HALLOWED MURDER

by Ellen Hart ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1989

A preachy (mostly lesbian issues) first novel centered on the Kappa Alpha Sigma (KAS) sorority on the University of Minnesota campus. When Jane Lawless, alumni advisor to KAS, finds Allison Lord, the social chairman, dead in a clump of river weeds and Det. Trevelyan complacently writing it off as a suicide, she undertakes the investigation herself--interrogating Allison's distraught lover Emily; her chums Sigrid, Maggie, and Susan (not all of whom knew she was gay; some are scandalized); her ex-lover, Milch the busboy, who supposedly met with her on that fateful night and soon is murdered himself; and assorted relatives, instructors, and sorority personnel. A blackmail scare emerges, as well as petty theft and vandalism in the sorority's ""ritual"" room. The brouhaha erupts in a backwoods face-off, during which Jane and her awkward chum Cordelia are held hostage by a demented KAS staff member, but pluckily escape to conclude that prejudice isn't very nice--and neither are most men. All the stereotypes are trotted out: the snooty sorority girl; the closet lesbian; the sensitive, intelligent, loving, caring, perfect lesbian, etc. Earnestly if not engagingly told, and a bit tiresome in its pleas for understanding personal ""choice.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1989

ISBN: 0012027391

Page Count: -

Publisher: Seal Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1989

Categories: FICTION