Heavy Gilt

This story fails in its attempt to combine aspects of a murder mystery with those of a comic/lesbian novel. The intrigue concerns the disappearance of offensively homophobic Malcolm James at a dinner party given by his lesbian sister Hilary and her lover Dru. After one of the male guests confesses to having had sex with Malcolm, and another admits to having seen Malcolm unconscious in the dunes, a beautiful and enigmatic private detective, Tyler Divine, is called in to ask discreet questions. Tyler becomes embroiled in a romance with Nina Petrovich, another guest, and as other pairings-off occur, there is no suspense as to who will wind up with whom and comic touches are undermined by the author's heavy-handedness. The novel's conclusion, for example, entails a platitude-ridden consciousness-raising session during which all of the characters come out of the closet. Although the predictable plot is enlivened by off-beat, interesting players, this is not a compelling read. Klaich wrote Woman Plus Woman: Attitudes Toward Lesbianism. (Oct.)