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But
the Lindsay Gordon series has never received the
same amount of acclaim. The series—other than Hostage
to Murder, which was picked up by HarperCollins in
the U.K.—has been published by small feminist and
women’s presses, including the Women’s Press,
Spinsters Ink, and most recently, Bywater.
In
comparison to McDermid’s other novels—particularly
the standalones and the Tony Hill series, which tend to
focus on gruesome crimes or labyrinthine plots that stretch
over decades—the Lindsay Gordon series has remained
small in length (rarely going over 260 pages) as well as
scope.
Though
written in the third person, the narrative is focused on
Gordon’s perspective, and the crimes that the amateur
sleuth investigates are among the more civilized kinds of
literary murder. The Gordon series also regularly treks
through the landscape of lesbian and women’s culture.
Early books were set in a girls’ school and a women’s
peace camp; later books explore the changing terrain of
lesbian relationships, from breakups to affairs to lesbian
parenting.
It’s
the focus on lesbian life that, unfortunately, has likely
kept the Lindsay Gordon series below the radar. Lesbian
mysteries typically include lesbian romance and sex as well;
it’s difficult to find a lesbian mystery that doesn’t
take the reader into the bedroom.
But
while lesbian love scenes may be welcomed by lesbian readers,
they’re less likely to be welcomed by mainstream or
heterosexual mystery readers, who are generally accustomed
to leaving sexual details behind closed doors—unless
they have to do with the crime itself.
For
lesbian readers, however, it’s precisely those details
of lesbian life that make the Lindsay Gordon series memorable.
Gordon herself is an interesting barometer of lesbian life,
particularly because the series traverses one and a half
decades from its beginning to its most recent installment.
Hostage
to Murder situates Gordon as the wiser, older woman
in a long-term relationship, who is tempted to have an affair
with a younger protégé who represents the
new generation in lesbian culture, right down to her short
blonde hair. Their relationship dances deftly between butch
and femme, baby dyke and old-timer, and is one of the most
interesting aspects of the novel.
The
Lindsay Gordon series may not have its own television
spin-off, but it remains one of the best lesbian detective
series out there. McDermid, after all, is still herself,
and the Gordon series still features her taut sense of storytelling,
journalistic knack for detail, and skillful grasp of the
complexity of human relationships.
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Report for Murder
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