As interesting as this story seemed....I felt I was missing so much because it was many books into the series. I am interested enough to find book 1 and start again. But I could not finish this one.

Really enjoyed revisiting the character of Kate Delafield, who is now a broken retired woman facing a very real death threat from a woman who has been freed after serving 19 years after being falsely accused of murdering her own daughter. The case takes Kate back to the beginning of her career and the first of the books with the murder at the Nightwood bar. It was interesting and poignant to read about Kate's life as an older lesbian and gradually meeting other older lesbians in the desert outside of LA. The book is as much about life as an older woman/lesbian as it is about solving the decades old murder. Recommended.

With thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely love the Kate Delafield series and this book doesn't disappoint.

This latest book focuses on Kate's life without Aimee and alcohol - tense, evenly paced plot takes you through Kate's latest mystery as well as a lot of soul searching on how to begin moving forward.

I highly recommend Katherine V. Forrest's books - an engrossing read!

Delafield is book 10 in the mystery/thriller series.
And I went into book 10 with my eyes wide open, I've not read any of the first 9 books... Which are now on my list of books to read.
I enjoyed Delafield and I'm intrigued to read more about her. There seems to be a mystery about her.
The story was good, and well thought out. It kept me gripped and entertained... I do recommend you read the previous books because I was left ‘scratching my head’ quite often.
I've given Delafield a 4 out of 5.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This is the 10th book in the Kate Delafield mystery series. The story began in 1984 with the “Amateur City” featuring LAPD detective Kate Delafield. From the very beginning I was hooked on this series. As soon as a new one came out, I would visit my local gay bookstore and purchase it.

Readers will again find Kate as the main character. She is now retired and living in the desert. I found it very interesting that Ms. Forrest has very wisely aged her character to better fit into this decades-long story of Kate. The young detective of “Amateur City” and “Murder at the Nightwood Bar” (book 2) is now 20+ years older and is reflecting on her career. The case that is haunting her is one that took place 22 years earlier. She mishandled some evidence while solving the “Nightwood Bar” murder case, and the wrong person was convicted of killing her own daughter. Now this person, Ellie Shuster, is released from jail and is looking for revenge.

Although I really love this series, I found this book to be a little slow in places. I think this is due to the fact that Ms. Forrest had to explain the details about the old murder and the people in Kate’s life over the decades. Consequently, I did not give the book a higher rating. To really enjoy this book, readers should read all the books in the series.

The plot was good, but a little sad. Kate’s character seemed tired and filled with regrets. However, this is expected because she is retired and just wants to do her volunteer work at a hospice and live a peaceful life in the desert.

Ms. Forrest wrote in the acknowledgement that this book is the end of the Kate Delafield series. For those who are looking for a nice mystery and closure to the series, Delafield will be the book to read. I rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I received this ARC from Bold Strokes Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Delafield by Katherine V. Forrest is the tenth and I believe the final book in the “Kate Delafield Mystery” series. It’s kind of sad that this is the end of such a wonderful set of stories, but if the series has to end, this is a great novel to end it with.

In this book we find Kate in her fourth year of retirement, but even now, her past never lets her rest. Twenty years ago Kate was the lead detective in a homophobic murder. She was struggling with a breakdown at the time and let her inexperienced partner take the lead in the investigation. As a result, the wrong person was convicted and sent to death row. About nineteen years later, they were found innocent through DNA and set free. The problem now is Ellie Shuster (the wrongfully convicted woman) wants someone to pay for the botched investigation and Kate is in her crosshairs…literally. Now Kate needs to solve this murder, not only for the victim and the person wrongfully convicted, but also to possibly save her own life.
This is a brilliantly written conclusion to a fantastic mystery series, but I would expect nothing less from an author like Katherine V. Forrest. Just her name on the cover is enough to let the reader know they are about to read something special and this book lives up to that expectation. We get to see Kate solve another murder mystery, and at the same time watch as she copes with what she has been through, both professionally and personally. This is one of the best character driven novels I’ve read lately.

If you are a Kate Delafield fan, this is the book for you. If you are a character driven mystery buff, then this entire series is definitely for you. That should keep you reading for a while.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bella Books for an honest review.

