Apparition Alley: A Kate Delafield Mystery [Paperback]

Katherine V. Forrest (Author)

Book Description

Series: Kate Delafield | Publication Date: December 12, 2000

In Apparition Alley, a gunfight erupts during what should be a routine drug bust, and Kate Delafield is shot by another officer -but no one wants to fess up to the misfire. Soon, Kate finds a connection between her own "accident" and the suspicious demise of another cop-who may have been on the verge of outing gay and lesbian officers...

"Few mystery writers combine such an intelligent take on issues with such solid storytelling."-Publishers Weekly

"Apparition Alley is an unqualified knockout."- Lambda Book Report

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

LAPD homicide detective Kate Delafield is shot in a routine drug bust. It's her first line-of-fire accident, but when it turns out that the bullet that winged her came not from the suspect's gun but from a police weapon, the case takes on a different hue. Was Kate's injury the result of a bias against gays and lesbians in the department? And how does it tie into the charges levied against Luke Taggart, a cop whose partner, a closeted gay man, was killed in what he believes was a hate crime?

When Kate is reluctantly dragooned into defending Taggart at a departmental hearing on charges that could lead to a murder indictment, she tries to ignore the homophobia that seems to be the common link between her shooting and the murder of Taggart's partner. But the psychotherapy required after an officer-involved shooting forces her to confront her guilt over the suicide of another member of the department and her ambivalence about outing her gay colleagues or even coming out of the closet herself.

Forrest uses both the current tarnish on the reputation of the Rampart-era LAPD and the tangled personal and political implications of sexual diversity to good advantage in this well-crafted mystery, the fifth in the Kate Delafield series. The most effective scenes, in the office of the psychologist she's forced to see, add another layer of complexity to Kate's character. This is a heroine who continues to evolve and grow with every new adventure. --Jane Adams

From Kirkus Reviews

Watch your back when you're arresting a drug suspect for the LAPD. If you don't, the resulting gunplay could leave the suspect dead and you wounded by friendly fire--and after you're released from the hospital, as Det. Kate Delafield learns, your problems really begin: answering endless questions for a review board, wondering which of your colleagues shot you, sitting through hours of psychotherapy sessions, and finally getting picked by Officer Luke Taggart as the representative for the hearing convened to determine why he shot a drug dealer of his own in a late-night hostage-taking. Taggart tells Kate he chose her only because she's a good investigator whose recent experience with the system will make her sympathetic to him. But he doesn't act as if he wants sympathy, even though his colleagues in the Hollywood Division, outraged that he informed on one partner who ate his gun, froze him out even before he lost the second, Tony Ferrera, in a liquor-store holdup. Instead, Taggart, who insists against all the evidence that he never fired his gun in Apparition Alley, alternately acts secretive and suspicious, and goes into paranoid attack mode by insisting Ferrera was killed by cops because of some story he was about to tell that would blow the lid off a conspiracy of silence at the troubled LAPD. Forrest (Liberty Square, 1996, etc.) gives full weight to her lesbian heroine's anguish at coming to terms with her personal demons without ever swamping a police-corruption plot that could have been plucked from today's headlines. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (December 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425176770
• ISBN-13: 978-0425176771
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,352,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the best in the series..., September 5, 2000

By 

"2hoo" (Tulsa, OK United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apparition Alley (Paperback)

Of all the Delafield books, this was one of the weakest. Too many intersecting stories to really keep up. Had a hard time believing Aimee would be working so hard after the shooting. Worth reading for the sake of keeping up with the series.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK But Not Great, January 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Apparition Alley (Kate Delafield Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This book was an OK book. Perhaps I was expecting more. One of the things that I did like about this book was Kates attitude and her love for being a member of the LAPD. I also the manner in which Ms. Forrest characterized Luke Taggert. I was disappointed by the lack of action in this book. Not being one who reads many mystery/dective novels I can't think of any other authors to compare this book with. Would I read another Katherine Forrest novel.? Yes. I never judge an author on just one book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kate finds out she's human, August 15, 2001

By 

carlaf "carlaf" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apparition Alley (Paperback)

Kate Delafied is shot and wounded in a "routine" bust. What really blows her mind is when she finds out that the bullet came not from the criminal but from one of her fellow officers, all of whom are loathe to speak to Kate which makes her even more cranky. Then out of the blue comes a request from Luke Taggert, who is accused of having killed a drug dealer in cold blood and he wants Kate as his advocate. Kate is initially unwilling to take the case but boredom and the inconsistencies she finds when she starts investigating keep her going. She is astonished when Taggert is less worried about his own fate and more concerned about the murder of his closeted partner Tony Ferrera, who was more like a brother than a partner to Luke. As Kate works on Taggert's case, she finds herself also looking into Tony's death as well. She finds that Tony made a computer disk of closeted gays that he intended to publish. THis makes the LAPD the prime target. Did one of them kill Tony to keep him quiet? and what of Luke's story. Kate begins to find it has more holes than swiss cheese. As an aside, I found her sparring with psychologist Calla very interesting and Calla's warning to Kate before she releases her to return to "light" duty shakes Kate and we can only hope she will listen. A lot is going in in this book and it is very complex and exciting.