The Night G.A.A. Died
by
Jack Ricardo
Reviewer: Meg
Rating: ***
Although the author has written on the Leather movement, this seems to be his only mystery.
The action takes place in the West Village of New York City in 1971 and paints a picture of gritty and grubby streets and of men who find sex in the dark of the warves and tractor trailer trucks of the West Side docks. Although the author never addresses lonliness directly, it is an integral part of the lives of the characters. The difficulties of being gay pre- Stonewall coupled poverty and then added to all the other ingredients of drama such as lust, greed, rage, etc. give the book an overall aura of dark toughness.
The lead character, Archie Cain, is a private detective with five years of police force experience. Archie resigns from the force when he is rejected by his colleagues for outing himself. As the book opens he is just setting up his own investigation business and struggling with the economics of being on his own. Rugged and independent , Archie doggedly pursues the murderer of the man he takes into the dock warehouses for a one night stand. Over the course of the novel the police, the CIA, and the FBI become involved in the case and the flegling civil rights organization, the Gay Activist Alliance, loses it's first home (a former fire station) in a fire.
The style of the book is terse and masculine and reminds me of Jack Dickson's Jas Anderson series. Testosterone is indeed spoken here. There are leather bars and dingy apartments (no one in this book seems to have a "decorator gene"), empty closets, grimy kitchens and dank ruins. Every word seems to add to the dark ambience. The action flows smoothly and the suspense kept me up late. And, underlying all the city soot, is the quest for acceptance and love.
My only regret is that there are not more books in this series.
Other books by this Author:
Leathermen Speak Out: An Anthology of Leathersex
Death with Dignity: A Mystery
