the netherworld of Greenwich Village 1949, it's drag queens and hookers against mafiosi, crooked cops and other assorted thugs, in Lisa E. Davis's Under the Mink. When a gay man from a wealthy publishing family is murdered in the restroom of the Candy Box Club cabaret, drag king Blackie Cole gets caught in a web of danger and intrigue. Davis captures the decadence of New York's pre-Stonewall gay scene and the constant abuse that the men and women who comprised it were subjected to. The strength they find in one another while being scapegoated by the media, the police and just about everyone else is inspiring. ( Apr.)