Murder by Tradition: A Kate Delafield Mystery

by Katherine V. Forrest

Paperback, 2003

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Series

Kate Delafield Series (4)

Genres

Publication

Alyson Books (2003), Edition: 1, Paperback, 280 pages

Description

Young Teddie Crawford is dead from multiple stab wounds in a restaurant kitchen awash with blood. LAPD homicide detective Kate Delafield is relentless in her pursuit and capture of his killer. But bringing that killer to trial imperils Kate's professional standing and personal privacy--and her belief in the justice system to which she has devoted her life. The suspect claims self-defense--that Teddie Crawford made a homosexual advance and backed it up with a knife. Yet everything Kate learns about Teddie Crawford tells her that his murder was deliberate. And to develop proof of first degree murder, she must find clear answers to mystifying questions for the prosecuting attorney--a woman who has never before prosecuted a homicide case. Kate is increasingly isolated as she tries to shield her young lover from the brutal realities of this case and finds few allies among her LAPD brethren. Even her partner, Ed Taylor, is loathe to aggressively pursue a case involving a dead gay man and his gay associates. As the trial date looms, she discovers she has a personal stake: the defense attorney is a man from her past. A man with the power to expose the private life she has kept rigidly separate from her life as a police officer. Murder by Tradition reaches new heights in the powerful storytelling readers have come to expect from Katherine V. Forrest. Lambda Literary Award Winner. A Kate Delafield Mystery Series Book 4.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member DanieXJ

This is the fourth book in the Forrest's Kate Delafield series, and I thought it was the best so far. All of Kate's personal stuff from the previous three books that has been bubbling under the surface during the murder investigations come to a roiling boil.

The book starts with a murder, as usual.

It was the murder of a gay man, Teddie Crawford, in the restaurant he owns. Kate's job, of course, is to find out who did it. She does, but this isn't a police procedural like the previous three, but more like a legal mystery.

Most of the book takes place in the courtroom, prosecuting the alleged murderer that Kate catches. And it's amazing stuff. Forrest has managed to gloss over the most boring parts of the trail and plays up very, very well the more exciting parts.

I also really liked how Forrest approached Kate and Aimee's relationship that started in the previous book and the friendships with those from the Nightwood Bar (from the second book). This was the first book that really felt like it was more than just a stand alone story with the same characters from the rest of the series.

I'd give this an awesomely intense five stars.

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LibraryThing member macha

not really a police procedural, though Kate Delafield is a lesbian homicide cop for the LAPD in the 1990s here, investigating the brutal murder of a gay man, but the way this one's structured it becomes as much about the trial that follows. i'd never read any of this series, and though i was

sympathetic to the premise of the story, i was too often questioning the setup, which seemed to me rather pat and without nuance. worse, the author's writing was very stiff and stilted, to the point of being uncomfortable to read. i like Kate's point of view and her conviction and doggedness, so i rooted for her, but it was not enough to make me want to read more of this series.

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