cover image SON OF A GUN: A Sydney Sloane Mystery

SON OF A GUN: A Sydney Sloane Mystery

Randye Lordon, . . St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-312-29131-0

Ex-cop and New York PI Sydney Sloane's personal and professional lives inextricably and uncomfortably intertwine in her seventh enjoyable outing from Lambda Award–winner Lordon (after 2001's East of Niece ). Sloane's lover, Leslie, is concerned about her widowed mother, who's engaged to a man whose previous wives have tended to die soon after their marriage. She wants Sloane to investigate, but Sloane would rather keep herself and her detective agency out of it. Meanwhile, John Cannady, a former NYPD police colleague and husband of her good friend Peggy, falls victim to a shooting ambush that leaves him in critical condition. Strained relations with Leslie add to her load as Sloane tries to lend support to Peggy, whose past holds the key to Cannady's shooting. Because Lordon telegraphs some of the plot twists, readers may at times be ahead of Sloane, who puts in a lot of solid detective work, aided and abetted by an interesting cast of characters. The author presents Sloane's lesbianism neither as a cross to bear nor as a flag to wave, but simply as part of her identity. Agent, Henry Morrison. (Feb. 10)