cover image Under My Skin

Under My Skin

Jaye Maiman. Naiad Press, $11.95 (336pp) ISBN 978-1-56280-049-9

A vacation in the Poconos becomes a busman's holiday for lesbian PI Robin Miller when a friend, Noreen Finnegan, turns up dead. Feisty, aggressive Noreen was wielding a potted plant when she cornered her ex-lover Helen Ananias at a party the previous night. After defusing this situation, Robin learned something more was afoot: Noreen hired her to conduct an investigation--cash up front, details to follow. The next morning, when Noreen is found lying on the kitchen floor, blood pooled at the back of her head, Robin can't forget a comment she heard Helen make to Emanuela ``Manny'' Diaz, Noreen's latest and highly distraught lover, at the party: ``It's time someone gave Noreen a little bit of her own poison.'' Neither the local police chief--with his sneering disdain for gays and lesbians--nor the local coroner/undertaker sees the death as anything more than ``simple cardiac arrest,'' but Robin decides to delve into Noreen's past--and realizes someone has been there investigating before her. Although Robin's sleuthing is as sharp as always, Maiman's ( Crazy for Loving ) lengthy romantic scenes between Robin and chef K. T. Bellflower slow the pace and Robin's musings over tragedy in her own childhood are contrived and unconvincing. (Jan.)