Book Notes:
Detective Maggie Gale is back and she's on the verge of saying - I love you - to her beautiful live-in "inamorata", college professor Kathryn Anthony, but first Maggie has to solve a murder in the local civil war era cemetery.
When Maggie finds an old journal detailing a hot romance between two 19th century women who lived right in her neighborhood, she works to find the connection between what's happening in the present to the tragedy that drove the two women apart 140 years ago. A ghostly figure, secret passages, valuable treasure, and trying to find the intimate key to trust and commitment in their relationship all challenge P.I. Maggie Gale and Dr. Kathryn Anthony in this exciting second book in the Maggie Gale Mystery Series. Don't miss this sexy new novel by critically acclaimed author Liz Bradbury, it's sure to entertain lovers of both mystery and romance!
From the Rainbow Reader, Salem West:
"Detective Maggie Gale is back in Liz Bradbury’s Being the Steel Drummer. Set a mere two months after the action-packed events of Angle Food and Devil Dogs, Maggie Gale and her intrepid band of Fenchester Lesbyterians find themselves firmly rooted in a mystery that involves greed, murder, ghosts, neighborhood politics, lost treasure, bawdy sex, middle-age stalkers, Shakespearian verse, and a love affair for the ages. Through it all, Maggie and her new lover navigate the unfamiliar waters of their relationship, as they test a long-term future thinly veiled as a trial professional partnership.
Being the Steel Drummer is a textbook whodunit, surprisingly wrapped in a rich, lusty romance. The story is plot-driven and complex, and is focused on a puzzle that spans more than 140 years. Like the classics of the genre, it contains a closed and diverse circle of suspects with means, motive and opportunity for the crime—and a detective, her sidekick, and a loveable Great Dane who come to investigate and, with the help of clues and the power of deduction, discover the real perpetrator, who is rapidly brought to justice after a suspense filled chase.
... Being the Steel Drummer is a compelling read, and Liz Bradbury is a master at tweaking the clichés within the genre to produce a novel that fires on all cylinders. She manages to create a central crime that is the literary equivalent of an M.C. Escher drawing, complete with intricate algorithms and tessellation patterns. The big bad is introduced early and the plot devices, clues, and red herrings are almost impossible to differentiate until all the pieces began sliding into place as Maggie Gale explains how she solved the crime. Most pleasing is how the author resolves the myriad subplots by the end of the novel, and nothing is left hanging.
Beyond the classic whodunit, Ms. Bradbury also treats readers to a gripping and sensual love story between two women in post Civil War America. This story line is equal parts sweet, savory, sexy, and heartbreaking—and includes its own mini mystery that, true to form, is solved by the irrepressible Maggie Gale. The more modern love story between Maggie and her inamorata, Dr. Kathryn Anthony, cleverly and keenly illustrates the similarities and differences between sex and sexuality across the ages."
(Includes what) - "...can arguably be described as one of the most well written bondage scenes in all of lesbian literature,"
