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Heavy Gilt
"Hello and love from Cape Gull! Everyone here is middle-aged, closeted, monogamous, privileged, politically incorrect, and I'm having a wonderful, time."
More adventures with the famous lesbian detective, by the author of WOMAN + WOMAN.
More adventures with the famous lesbian detective, by the author of WOMAN + WOMAN.
173 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1988
44 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 1, 2026
Now here’s something I haven’t seen before: a modern lesbian mystery told in the comic style of the old Victorian parlor mystery or maybe one of Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence mysteries. In fact, one of the best things about this delightful book is its consistent language and tone. The story takes place in the faux-Victorian town of Cape Gull, New Jersey. The city, like the story is an anachronism. It has, “a town-out-of-time feeling.”
The point of view is also unusual—and refreshing—for a lesbian mystery: omniscient. The author goes from one character to the next whenever she feels like it, which is often, but there is rarely a time when the reader is confused as to who is speaking or thinking. It’s a good choice, though, because most of the characters have equal billing with the detective, Tyler Divine.
The book begins in the household of Hilary and Dru, two heavily closeted lesbians in their late forties. Independently wealthy and incredibly naïve, they assume that their relationship is unnoticed by the rest of the community, including their friends. Then Dru’s younger sister Bettina comes for a visit. Bettina has just written a popular book on lesbian feminist thought and is hiding from the press at her sister’s. Also present is Hilary’s homophobic brother Malcolm and his proper wife Maggie. When Malcolm disappears after a treasure hunt organized by his sister, detective Tyler Divine is called in to find him—or his body.
But who would want to see poor Malcolm dead? As is normal in Agatha Christie’s mysteries, virtually everyone disliked him for one reason or another. But in this book, the mystery is secondary. Author Klaich uses the frame of the crime to focus on the relationships of the people involved. With Tyler Divine as instigator, they learn a lot about each other and about themselves. And except for Bettina, who is in her mid-twenties, all of the characters are between 40 and 50—old enough to have been keeping secrets for far too long.
What Bettina tries to teach them is that not only is their town an anachronism, but they are, too. They are all hiding for one reason or another and it is time to stop and be proud of who they are and what they feel. Do they find Malcolm’s murderer? Well, who cares? What is important is that they find themselves and accept their sexuality. As one of the characters—a writer—realizes later in the book, “My love life is not an irrelevant issue. It informs my work. It is, in fact, my essence.”
The trouble of having a lot of main characters is that each needs equal backstory, and Klaich gives short shrift to some of them. The ending is way too pat—it’s as if the author decided on the ending first and was bound and determined to get there somehow, however awkwardly. Still, I’m going to give this one close to a 4. With a better ending and maybe another 25 pages delving a bit more into the several relationships, it would have been higher.
I read the first Naiad printing of this novel.
Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 1250 other lesbian mysteries by over 400 authors.
The point of view is also unusual—and refreshing—for a lesbian mystery: omniscient. The author goes from one character to the next whenever she feels like it, which is often, but there is rarely a time when the reader is confused as to who is speaking or thinking. It’s a good choice, though, because most of the characters have equal billing with the detective, Tyler Divine.
The book begins in the household of Hilary and Dru, two heavily closeted lesbians in their late forties. Independently wealthy and incredibly naïve, they assume that their relationship is unnoticed by the rest of the community, including their friends. Then Dru’s younger sister Bettina comes for a visit. Bettina has just written a popular book on lesbian feminist thought and is hiding from the press at her sister’s. Also present is Hilary’s homophobic brother Malcolm and his proper wife Maggie. When Malcolm disappears after a treasure hunt organized by his sister, detective Tyler Divine is called in to find him—or his body.
But who would want to see poor Malcolm dead? As is normal in Agatha Christie’s mysteries, virtually everyone disliked him for one reason or another. But in this book, the mystery is secondary. Author Klaich uses the frame of the crime to focus on the relationships of the people involved. With Tyler Divine as instigator, they learn a lot about each other and about themselves. And except for Bettina, who is in her mid-twenties, all of the characters are between 40 and 50—old enough to have been keeping secrets for far too long.
What Bettina tries to teach them is that not only is their town an anachronism, but they are, too. They are all hiding for one reason or another and it is time to stop and be proud of who they are and what they feel. Do they find Malcolm’s murderer? Well, who cares? What is important is that they find themselves and accept their sexuality. As one of the characters—a writer—realizes later in the book, “My love life is not an irrelevant issue. It informs my work. It is, in fact, my essence.”
The trouble of having a lot of main characters is that each needs equal backstory, and Klaich gives short shrift to some of them. The ending is way too pat—it’s as if the author decided on the ending first and was bound and determined to get there somehow, however awkwardly. Still, I’m going to give this one close to a 4. With a better ending and maybe another 25 pages delving a bit more into the several relationships, it would have been higher.
I read the first Naiad printing of this novel.
Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 1250 other lesbian mysteries by over 400 authors.
October 26, 2017
Another random pull from the shelves at the local LGBT Center's book collection. However this one was quite... Bad.
First off, there were too many characters, which I guess is common in these types of mysteries. But it still felt like not enough time was spent on anyone. Or the plot, even. This wasn't enough to seriously annoy me, BUT THEN, I reached the end and was infuriated by two things.
The first thing was the homophobic character was..... gay all along!!! Just majorly self-loathing!!!! Ooookay. I find that stereotype obnoxious, but whatever.
BUT THE SECOND THING WAS MUCH WORSE. A character who had been introduced as a trans woman... re-enters the novel as a man (on the arm of another man). According to the book he was never trans he just didn't didn't think he could find peace as a man attracted to men............... But he had found true love and voila!!! I mean, the character said this wasn't true for all trans people (NO SHIT), but still... I'm pissed the author chose that story to tell. I had been happy to have the inclusion of a trans character that everyone accepted for the most part. Mainly excepting the lesbian-feminist who was presented as more "socially conscious" than everyone. Mmkay.
First off, there were too many characters, which I guess is common in these types of mysteries. But it still felt like not enough time was spent on anyone. Or the plot, even. This wasn't enough to seriously annoy me, BUT THEN, I reached the end and was infuriated by two things.
The first thing was the homophobic character was..... gay all along!!! Just majorly self-loathing!!!! Ooookay. I find that stereotype obnoxious, but whatever.
BUT THE SECOND THING WAS MUCH WORSE. A character who had been introduced as a trans woman... re-enters the novel as a man (on the arm of another man). According to the book he was never trans he just didn't didn't think he could find peace as a man attracted to men............... But he had found true love and voila!!! I mean, the character said this wasn't true for all trans people (NO SHIT), but still... I'm pissed the author chose that story to tell. I had been happy to have the inclusion of a trans character that everyone accepted for the most part. Mainly excepting the lesbian-feminist who was presented as more "socially conscious" than everyone. Mmkay.
May 28, 2025
The book was fun but some of the characters - didn’t age poorly, exactly, but they just come across as annoying now. Maybe they always did? The ending is abrupt and unsatisfying. Despite all that, I did really enjoy most of it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews