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Tough and demanding LAPD Detective Kate Delafield is the leader of the investigation into a highrise office building murder. The case is intriguing but routine--until Kate interviews the only witness, Ellen O'Neil. When Ellen O'Neil took her new job over the objections of her lover, she wasn't expecting to become embroiled in murder. The curiosity that Kate Delafield rouses is equally unexpected. But it is never far from Ellen's mind that she is merely a name on an interview sheet to the show more tight-lipped detective. Kate's thin trail of clues are enough to convince her that she is looking for an amateur, and amateurs are notoriously unpredictable and dangerous. She finds her path increasingly intersecting with that of Ellen O'Neil, who is proving unpredictable and dangerous in a far more personal way. show less

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2 reviews
This novel took me twice to really understand or comprehend in any real way. The first time I read it, everything got all muddled in my head and the story didn't really make sense. I think it was partially because I hadn't read many LesFic novels and I was just starting to read adult mysteries (i.e. non-Hardy Boys stuff) in a real way too. Now that I have read more, many more of both types the book makes much more sense

There were also a whole lot of characters to keep track of, and though they were all very unique, there were just so, so many. Oh, and, it was sort of like a very giant sort of locked room mystery, which is not one of my favorite kinds.

It's an interesting start to the series. We learn some about all of the main show more characters, get some of the threads that will appear again in the series I assume, but we don't learn everything so that there can be surprises later on.

I do have to say that it was a bit dated, not in a bad way, just in a... hey, where are the cell phones and priuses. But, even as it was dated, it used an astounding amount of forensics in it, which as a die hard CSI lover was awesome. The book was ahead of its time in some cool ways.
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Very dated. Not a super mystery (I think they get better).
½

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Author Information

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33+ Works 4,693 Members
Katherine V. Forrest is an author of international renown. A four-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award, she created the Kate Delafield mystery series, and the lesbian classics Curious Wine and Daughters of a Coral Dawn

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Common Knowledge

Canonical title
Amateur City
Original publication date
1984
Dedication
For Sheila . . .

My Very Own Mystery

Classifications

Genres
LGBTQ+, Fiction and Literature, Mystery
DDC/MDS
813.54Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican fiction in English1900-19991945-1999
LCC
PS3556 .O737 .A8Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1961-
BISAC

Statistics

Members
369
Popularity
84,694
Reviews
2
Rating
½ (3.38)
Languages
Dutch, English, German
Media
Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
ISBNs
13
ASINs
6