What do you think?
Rate this book
Alison Kaine Mystery #2
Give My Secrets Back
Lesbian cop Alison Kaine and her friend Michelle find an author of steamy lesbian romances dead in her bathtub. She and her riotous extended family, including her very sexy girlfriend, Stacy, are back and eager to help investigate - that is, unless they're busy helping Liz compete for the title of Ms. Leather Colorado.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
11 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 5, 2020
Its good, but wow…
An action-packed, entertaining story with interesting characters & riveting plot lines. It was a very enjoyable read. I recommend this book.
An action-packed, entertaining story with interesting characters & riveting plot lines. It was a very enjoyable read. I recommend this book.
Read
June 19, 2020The second book in the Allison Kaine series finds our hero still dating Stacy, aka “Mistress Anastasia" Ross, after a year. She is still a lowly officer for the Denver Police Force, trying to get through the work day without being harassed too badly by her co-workers. In her off time, though, she’s involved in various lesbian and feminist causes and is heavily into the S/M leather scene. At a gathering called GAY-la, she sees Tamsin, an old acquaintance from the early feminist days of the 70s. She is intrigued when she finds out that Tam, under the name of Katie Copper, is the author of one of her favorite mysteries series featuring Blaze Badgirl. But before she can talk to Tam about this, Allison finds the author dead in her bathtub.
Although this is an intriguing mystery with more than a few excellently drawn characters, the importance of the book may be in its history of the fledgling lesbian political movement. Told in both flashbacks and stories from the participants—Allison and her friends—it is one of the best fictional chronicles of that time I have read and certainly the best involving the city of Denver. But I think it is Allen’s writing style that impresses me the most. Not only is Allison personable and easy to like, but insightful as well. In asking one of the characters why she chose to return to a relationship with her abuser, she says, “This was one woman coming back to start in again on a love that was painful and bad, for the simple reason she could not stay away.”
Michelle Martin, quintessential feminist, ranks high on the list of best friends in the lesbian mystery genre along with Nikki Baker’s Naomi Wolf and a few others. She gives the Kaine books not only another eye into the lesbian scene, but a disapproving one into Allison’s own lifestyle, which can be hilarious, as when Michelle bursts into the room while Allison and Stacy are into a particularly revealing scene involving restraints, fire, and fantasies.
Unlike other books where the protagonist is a police officer, we see very little of Allison actually on the job, or perhaps as an officer she sees very little action. The entire case is worked and solved without any involvement from the police. And it is an odd one with references to S/M, firepley, incest, feminism, and just good old plain murder.
This is the third book I have read by Kate Allen, who like her character Tamsin, also writes under a pseudonym. As a bonus, it also introduces the character of Marta Goichecca, who is the main character of her only non-Allison novel, I Knew You Would Call. All are deserving of a 4 rating or better.
Note: I read the first New Victoria printing of this novel.
Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
Although this is an intriguing mystery with more than a few excellently drawn characters, the importance of the book may be in its history of the fledgling lesbian political movement. Told in both flashbacks and stories from the participants—Allison and her friends—it is one of the best fictional chronicles of that time I have read and certainly the best involving the city of Denver. But I think it is Allen’s writing style that impresses me the most. Not only is Allison personable and easy to like, but insightful as well. In asking one of the characters why she chose to return to a relationship with her abuser, she says, “This was one woman coming back to start in again on a love that was painful and bad, for the simple reason she could not stay away.”
Michelle Martin, quintessential feminist, ranks high on the list of best friends in the lesbian mystery genre along with Nikki Baker’s Naomi Wolf and a few others. She gives the Kaine books not only another eye into the lesbian scene, but a disapproving one into Allison’s own lifestyle, which can be hilarious, as when Michelle bursts into the room while Allison and Stacy are into a particularly revealing scene involving restraints, fire, and fantasies.
Unlike other books where the protagonist is a police officer, we see very little of Allison actually on the job, or perhaps as an officer she sees very little action. The entire case is worked and solved without any involvement from the police. And it is an odd one with references to S/M, firepley, incest, feminism, and just good old plain murder.
This is the third book I have read by Kate Allen, who like her character Tamsin, also writes under a pseudonym. As a bonus, it also introduces the character of Marta Goichecca, who is the main character of her only non-Allison novel, I Knew You Would Call. All are deserving of a 4 rating or better.
Note: I read the first New Victoria printing of this novel.
Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
November 8, 2014
We met Alison's housemate and bestie-since-childhood, Michelle and her lover, in Tell Me What You Like, but in Give My Secrets Back, Michelle has a more prominent role. The story opens on a open-house/fundraiser/fair at the LGBT community center where Michelle works, and Alison has been roped in to give a career talk to the out-teen group. There she meets Tam, who turns out to be a well-known and very successful author of lesbian novels written under a pen name. And, as we discover, Michelle is in tight with Tam.
Michelle is totally disapproving of Alison's girlfriend Stacy, and she's super down on BDSM as "violence against women", regardless of its consensual nature, so it's a real embarrassment for Alison when she and Stacy manage to set Alison's bedroom on fire doing a scene involving a bit of fire play. It wasn't the kink that was at fault, just a normal candle that anyone might have lit for lovemaking atmosphere catches the drapes. However, since Alison is chained in a doorway, she not only can't respond to the fire, but she's stuck there as Stacy is trying to smother the flames and Michelle comes charging in. This scene does a good job of showing some of what goes on inside a sub's headspace in a scene, but it throws the friction caused by Michelle's disapproval into the foreground in a big way. Now the bedroom is going to have to be cleaned and repainted. Alison is allergic to paint fumes.
Michelle and Alison end up going together to Tam's house, and discover the writer dead in her bathtub, head underwater, with a vibrator attached to an extension cord submerged in the bath. Obviously, it was an electrifying experience, and police rule it an accident. Michelle happens to have been named executrix in Tam's will, so now she's got to inventory, clean the place up, and get the contents to Tam's sister and niece. This is all in good time for Alison to temporarily move into Tam's house to help with the sorting while Michelle gets her room repainted.
Alison, suspicious cop that she is, thinks Tam's death was murder. And Michelle leans on Alison to help track down Tam's sister, for whom she has only a first name, and niece. We get a tour of the "old time lesbian community" as Alison tries contacting folks who knew Tam and her sister Back When.
This was a good mystery novel, and again is full of a lot of unexpected humor. I liked it.
Michelle is totally disapproving of Alison's girlfriend Stacy, and she's super down on BDSM as "violence against women", regardless of its consensual nature, so it's a real embarrassment for Alison when she and Stacy manage to set Alison's bedroom on fire doing a scene involving a bit of fire play. It wasn't the kink that was at fault, just a normal candle that anyone might have lit for lovemaking atmosphere catches the drapes. However, since Alison is chained in a doorway, she not only can't respond to the fire, but she's stuck there as Stacy is trying to smother the flames and Michelle comes charging in. This scene does a good job of showing some of what goes on inside a sub's headspace in a scene, but it throws the friction caused by Michelle's disapproval into the foreground in a big way. Now the bedroom is going to have to be cleaned and repainted. Alison is allergic to paint fumes.
Michelle and Alison end up going together to Tam's house, and discover the writer dead in her bathtub, head underwater, with a vibrator attached to an extension cord submerged in the bath. Obviously, it was an electrifying experience, and police rule it an accident. Michelle happens to have been named executrix in Tam's will, so now she's got to inventory, clean the place up, and get the contents to Tam's sister and niece. This is all in good time for Alison to temporarily move into Tam's house to help with the sorting while Michelle gets her room repainted.
Alison, suspicious cop that she is, thinks Tam's death was murder. And Michelle leans on Alison to help track down Tam's sister, for whom she has only a first name, and niece. We get a tour of the "old time lesbian community" as Alison tries contacting folks who knew Tam and her sister Back When.
This was a good mystery novel, and again is full of a lot of unexpected humor. I liked it.
August 19, 2012
Loved it! Great follow-up to _Tell Me What You Like_. I love the way Allen writes: the wit, the often dry humor, the compassion, the sense of community. The characters are great, and even minor characters are distinctly portrayed; yeah, Michelle can be truly annoying, but she's also fiercely loyal to her friends. Wish there'd been more of Stacy. I like how, even though Alison's a cop, and there's a murder to be solved, it's not the traditional Delafield template of homicide detective unravels mystery; instead, Alison's whole circle of friends gets involved. My only complaint is about the "fire scene" early on in the book. Alison has some sort of out-of-body vision, or channeling experience. To me, it was out of character, and distracted from the otherwise nicely constructed scene. Other than that, _Give My Secrets Back_ gets a well-deserved A-plus.
December 14, 2015
I thought this was more effective as a mystery than the first, while keeping up the good work re milieu, characters, etc
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews