Ginny's best friend, Bev, has a problem. Her white lover, a well known lesbian executive is found dead near a lesbian bar. A mutual friend, Naomi, believes Bev will be suspect. After all she is Black and is more likely to shoulder the blame since the two had problems. Once she is blamed then Ginny and Naomi may be found guilty by association.

Ginny refuses to believe this and begins her own investigation in finding the real killer. While pursuing this course she runs into her own set of personal problems. She dumps her own white lover for a crazed female lawyer who is continuously stalking her. She also has problems of being a lone Black lesbian who has few Black friends to relate to and feels unfulfilled in her relationships with one white lover after another.

Follow her through the twists and turns of Chicago and Boston as she attempts to solve this mystery. Nikki Baker has given us a decent first novel in a new series featuring a Black Lesbian Detective. It is well worth the read and touches on a wide variety of issues involving race, class, sexuality and self-esteem. No doubt we will hear more about Virginia "Ginny" Kelly.

Chicago is steamy and unpleasant this summer. Vacation time is here and Naomi drags Ginny off to Provincetown on Cape Cod. Sex is hot for the asking, the music is wild and cruising hasn't gone out of style. Lavender House is the "in" bread and breakfast spot for vacationing lesbians looking for some thrills in their life.

While Ginny roams from bed to bed trying to decide about her relationship with her old lover, Naomi encounters her first love. Ginny takes a jog and while out stumbles upon the dead body of one of Lavender's guests, Joan. Once again Ginny finds herself as a potential suspect for murder. Joan is a well known lesbian activist and columnist whose acid journalism has earned her many enemies. Ginny was her last night stand (or was she?) before her murder. Can Ginny get herself out of this mess when the murderer could be anyone at the house as well as those on the outside who have every right to have wanted Joan dead? This is the second of the series of A Virginia Kelly Mystery that will keep you guessing.

Nikki Baker's plots are interesting and plausible but it is a great shame that her main character is such a disappointment. Virginia Kelly is selfish, egotistical, vain and casually cruel - its good to have realistic characters along with their faults but frankly this one is so unpleasant its hard to see why anyone would like her.

Niiki Baker's memorable and realistic characters draw us into her web of mystery once again! An old love interest of Virginia's calls her up to make sure she'll be at the upcoming class reunion, and she goes, hoping to find out what happened to this unrequited love. Back home, amidst disillusioned parents, old friends, and old dreams, Virginia's natural curiosity and good intentions lead her to a dangerous spot where knowledge brings murder, and even Virginia's life may be on the line!