Gay/Lesbian Fiction

The first novels I can remember reading that had lesbian characters were The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg. And I have already mentioned Monette O’Reilly, towering lesbian and star player of the Leaping Lesbians of Park Slope featured in the mysteries by David Stukas. Here are some lesbian mystery novels you may enjoy.

Unexpected series by Gina Dartt. Dartt is a well know writer from Truro, best know for her fan fiction for Star Trek, Bad Girls and Xena. Dartt has stated that quite a lot of herself and the people she knows are in her stories. Kate Shannon (40) is struggling with her feeling for 26 year old Nikki Harris. The age differences between the two women and their different backgrounds allows Dartt to explore issues facing lesbian couples today, all the while providing a great mystery to be solved.


Cassandra Reilly Mysteries by Barbara Wilson. In this fast paced witty series, Cassandra Reilly is a professional, globe-trotting translator. Truly a series for lovers of cozy mysteries as there is no blood, violence and (disappointingly) no sex! Maybe mildness is the reason Judy Davis and Juliette Lewis are scheduled to make a film out of Gaudi Afternoon.

Kate Delafield series by Katherine V Forrest, recipient of Lambda Literary Foundations Pioneer Award in 1998, the Bill Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Awards and The Trailblazer Award and the Alice B Readers Award medal. Another Canadian author,(Windsor Ontario), is best known for this series. Delafield is supposed to be the first American lesbian police detective and has been described as "Miss Marple with k.d. lang, Sherlock Holmes with Candace Gingrich...ex Marine Homicide detective for the LAPD, queer-as-the day-is-long heroine". While Wilson’s series is sex-free Forrest has no qualms in using eroticism and lesbian sexuality.

Yes, I know that I have not mentioned Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetti mysteries and people will probably be wondering why The reason I omitted them is that while Cornwell is a lesbian, her main character of the series is not.

There are many more books to be read and sexuality of all forms has definitely come out of the closet. So enjoy Pride and discover this for yourself!