Created by Jack Ricardo
In 1991, author and gay activist Jack Ricardo published a private eye novel, Death With Dignity, featuring a gay gumshoe from Florida named JIM HALDEN.
In 2014, fifteen years later, he published another novel, Desperate Innocence, featuring a a gay gumshoe from Florida named JIM HOLDEN.
But it’s the same guy!
In the first book, Jim has only recently joined the local chapter of Dignity, a support group for gay Catholics in the small east Florida burg of Rivera Beach. The organization is led by the charismatic Deacon Pete Jenco, only recently out of the closet–and of a marriage to a woman. Fiery and rebellious, Deacon Pete, has drawn the ire of church officials, even as Dignity itself begins to grow.
And then Pete, is murdered, his strangled body discovered behind the altar by Jim, during only his second meeting. Still struggling with his own sexuality after two years of celibacy, Jim inserts himself into the case, hooking up (in all senses of the word) with police officer (and former lover) Hap Gannet to work the case.
Fifteen years later, Jim is still Catholic and still gay, but now living in a trailer near Fort Lauderdale, and Gannet is long gone. This time he’s hired by the elderly Pastor Pontiac of the Metropole Community Catholic Church to investigate the so-far unsolved murder of a young boy found dead in front of the church.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (Straight from the Author’s Mouth)
“I was born in Greenwich Village USA in 1940, a year before Japan caught us with our pants down,” explains author Jack Ricardo. “I was raised in Smalltown, New Jersey during the 1950s and fell head over heels for Judy’s Vicky Lester and helped crown Elvis king while bopping to his 45s and styling my hair (badly) into a DA; and I saw the anguish of Jim Stark and Cal Trask in my mirror. In the 1960s, I fell in love, not wisely, and returned to NYC as a foolish young adult, escaping into the tarnished silver screens of 42nd Street. During the 1970s, I fell in love again, and again not wisely, plus I manned the barricades as a gay activist, and dove into the deep end of the dope and disco pools and survived intact (if you don’t count the millions of little gray cells that may have been fried). During the 1990s, I had two gay mystery novels published, Death With Dignity and The Night G.A.A. Died.”
UNDER OATH
- “The force of this book is not one of murder and detection. The strength of this book is its detailing of the relationships of the characters and their struggle to exist with Dignity. Recommended for comprehensive collections.”
— David Streeter (Rainbow Round Table Book and Media Reviews) - “The novel is beautifully paced, though, to be honest, the plot construction does not bear close scrutiny. It is peopled with types still rare in gay mysteries. I do wonder how a younger generation will respond to the issues that tear at these characters, none of whom, neither the women nor the men, seem to have come entirely to terms with their sexuality. All in all, these gays are a pretty sad bunch. And yet, because of the author’s skill in presenting them, one does come to care about several of them.”
— Dewey Wayne Gunn (May 2013, Lambda Literary)
NOVELS
- Death With Dignity (1991) | Buy this book
- Desperate Innocence (2014) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- A Queer Eye for the New Eyes
Josh Lanyon digs the new breed. - Down These Mean Streets A Gay Man Must Also Go
Drewey Wayne Gunn looks at the history of the gay P.I. - What Were Once Vices…
Some Notable Gay and Lesbian Eyes
Report respectfully submitted by Josh Lanyon.
