Last in the delightfully funny Valentine-and-Lovelace series, Canary finds our two protagonists a bit the worse for wear. Their bar is losing money, largely because someone keeps insisting on leaving dead bodies around. The cops, this is the 1980s, after all, are not wildly interested in the gay community's little problems, so Lovelace and Valentine set up shop as sleuths, determined to stop the killer before he puts them out of business.
This series by Nathan Aldyne (who I just recently found out was not a real person but a nom de plume for two writers collaborating) was what got me hooked on the genre of gay mysteries. I loved the characters, the settings, the plots, the humour, everything!I actually read them when they first came out (!) in the early-to-mid 80's. I think I was able to read Vermilion and Cobalt back-to-back in 1983 (since they were published in '80 and '82, respectively) and eagerly awaited the next installment, which turned out to be Slate in '84 (followed by Canary in '86). I was very disappointed when nothing new came out in '88 or anytime after. It's one of the strengths of the Internet that I can now know why this series ended then (one of the collaborators died).Anyway, I'd give all of the books in this series 5 stars since I re-read them all regularly and still laugh. I'm glad that they have been reissued since my little paperbacks are getting quite yellowed and brittle and I can now replace them. If you enjoy good mysteries filled with humour and a gay twist, you'll enjoy any of these books. As with many series, it's more enjoyable to read them in order.
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