Amazon.com: Lightning in the Blood: Gregory S. Fallis: Books

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Former PI Fallis debuts with a fresh, slightly off-the-wall tale narrated by a pair of sleuths who demonstrate the staying power for a series. Kevin Sweeney, an ex-cop, is a solid, dependable Irishman who has settled into domesticity with his beloved wife, Mary Margaret. Joop Wheeler, an ex-reporter, is a "proper Southern boy" who regularly falls in and out of love. Together, they form a Boston-area PI firm that is hired to help poet Anka Stiffel beat an attempted murder rap. The morning after Anka and her former lover, sculptor Amanda Owen, had a "face-slapping, hair-pulling" fight at a lesbian bar, a next-door neighbor found Amanda unconscious in her yard. Hit on the head with a stone sculpture, Amanda remains unconscious. Anka claims she was elsewhere, spending the night with a woman whose name she doesn't remember--but, then, Anka is also a schizophrenic who hears voices. To help a client who can't help them, Kevin and Joop rely on compassion, doggedness and a dollop of luck while exploring the estranged lovers' lives and the local lesbian scene (where they're not entirely welcome). To them, it's a tough case; for the reader, it's a page-turner that leavens its puzzle of pain and sorrow with a dose of lively humor.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
When the police arrest schizophrenic lesbian poet Anka Stiffel for beating her lover, fledgling sculptor Amanda Owen, nearly to death after Amanda tossed her out, Anka's lawyer calls Kevin Sweeney and Joop Wheeler, of G and H Investigations (don't ask), to establish her innocence. Boston Irish Kevin and southern gentleman Joop get to spend lots of time in the lesbian community of Hobsbawn, Massachusetts, and meet such interesting people as Charles Lowell, the husband who won't divorce Amanda because it would cost him $90,000 a year, and Amanda's latest host, Stephanie (Stevie) Gibbs, whom Joop develops an endearingly foolish crush on. But nobody gets any more interesting, or more closely connected with each other, as this pleasant, unmysterious debut winds down. Politically correct without being stuffy, self-righteous, or suspenseful. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.