FF Friday

A police procedural set in Los Angeles in 1985 (published 1987). The mystery was reasonably diverting - I guessed the murderer a few chapters ahead of the detective - but what really fascinated me was the setting. The Nightwood Bar is, as the name suggests, a lesbian bar, and I loved the snapshot of lesbian life - the tensions within the community and with the police and other establishment groups, solidarity with gay men (AIDS is there in the background, though doesn't affect the plot), the whole personal-political thing. Plus the bar sounded like a really nice place to hang out when there weren't murders going on there.

Also a couple of freebies - A Very Sapphic Christmas (a mixed bag, generally fun, although some pieces could really have done with a more thorough line edit) and Christmas Road Trip (Jae) - also fun, if slight, with a twist I won't spoil.