Slate: A Daniel Valentine & Clarisse Lovelace Mystery (Alyson Classics Library) [Paperback]

Nathan Aldyne (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

test again

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books; 1st Alyson Ed edition (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555834426
• ISBN-13: 978-1555834425
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,202,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tales of the City set in P-Town, pre-HIV days, July 3, 1998

By 

Avid Mystery Reader (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slate: A Daniel Valentine & Clarisse Lovelace Mystery (Alyson Classics Library) (Paperback)

I first read these books back when they were first published, and still pick up extra copies whenever I chance upon them in used bookstores. Glad they have re-released them! Daniel and Clarrise are fun friends who spend a lot of time together getting into typical friend trouble. (oooh, he's cute, which one of us does he want?) Their gay man-straight woman friendship rings very true to me. The other characters in the series also are well-defined and interesting. These books hold up well as nostalgia for the fun-loving days pre-HIV and play on the party-town atmosphere of Providence Town. Fun summer reading!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Slight But Amusing, June 4, 2002

By 

Randall Ivey "Randall" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slate: A Daniel Valentine & Clarisse Lovelace Mystery (Alyson Classics Library) (Paperback)

This is book three in the Clarisse Lovelace/Daniel Valentine series of mysteries set in Boston and environs, and it is easily the least of the bunch.

Alydne (actually two writers under pseudonym) just coasts with this breezy story of the murder of a vituperative gossip columnist, featuring a cast of characters that includes a woman so entranced with American geography she makes sandwiches in the shapes of all fifty states and a pair of arguing, TV wrestling-obsessed lesbian lovers. As usual Clarisse steals the show from everyone else. She is funny and bitchy but in a very entertaining way, and in SLATE she settles in firmly in her ambition to be an attorney. Daniel is a bit more fleshed out in this third novel and he's given some very funny lines, but he still remains something of a shadow next to the fiery Clarisse.

For my money COBALT is the best entry in the Aldyne cycle. It is a farce nearly epic in hilarity and wackiness, while at the same time delivering the goods as a mystery. SLATE is just a mildy amusing interlude, a practice pitch for the last book, CANARY.

4.0 out of 5 stars Third in the Dan Valentine/Clarisse Lovelace series, July 3, 2009

By 

Wayne M. Malin "Preppy" (Malden MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Slate: A Daniel Valentine & Clarisse Lovelace Mystery (Alyson Classics Library) (Paperback)

Things have changed for Valentine and Lovelace. She's stopped selling real estate and is going to law school. Valentine has decided to open his own bar called Slate with Lovelace as a co-owner. Evil Sweeney Drysdale II, a gossip columnist, is threatening to close Slate before it opens--but he's killed and the corpse is left on Lovelace's bed! Who did it? As in the previous books there are many suspects and they all have motives.

This is the least of the series (meaning it's just very good and not excellent) and the shortest (188 pages). Also Lovelace's dog Veronica Lake is gone and never mentioned again. Having them open a bar was a good idea but the band of supporting characters this time around is sort of bland. Mr. Fred and America are one note jokes and Julia and Susie are two VERY annoying lesbian lovers. Only Linc Hamilton, Ashes and Apologetic Joe are any fun. Also the plot is confusing and needelessly convoluted and there's a sequence at a wrestling match which is totally out of place and not even remotely funny. It's still worth reading though with some classic bits--Ashes personal ad and Clarisse's description of the Eagle bar are uproarious! So it's worth reading--it's just not as good as the previous two.