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In this 1982 gay murder mystery by the author of Vermilion, summer in Provincetown is a nonstop party--until it stops dead.   Daniel Valentine is a gay bartender and former social worker. Clarisse Lovelace is his straight pal who works in real estate. They make an unconventional investigative duo--but sometimes unconventional is exactly what's called for.   Summer in P'town is definitely earning its reputation as Sodom-by-the Sea. Daniel scored a job tending bar for the season and Clarisse show more is here too, looking fabulous and searching for trouble. Only she finds the wrong kind when a dead body turns up on a beach.   No one knew Jeff that well, but his arresting cobalt eyes certainly caught people's attention. They made him some friends--and quite a few enemies. Which of these killed him?   "In many ways it's not all that different from Miss Marple snooping about St. Mary Mead, only here drag queens replace governesses and coke dealers replace vicars." --Gay Community News show less

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3 reviews
Valentine and Lovelace go on working holidays to Provincetown. Coming home from an all-night party, Clarisse finds a body on the beach, the body of a young man who the previous day had tried to persuade her to provide him with somewhere to stay in the resort.

Just as light and fluffy as its predecessor (though the less said about the fancy-dress party the better), but despite being something of a binge-reader of series I found two in a row too much.
½
2nd in the Valentine and Lovelace mysteries. Valentine and Clarisse have moved to P-Town for the summer. Valentine is a bartender again and Clarisse is working in a kitschy gift shop. Like the previous one we have the murder right at the start of the book. This time it's a drug dealer whom Clarisse met on the fairy ride over. This was another with a number of twists and turns and cast of characters. We have a man who wants to be Valentine's lover but is rebuffed numerous times. A pair of lesbians who are in the same complex as Valentine and Clarisse for a week. Clarisse's Uncle who owns the complex and his partner. One of the lesbians meets an untimely end in the pool. Valentine hooks up with a guy who has an on again off again show more antagonistic relationship with his lover. And the whole thing comes to a smash up ending with a stage play. show less
Ugh. Why did I bother?

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6 Works 623 Members

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Common Knowledge

Canonical title
Cobalt
Original publication date
1982
People/Characters
Daniel Valentine; Clarisse Lovelace
Important places
Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA
Dedication
For Sharon

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, LGBTQ+, Mystery
DDC/MDS
813.54Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican fiction in English1900-19991945-1999
LCC
PS3551 .L346 .C6Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1961-
BISAC

Statistics

Members
163
Popularity
199,965
Reviews
3
Rating
½ (3.50)
Languages
English
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
6
ASINs
2