When Katherine V. Forrest’s Amateur City was published in 1984, introducing LAPD detective Kate Delafield, it not only marked the beginning of one of mystery fiction’s most successful series, it also created one of the most lucrative genres in gay publishing: the lesbian mystery. With her next six Kate Delafield novels, Forrest’s complex and determined lesbian detective became the most celebrated figure in lesbian fiction. Alyson is proud to present the first and second Kate Delafield mysteries, back in print and ready to captivate a new generation of fans! In Amateur City, Kate and her partner, Ed Taylor, investigate the murder of a highly placed executive, whose body was found by a coworker, a woman who begins to break down Kate’s defenses. In addition to penning the legendary Kate Delafield mystery series, -Katherine V. Forrest has written the lesbian romantic classic Curious Wine and the science fiction novels Daughters of a Coral Dawn and Daughters of an Amber Noon. She lives in San Francisco.

Kate Delafield investigates the murder of a homeless 19-year-old addict-prostitute, whose battered body is found outside a popular lesbian bar.

Katherine Forrest's third groundbreaking mystery returns to bookstore shelves. As LAPD detective Kate Delafield investigates the Thanksgiving Day strychnine poisoning of retired movie director Owen Sinclair, she discovers that he turned over names to the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s and destroyed countless careers. But which of his charmingly eccentric neighbors, most of whom have worked in Hollywood since the 1940s, might be responsible for what now appears to be a revenge killing?

When a successful gay restaurateur is stabbed to death, Kate Delafield’s investigation puts her in conflict with her own fear of being outed as a lesbian. Can Kate testify for the prosecution with her integrity intact, when the killer’s attorney, the only man who knows the truth about Kate’s -sexuality, prepares a "homosexual panic" defense? In addition to penning the legendary Kate Delafield mystery series, Katherine V. Forrest has written the lesbian romantic classic Curious Wine and the science fiction novels Daughters of a Coral Dawn and Daughters of an Amber Noon . She lives in San Francisco.

Long before high-profile lesbian cops such as Laurie R. King's Kate Martinelli were fighting for our attention, a former Marine turned Los Angeles police detective named Kate Delafield was doing some quietly effective ground-breaking of her own under the expert guidance of Katherine V. Forrest. In Liberty Square, Delafield is in Washington, D.C., for the 25th anniversary reunion of her old Vietnam outfit. When all hell breaks loose, it's Kate the cop who has to sort it out. Forrest's writing is spare and her characters come to life quickly. Other Delafield books in paperback include Amateur City, The Beverly Malibu, Murder at the Nightwood Bar, and Murder by Tradition.

From two-time Lambda Literary Award-winning author Forrest comes the latest Kate Delafield mystery. Kate Delafield is at war. With LAPD’s Department of Internal Affairs which is challenging her conduct during an arrest gone disastrously wrong. With the police psychologist who holds in her hands the power to keep Kate off the job—and is exercising it. With her police partner who has gone AWOL in Kate’s hour of need. With the police colleagues who condemn the investigation and defense she’s undertaken for a cowboy cop who looks guilty beyond doubt of the bad shooting charges brought against him. With the woman she loves who has been brutally reminded of the dangers in Kate’s job. Worst of all, Kate is at war with herself, forced to question the integrity of her own police department, and forced to make a decision that will crucially affect her own LGBT community. Apparition Alley ranks as the most electric and suspenseful of the storied Kate Delafield mystery series. First Published by Berkley Prime Crime 1997

Los Angeles' Kate Delafield, a lesbian homicide detective, returns to investigate a murder at the La Brea Tar Pits that spirals into a dangerous case involving scientific revelations, political corruption, and the CIA

Detective Kate Delafield and her partner, Joe Cameron, head for the exclusive, wealthy neighborhood of Hancock Park to investigate the execution-style murder of Victoria Talbot, the cultured, refined mother of three, a crime in which the victim's ex-husband becomes an all-too-convenient suspect. By the Lambda Award-winning author of Curious Wine. Reprint.

In this long-awaited new installment of the legendary Kate Delafield mystery series, Kate is forced to confront her most formidable opponent: herself. Five months into mandated retirement from LAPD, her long term on-again off-again relationship with Aimee Grant off again, hopelessly dependent on the only substance that can drown her pain over Aimee and the illness of her best friend, lost without her police career, beset by terrifying dreams, Kate Delafield is in a world of trouble. Into this world walks Captain Carolina Walcott of the LAPD, with a request that Kate quietly and secretly try to locate Kate’s former police partner, Joe Cameron, who has vanished. She also offers Kate a business card—the name on it a woman from Kate’s past who may be able offer a lifeline back to the self Kate once was. Even as she deals with a shocking and inexplicable homicide, Kate simultaneously pursues a trail of evidence toward Cameron that leads her into the high desert. Here in the high desert she will find challenges to the truth of everything she ever believed in as a principled police officer. Here in the high desert she must decide what it is she still believes: about her past, her present, her future.

These tales of murder, mayhem, and suspense by some of today's finest crime writers will keep you up way past your bedtime! The lesbians on the loose in this collection are an entertaining mix of protagonists: cops, amateur sleuths, a PI, a judge, a bounty hunter, and one very insightful dog. There's even an intrepid high schooler and a mystery writer. Despite greed and grief, rage and revenge, secrets and lies, many of the stories feature humor from a variety of characters trying to find their way in a difficult world—cops who've seen too much, revenge seekers, and women who want justice for themselves and others. You won't regret going on the lam with these terrific writers: Elizabeth Sims, Carsen Taite, SY Thompson, Andi Marquette, Linda M. Vogt, VK Powell, Kate McLachlan, Lori L. Lake, Lynn Ames, Sandra de Helen, Jen Wright, Sue Hardesty, Jessie Chandler, J.M. Redmann, and Katherine V. Forrest

“Kate,” Detective Joe Cameron said, “there was always the possibility—” “—that like most threats they were just threats,” Kate finished for him. She knew better. Had known from the start this was as real as death. Death is now on her doorstep. Not even her loyal LAPD colleagues can protect her from an attack that may come from anywhere, anytime. Four years retired, Kate Delafield has a twenty-year old case roaring back on her, a case from which she had recoiled, withdrawn herself. A homophobic homicide far too reminiscent of a recent, haunting, life-changing investigation of the murder of a young lesbian at the Nightwood Bar. Now she suffers in secret, knowing she is personally culpable for the mishandling of evidence. She has also begun to understand how the roads she has traveled have led her to this day. The key decisions about the conduct of her life and her police career that have brought her directly to this time, this place in the high desert where she has taken herself. All she can do now, she resolves, is protect as best she can the people she loves most, especially Aimee, from this threat. And, until her time runs out, she can go back and investigate, determine who actually ended the life of fifteen-year-old April Shuster. But events, people, intervene. New people in her present life, some from her past. And they will take her in the most unexpected of directions.