Heart to Hart


Erin O'Quinn - 2013
    Michael, immediately smitten with the sulky and sexy man, lays a plan to first become his new roomer, then his business partner.But Simon, stricken by his recent loss, is having none of Michael’s undisguised interest.Not a man to be deterred easily from a goal, Michael sets about winning Simon’s affection. That particular battle is almost as difficult as tracking down the murderer of his predecessor, a nosy detective who was getting too close to the crimes of an evil person.Simon spends more time ducking Michael’s advances than actually finding clues and solving the mystery. Inquiring minds want to know—how hard is Simon really trying to avoid Michael? And Michael isn’t hiding his forthright urges, but what secret is he hiding?NOTE: This story is part of The Gaslight Mysteries series.

Pas de Deux


Jamie Craig - 2009
    Even when his gut tells him that the man everybody knows is guilty is not only innocent, but a victim himself. A notorious media darling, he’s got an irresistible charm that always seems to undermine his strategic mind. Homicide detective Owen Duke dislikes him before they meet. Duke doesn’t have time for gut feelings—he lives by logic and evidence. And all the evidence tells him that Scott’s client, Hector Young, is guilty of the cold-blooded murder of a young ballerina.Scott is willing to risk his reputation and his career on the kid’s innocence. Relentless, he convinces Duke to dig beneath the surface of the case. What’s supposed to be an open-and-shut case quickly becomes a quagmire of lies, murder, and rotting corruption. Suddenly, instead of being a thorn in Duke’s side, James Scott is the only person in San Francisco the detective can trust. And the two of them are the only people who can find the truth in time to save the life of an innocent man...Genres: Gay / Contemporary / Mystery / Detective / Suspense / ThrillerHeat Level: 3Length: Extended Novel

The British Devil


Greg Hogben - 2012
    A secretary in a small-town Southern Baptist church in Texas, she bristles at Greg’s secular beliefs. Through passive-aggressive manipulation, subtle deceit, or outright battle, Vivien resolves to banish Greg and return Danny to the fold, come hell or high water. Greg’s hold on Danny’s heart is pitted against Vivien’s crusade for Danny’s soul.All the while, Greg devotes himself to keeping Danny happy while negotiating the cultural differences of his life in America. Danny’s new career as a lawyer takes them from his native Texas to New York. But with Vivien testing Greg’s stiff upper lip at every turn, something has to give.The British Devil is a semiautobiographical novel exploring culture, religion, and love in a bi-national relationship.

Brothers


Ralph Josiah Bardsley - 2015
    But those plans change when his parents are suddenly killed and he finds himself the guardian of his little brother, Nick. Jamus ends up back in the Boston neighborhood where he grew up, with a crying toddler on his knee and the challenge of building a new life for himself and the boy. Jamus somehow finds a way to navigate the ups and downs of single parenting, but over a decade of raising Nick, Jamus never truly overcomes his struggles with loneliness and the guilt he feels as the sole survivor of the crash that killed his parents. That changes when he meets bookishly handsome Sean Malloy. There’s a spark between the two men, but both must face down their own private demons to find love in the Irish enclave of South Boston.For a more in-depth look at "Brothers," check out www.ralphjosiahbardsley.com.

Hidden Identity


Adam Carpenter - 2014
    Jimmy McSwain is a New York City private detective, operating out of Hell's Kitchen, the rough and tumble neighborhood he grew up in. At age fourteen, he watched as his NYPD father was gunned down. Now, at age twenty-eight, gay, Jimmy has never given up the pursuit of whoever killed him. But a PI must make a living, and so he's taken on the case of missing heir Harris Rothschild, whose overbearing father doesn't approve of his "alternate" lifestyle. Tracking down Harris is easier than expected, but the carnage that follows isn't. With a shocking murder on his hands, and a threat coming from some unforeseen person, Jimmy's caseload is suddenly full, and very dangerous.

Enigma


Lloyd A. Meeker - 2013
    But they’ve got Reverend Howard Richardson spooked.Proudly fifty and unhappily single, gay PI Russ Morgan has made peace with being a psychic empath, and he’s managed to build a decent life since getting sober. As he uncovers obscene secrets shrouded in seeming righteousness he might have to make peace with a sword of justice that cuts the innocent as deeply as the guilty.

Lake on the Mountain


Jeffrey Round - 2012
    It seems just the thing to bring Dan closer to his noncommittal partner, Bill, a respected medical professional with a penchant for sleazy after-hours clubs, cheap drugs, and rough sex. But the event doesn’t go exactly as planned. When a member of the wedding party is swept overboard, a case of mistaken identity leads to confusion as the wrong person is reported missing. The hunt for a possible killer leads Dan deeper into the troubled waters and private lives of a family of rich WASPs and their secret world of privilege. No sooner is that case resolved when a second one ends up on Dan’s desk. Dan is hired by an anonymous source to investigate the disappearance, twenty years earlier, of the groom’s father. The only clues are a missing bicycle and six horses mysteriously poisoned.

