Vermilion

Vermilion is the first in a series of four mysteries set in Boston in the 1980s and featuring the investigative duo of Daniel Valentine, a gay bartender and former social worker, and Clarisse Lovelace, his straight pal. Reading this light and breezy series set in the pre-AIDS period is a bit like stepping into a time machine. Written by the duo of Michael McDowell, who also worked as a screenwriter, and Dennis Schuetz, the books feature a central relationship that is cinematic and quippy in the manner of Nick and Nora Charles from the "Thin Man" movies. In Vermilion, the duo end up investigating the murder of a young gay hustler whose body turns up on the lawn of a homophobic lawmaker. When a detective comes around Valentine's bar asking questions and casting suspicion on Val himself, there is no choice but for our amateur sleuths to figure out the truth for themselves.