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.

Young Teddie Crawford is dead from multiple stab wounds in a restaurant kitchen awash with blood. LAPD homicide detective Kate Delafield is relentless in her pursuit and capture of his killer. But bringing that killer to trial imperils Kate's professional standing and personal privacy—and her belief in the justice system to which she has devoted her life.The suspect claims self-defense—that Teddie Crawford made a homosexual advance and backed it up with a knife. Yet everything Kate learns about Teddie Crawford tells her that his murder was deliberate. And to develop proof of first degree murder, she must find clear answers to mystifying questions for the prosecuting attorney—a woman who has never before prosecuted a homicide case.Kate is increasingly isolated as she tries to shield her young lover from the brutal realities of this case and finds few allies among her LAPD brethren.

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.

Lambda Literary Award WinnerWhen Detective Kate Delafield and her partner, Detective Joe Cameron, get the call to investigate a homicide in the secluded, old-money neighborhood of Hancock Park, Kate has the feeling it's not going to be murder as usual. Her hunch is correct. A cultured, refined mother of three, Victoria Talbot is the last person you'd expect to die by gunshot, execution-style. At first the finger of guilt seems to point at the victim's ex-husband Douglas, and everyone involved—from the authorities to his own children—are more than willing to suspect him. But for Kate, the easy way has rarely been proven the right way, and there are too many unanswered questions that suggest not all is at it seems with this dysfunctional family. Now, Douglas Talbot is on trial for his life, Kate's lover Aimee has disappeared to God-knows-where, and Kate must piece together a deadly puzzle of secrets and lies...

For LAPD Homicide Detective Kate Delafield, Washington DC is the last place on earth she wants to be. But, thanks to her partner's machinations, here she is.Driven by insatiable curiosity about a past Kate has adamantly refused to share, Aimee has maneuvered her into attending what Aimee views as an innocuous reunion of the men and women with whom Kate served as a Marine Corps officer in Vietnam twenty-five years ago.The past resurfaces with a vengeance. First, shots are fired into their hotel room. Then a savage murder is committed by someone attending the reunion. Kate finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation in a city where she has no jurisdiction, confronted by detectives who view her with contentious suspicion. And Aimee learns to her consternation that Kate has had very good reasons to hold her memories at bay. Shocking secrets emerge—among them the alluring Rachel, who has now, thanks to Aimee, reentered Kate's life.

In this long-awaited new installment of the legendary Kate Delafield mystery series, Kate is forced to confront her most formidable opponent: herself.Kate Delafield is in a world of trouble. Five months into mandated retirement from the LAPD, her long term on-again off-again relationship with Aimee Grant is off again. She's become hopelessly dependent on the only substance that can drown her pain over Aimee—and the illness of her best friend. She is lost without her police career and beset by terrifying dreams.Into this world walks Captain Carolina Walcott of the LAPD, with a request that Kate 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 to offer a lifeline back to the self Kate once was.

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.A Kate Delafield Mystery Series Book 10.

Dory Quillin, nineteen-years old, her white-blonde hair ruffled by the gentle breezes of a June evening, lies dead in the parking lot of a lesbian bar. Her bewildered silver-blue eyes stare beseechingly into the mind and soul of the woman who kneels beside her. LAPD homicide detective Kate Delafield. The investigation is far from a simple matter. Kate uncovers shocking facts about the brief life of the murdered young lesbian. She finds her road to the killer obstructed by Dory's uncooperative, judmental parents, the waning interest of her own partner, and most frustrating of all, the open hostility of women who should be her allies - the lesbians who frequent the Nightwood Bar. Kate's emotional equilibrium is further disturbed by her powerful attraction to one of those women, the enigmatic Andrea Ross. Who killed Dory Quillin? And why? Accompany Kate Delafield on her elctrifying, emotional journey to the answer, an answer you will never forget. Originally published by Naiad Press, 1984.

“The sky begins to shimmer with the silver of brilliant star clusters, the eerie radiance of red and blue flourescence. One huge moon, glowing gold, is soon joined by two others, much smaller, which slowly rise above the horizon, each jagged in shape as if carelessly formed. Night falls suddenly and completely, and we sit together in a glorious royal-blue world illuminated with silver. It is Mother who speaks, softly: ‘So lovely a world. . . is surely meant for women.’” Late in the 22nd century, the settling of a new world falls on the strong shoulders of young Megan. The perfect leader, she undertakes to guide her sisters to a new planet, free from the shackles of the brutal Earth regime. Negotiating politics in a society of women is second only to securing their safety. When a landing party of men and women discover their colony Megan must decide if the outsiders will live or die. And that includes Lt. Laurel Meredith, whose disturbing beauty is as dangerous to Megan as her people are to Megan's world.

LAPD Detective Kate Delafield has a new, iron-willed female lieutenant—a tough new partner who may turn out to be a much-needed ally. She also has a dangerous new case.A reclusive old man has been brutally slain at the La Brea Tar Pits. The unusual investigation could uncover the truth of humanity's ancient past, and at the same time expose the corruption and violence of the present. And everyone involved—from an alluring scientist with a dark secret to a treacherous CIA officer with his own agenda—is suspect.With more at stake than just a pile of bones, Kate has to gather together the pieces of a timeless puzzle, and make sure they all fit—before a remorseless killer decides to make her a part of history...

The intimacy of a cabin at Lake Tahoe provides the combustible circumstances that bring Diana Holland and Lane Christianson together in this passionate novel of first discovery.Candid in its eroticism, intensely romantic, remarkably beautiful, CURIOUS WINE is a love story that will remain in your memory.

On Thanksgiving Day, LAPD homicide detective Kate Delafield and her partner, Ed Taylor, are called to an apartment building on the edge of Beverly Hills to investigate a premeditated and pitiless murder.No one appears particularly grieved by the shocking end to old-time Hollywood director Owen Sinclair. Surely not three other tenants of the Beverly Malibu, who worked in the motion picture industry during the blacklist years and loathed Sinclair for having been a "friendly witness" before the House Un-American Activities Committee.Nor is Sinclair's latest ex-wife grieved or even his children. Nor film actress and former paramour Maxine Marlowe. Nor Dudley Kincaid, whose brilliant screenplay Sinclair stole. Nor landlady Hazel Turner, whose husband, Jerome, is deceased but not exactly gone...

"A pioneer in lesbian literature . . . a believer in the power of stories."—Lambda Book ReportThe reprint of a long out-of-print classic short story collection featuring the treasured erotic novella O Captain, My Captain. Also includes stories featuring LAPD homicide detective Kate Delafield and characters from the Daughters of a Coral Dawn science fiction series.Katherine V. Forrest is famous for her best-selling works of lesbian fiction in the mystery/detective, romance, and science fiction genres. She has received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award, given to recognize and honor the best in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature.