Brotherly Love (Stonewall Inn Mysteries) [Paperback]

Randye Lordon (Author)

Book Description

Series: Stonewall Inn Mysteries | Publication Date: May 1994

Lesbian private investigator Sydney Sloane had always had a troubled relationship with her brother. He had been reported dead 13 years ago, but now she finds herself staring at the photo of a recently escaped murderer who she is sure is her dead brother David. To find the truth, she begins to investigate and finds herself in the middle of a tangled web of deceit and treachery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sibling rivalry and the suggestion that a PI's supposedly dead brother is still alive power a fast-paced, though not always convincing, first novel. While reading the newspaper, brassy Manhattanite Sydney Sloane learns of a jailbreak by convicted murderer Noah Alexander. The prisoner's mug shot surprises her, for "Noah" bears an amazing resemblance to her older brother David, thought to have been killed in Israel. Although Sydney considered David an unlovable jerk during his verifiable lifetime, she doesn't think him capable of murder and sets out to prove Noah/David's innocence. Her investigation becomes problematic when gun-toting goons also descend on the trail, someone kills Noah's girlfriend and Sydney (who's openly lesbian) falls for the 25-year-old daughter of a murder victim. While the heroine's casual, often flip narration hastens this story along, some details fail to ring true: Sydney takes David's apparent return frm the dead quite calmly, exhibits little fear when confronted in her apartment by a hulking man and easily locates New Yorkers quite willing to assist with her detective work. Nonetheless, Lordon's first effort proves entertaining, if not particularly taut.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

First-novelist Lordon introduces N.Y.C.'s Sydney Sloane, a lesbian p.i. whose black-sheep brother David supposedly died 15 years ago, but who looks remarkably like the newspaper photograph of escaped double-homicide perpetrator Noah Alexander. While Sydney's p.i. partner Max lolls on the beach with a cutie, Sydney concentrates on finding David/Noah--discovering along the way his girlfriend (soon murdered), a crib-age nephew, and a wealthy man of mystery and muscle, Caleb Simeon, who's also looking for David for unspecified (at first) reasons. Backtracking to the double murder, Sydney interviews the liquor store owner's widow, and further questioning reveals that her husband may have been having an affair with Mildred Keller, the customer who died with him. Convinced her con artist/forger brother is innocent, Sydney quickly runs afoul of the real killer--but not before her brother reappears, then dies, and Caleb and his goon put in another appearance. Interesting premise, poor resolution. Sydney and Max, though, make a moderately entertaining pair and, with wiser plotting and a more fulsome denouement to their cases, will be welcome a second time around. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (May 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312109474
• ISBN-13: 978-0312109479
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,126,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Winning Ticket, October 13, 2000

By 

Michelle Quick (Provincetown, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brotherly Love (Stonewall Inn Mysteries) (Paperback)

Taking a chance on an author you've never read can be a frightening proposition - but sometimes you get lucky; and for those of you about to purchase Brotherly Love, you've hit the literary lottery. In this, the first installment of the Sydney Sloane mystery series, author Randye Lordon explores the theme of `family' with an honesty and subtlety few writers in this genre have achieved. It's refreshing to find a mystery novel with a lesbian protagonist that actually reads like a bestseller. Not only is the writing intelligent and the plot entertaining, the characters are likeable and in the end wind up feeling like old friends.

Brotherly Love introduces us to Sydney Sloane, a New York City P.I. who, while sipping a cup of coffee on a leisurely morning at home, finds herself staring down at a picture in the newspaper of one Noah Alexander, an escaped murderer who bears an uncanny resemblance to Sydney's own brother David, a professional con man. The more she stares at the picture, the more she is convinced that the man in the picture is indeed her brother. The problem is, David has been dead for ten years. While her relationship with David had always been troubled, when she had first learned of his death, she wasn't convinced it wasn't just another con. Now Sydney is out to learn the truth: is her brother dead or alive? The quest for an answer puts her very life on the line as dead bodies pile up all around.

Deftly grasping the nuances and idiosyncrasies of familial relationships, Lordon explores the relationship between a sister and brother with unerring honesty. Sydney's struggle to reconcile her memory of David to the truth is at once painful and comforting -- because in the end we realize that we don't have to like our family to love them, and that blood and loyalty are truly the ties that bind.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super Sleuth, February 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Brotherly Love (Stonewall Inn Mysteries) (Paperback)

I'm not usually a mystery reader, but this was excellent. I really liked Sydney Sloan. What a super sleuth! I'd recommend this to anyone who's looking for a good read.