This work examines how lesbian detective and mystery fiction represents lesbian characters and experience within the confines of the genre. As this book points out, such fiction reveals the lesbian's increasing visibility in the wider society. Nevertheless, it can still be difficult to find a complete representation of lesbian life in mainstream literature. Often the best place to find the lesbian represented in books is within the pages of genre fiction--especially the detective story.

This book looks at how the lesbian characters' public and private lives intersect--often at the point of coming out, or of moving from isolation to connection with the community. Also considered is the lesbian detective's typical confrontation with two crucial elements of the investigator's role: the use of violence and the acquisition and expression of authority within police systems. Other topics of discussion include the cultural environments in which the stories are situated, and the use of humor as a key weapon in the lesbian detective's investigative arsenal.