The Otto Digmore Difference


Brent Hartinger - 2017
    But he’s also a burn survivor with scars on half his face, and all indications are that he’s just too different to ever find real Hollywood success. Now he’s up for an amazing new role that could change everything. Problem is, he and his best friend Russel Middlebrook have to drive all the way across the country in order to get to the audition on time. It’s hard to say which is worse: the fact that so many things go wrong, or that Russel, an aspiring screenwriter, keeps comparing their experiences to some kind of road trip movie. There’s also the fact that Otto and Russel were once boyfriends, and Otto is starting to realize that he still might have romantic feelings for his best friend. Just how far will Otto go to get the role, and maybe the guy, of his dreams? Author Brent Hartinger first introduced the character of Otto Digmore in 2005, in his Lambda Award-winning books about Russel Middlebrook. Back then, Otto was something pretty unusual for YA literature: a disabled gay character. Now, more than a decade later, Otto is grown up and finally stepping into the spotlight on his own. The Otto Digmore Difference, the first book in a new stand-alone series featuring Otto, is about much more than the challenges of being “different.” It’s also about the unexpected nature of all of life’s journeys, and the heavy price that must be paid for Hollywood fame. But more than anything, it’s a different kind of love story, about the frustrating and fantastic power of the love between two friends. Praise for Brent Hartinger: “Hits the narrative sweet spot." — NPR's All Things Considered "Downright refreshing." — USA Today "Touching and realistic...hilarious." — Kirkus Reviews

Bob the Book


David Pratt - 2010
    Meet 'Bob the Book, ' a gay book for sale in a Greenwich Village bookstore, where he falls in love with another book, Moishe. But an unlikely customer separates the young lovers. As Bob wends his way through used book bins, paper bags, knapsacks, and lecture halls, hoping to be reunited with Moishe, he meets a variety of characters, both book and human, including Angela, a widowed copy of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, and two other separated lovers, Neil and Jerry, near victims of a book burning. Among their owners are Alfred and Duane, whose on-again, off-again relationship unites and separates our book friends. Will Bob find Moishe? Will Jerry and Neil be reunited? Will Alfred and Duane make it work? Read 'Bob the Book' to find all the answers...

To Catch A Fox


Geoffrey Knight - 2012
    Murder. Blackmail. Revenge. Life in the Big Easy can be a real bitch.Meet Jon Fox, a sexy New Orleans private detective with more family secrets than even he knows about. But his latest case is about to bring more to the swampy surface than Fox himself could ever have guessed—A polite old lady with a plot to murder a stranger;A mother whose secret sent her insane;An uncle with complete control over the family empire;A father whose suicide might once again tear his family apart; And a hot, handsome, clueless blond with a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.Yes, meet Jon Fox. A New Orleans private detective whose complicated life...just got a little more complex.

The Necessary Deaths


David C. Dawson - 2016
    His life hangs in the balance after a drug overdose. But was it attempted suicide or attempted murder? The student's mother persuades British lawyer Dominic Delingpole to investigate, and Dominic enlists the aid of his outspoken opera singer partner, Jonathan McFadden.The student's boyfriend discovers compromising photographs hidden in his lover's room. The photographs not only feature senior politicians and business chiefs, but the young journalist himself. Is he being blackmailed, or is he the blackmailer?As Dominic and Jonathan investigate further, their lives are threatened and three people are murdered. They uncover a conspiracy that reaches into the highest levels of government and powerful corporations. The people behind it are ruthless, and no one can be trusted. The bond between Dominic and Jonathan deepens as they struggle not only for answers, but for their very survival.

The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse


Keith Hartman - 1999
    During your stay, depending on your tastes, you can cruise gay midtown (I hear that the Inquisition Health Club has introduced manacles and chains to the aerobics class) or check out the Reverend-Senator Stonewall's headquarters at Freedom Plaza (watch out for the Christian Militia guarding it, though) or attend a sky-clad Wiccan sabbat (by invitation only). Avoid the courthouse, where the Cherokee have turned out in full war-paint to renegotiate a nineteenth-century land deal. Also stay away from all cemeteries, at least until the police find out why someone is disinterring and crucifying corpses. As you can tell, this is a lively novel, full of intricate plotting and engaging off-beat characters. Among the latter are a gay detective, a Wiccan family, an ambitious televangelist with an eye on the White House, an artist whose medium is flesh and blood, a Cherokee drag queen--and then there's poor Benji, who would just like to make it to his fifteenth birthday, assuming the MIBS don't get him first or his Baptist parents don't ground him for life because his new girlfriend is a witch.

Closet


R.D. Zimmerman - 1995
    . . and again.

The Road to Silver Plume


Tamara Allen - 2015
    When counterfeiter August McKee takes illegal advantage of a sinking silver market, his former confederate Darrow Gardiner shares that information with Agent Strickland so they can track down the once-friend who left Darrow to rot in prison.Promised his freedom in return, Darrow’s after something more. He wants possession of his best work, the flawless fifty dollar plates still in McKee’s hands. And with a little maneuvering, he’ll have the one thing a vengeful McKee may consider fair barter: the Secret Service operative whose testimony sent them both up the river.It seems an objective within Darrow’s reach after he rescues Emlyn from an assassin, earning a measure of his trust in the process. But on the cross-country journey in search of McKee, another attempt on their lives leaves operative and outlaw stranded miles from Denver, with no one to rely upon but each other. Beset by turncoat agents, angry miners, and the burgeoning threat of a wealthy and powerful McKee, Darrow and Emlyn discover that standing on opposite sides of the law doesn’t safeguard them from the dangers of friendship—or a deeper attraction that may force Darrow to choose between the real and the counterfeit as he’s never done before.

The Quarter Boys


David Lennon - 2010
    When he meets homicide detective Michel Doucette, he feels his life is finally coming together but soon he finds himself being drawn into a world of drugs and prostitution, and directly into the path of the killer. When Michel and his partner, Alexandra "Sassy" Jones, are given the case, Michel sees it as a chance for a fresh start. Little does he suspect that Joel's life depends on his finding the killer or foresee the personal sacrifices he'll have to make to succeed. "The Quarter Boys" is the first in a series of novels featuring detectives Michel Doucette and Sassy Jones. The second book, "Echoes," won the 2010 Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Mystery.