Danger in High Places: An Alix Nicholson Mystery [Paperback]

Sharon Gilligan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1993

Set against the backdrop of Wahsington, D.C., this riveting mystery introduces freelance photographer and amateur sleuth, Alix Nicholoson. Alix stumbles on a deadly scheme, and with the help of a lesbian congressional aide, unravels the mystery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lesbian photographer Alix Nicholson is in Washington, D.C., to take pictures of the AIDS quilt when she meets Sandra Hastings, a lone crusader who commandeers the microphone at an AIDS rally to demand that more government money be spent on research into cancers that afflict women instead of on AIDS research. Sandra is low on funds, so Alix invites her to spend the night in her hotel room. The next day Alix learns that Sandra is planning to immolate herself to draw attention to her cause; shortly thereafter, Sandra is found dead after toppling out of a hotel room window--an unfortunate turn of events, since Sandra is the most compelling character in the novel. On a hunch that Sandra's death was not a suicide, Alix investigates and is soon pushed down a long flight of subway stairs by an unseen assailant. Alix stays with a lesbian congressional aide she has just met, and the two spend their time stiffly exchanging biographical tidbits, such as Alix's firing from a high school teaching job because two of her female pupils took naked pictures of each other. The resolution of the mystery is tacky and unrealistic, and Gilligan's ( Faces of Love ) repetitive style is more suited to teaching a lesson than telling a story.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: Rising Tide Press (AZ); First Edition edition (May 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962893870
• ISBN-13: 978-0962893872
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,564,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Danger in High Places Doesn't Live Up to Its Potential, December 14, 2000

By 

P. Bigelow (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Danger in High Places: An Alix Nicholson Mystery (Paperback)

Danger in High Places is set in 1993 and features Alix Nicholson, a freelance photographer who travels from Iowa to Washington, DC to snap photos of the AIDS quilt. As supporters for funding for AIDS research are reading the names of victims, a woman interrupts the reading to shout her opposition to AIDS funding when so many women were dying of various cancers for which there was little research funding. Alix is drawn to the woman and invites her to stay the night with her when it turns out that Sandra has no where to stay. Sandra is angry, mysterious, and piques Alix's interest and lust. During the next week, there is a murder, an arrest, and a confession. Alix is also drawn to a Congresswoman's aide and spends the night with her, too. While all this sounds interesting, even intriguing, the author was unable to make the reader care about any of the characters, from the murder victim to Alix. They are all cardboard characters and as the book progresses, the readers indifference grows. While I did finish reading the book, it was more because I wanted to know if the denouement was going to be as predictable as the characters were lackluster. It is to the author's credit that there was just enough of a twist at the end to be interesting although she pulled the murderer out of nowhere and didn't play fair with the reader by providing enough clues to even suspect the murderer. There are better written mysteries, there are better plotted mysteries, and there are more finely drawn characters in mysteries available. But if you're starved for a lesbian protagonist and a non-Naiad-formulaic read, this just might be your cup of tea.