A Queer Kind of Love: A Pharaoh Love Mystery

Pharoah Love, Baxt's irrepressible gay African American detective, returns for his fourth outing, in which quirky characters and wry patter outshine a somewhat tepid mystery. Baxt opens with a bang--literally--as Pharoah is forced to gun down a childhood pal in a rousing, and oddly touching, New York City rooftop shootout. Unfortunately, the subsequent action (or lack thereof) never matches this finely wrought set piece. Pharoah remains endearingly outrageous; and his gay sensibilities, while never forced, form an integral aspect of his character. But the plot meanders with little urgency, as Pharoah attempts to discover who's systematically offing mob members in twos--a device perhaps linked to the recent murder of twin Mafia girlfriends. Though this work evinces greater panache than Baxt's Hollywood celebrity murder series, readers will find few surprises and prose that occasionally strains for effect. Still, Pharoah furnishes fun, as he has before in Swing Low, Sweet Harriet and Topsy and Evil. (May)