40 decades of lesbian life in a nutshell
10 out of 5.
The first Delafield mystery came out in 1984 when homosexuality was still criminalized and destroyed not only careers but lives. Forrest and detective Delafield were real trail blazers: Her creation, lesbian detective Kate Delafield, never pulled the punches, no easy cases, no easy life for her and this is true again for the 10th instalment of this brilliant series.
For those of us who lived through those times the flash backs of the 80s and early 90s are poignant and capture brilliantly the hiding, the dangers and the fears of being a lesbian and found out. The closet was not a joking matter but a very dangerous place to be. Kudos to those who fought for the present generations - at least in the Western world - to be able to live openly and (mostly) without fear.
Forrest effortlessly brings us back into the life of now retired detective Delafield. The writing, the depth are outstanding. And no, not all is pretty: the scars of lesbian life in times when you had to hide run deep. I read with anguish about Delafield´s losses. There is love and loss, grief and redemption. And there is a cold case which needs solving.
Delafield (and maybe the author) are looking back and again no pulling of punches: the good, the bad, the ugly a rearing their head. There is peace as well. The novel is aptly named Delafield - it is the sum of her life and maybe the essence of life of many lesbians who grew up in dire times and now enjoy the autumn sun outside the closet. Brilliant!

I have been a fan of this series since the beginning and if this is indeed the end, I take a deep breath in and out and nod my head. This series has always felt so raw and in your face. By that I mean, the characters always appeared believable as they dealt with day-to-day life. Due to Kate Delafield's profession as a detective during the time frame the stories were told, there were challenges she had to navigate and how she dealt with them was not always the best in the reader's opinion but I suppose the right decision for her at the time.

Ellie Schuster, after serving 19 years, is out of prison after DNA test show that it was not her that murdered her daughter. When she gets out, she focuses on making Kate's life miserable. The letters Ellie sends causes Kate to self-reflect and think about her life and possibly some changes she needs to take. Also, as the read unfolds various characters from previous books in series make appearances which was a nice addition. This read is intense and Kate is mentally taking punches and trying to deal with them on her own which has been her trademark and makes her the tortured person she is and also the person you cheer for. And cheer, I did.

I first came to lesfic through mysteries, with Katherine V. Forrest, Clare McNab, Val McDermid, and a few others, as my guides. Along with Karin Kallmaker when I found romance a few months later, Forrest is one of the authors who helped me grow, become who I am. While I read all the Kate Delafield books back in the day, Delafield is book ten in the series and I went in knowing I hadn’t read the one right before it, released some nine years ago, and not sure how much I remembered from the previous ones. Did it matter? I feel like I’ve known Kate Delafield my whole life.

I won’t lie, I was a bit lost at first. I wasn’t sure whether the case that had Kate fear for her life was one from a previous book or not. As soon as I decided that it didn’t matter, Katherine V. Forrest’s writing pulled me in, as she used to.

Kate Delafield is a fascinating character. We wouldn’t be friends, I’d be way too intimidated and I’m not sure she’d have the patience for my awkwardness. I do, however, have huge respect for her, even as her stubbornness makes my eyes roll to the other side of my head. Besides all the adjectives that come naturally when thinking about a famed police detective whose professionalism and finesse are established and praised, “dry” is the word that kept springing to mind. Which is ironic, seeing as Kate’s struggle with alcohol is one of her defining traits. She’s not cold, she’s not unloving, she’s not uncaring, quite the opposite, but she never lost that stiffness, that dryness, that comes from years in the military and even more years in the closet. This sensation is intensified by the fact that she’s now living in the desert.

While this book was a real trip down memory lane for me, all the more so as there are many mentions of the second book in the series, Murder at the Nightwood Bar, Forrest’s writing is still as precise, still as keen as it was when I first read one of her books almost thirty years ago. It’s at once complex and accessible, as are her characters, the plot, the atmosphere. The addition of Dakota the dog brings easy warmth to a bittersweet story of love, mistakes, redemption, and forgiveness. If you’ve never read any of her books, you definitely should.

I will admit up front I have not read all the Delafield series, just one or 2, so I am reading this more as a stand-alone, BUT after reading it, it has my interest in this series revved and ready to start from the beginning! I am a sucker for mystery and detectives so I fell right in love with Detective Kate Delafield, retired.

I loved that the detective is older and flawed, Ms. Forrest once again delivers us a character that you want to love, have coffee with and weep for, along with a true emotional roller-coaster of a story that I want to ride again and again with Det. Delafield.

This story brings back a 20 year old murder and along with it memories and life questions for Kate, along with revenge from that old case. The tension and anticipation that Ms. Forrest writes so brilliantly into the story line brings the reader smack-dab into the intrigue Kate is pulled into. This book will keep you turning page after page until you don't ( or at least I didn't) realize you are just a few pages away from the ending-yes I basically read this until the wee hours of the morning and I don't regret one bit the loss of sleep, I was still thinking about Kate long after I was done with the book.

Thank you Ms. Forrest for bring Det. Delafield back to us, I am not sure if this is the last we will see of Kate, but I felt pretty complete and happy for Kate at the end if this is the completion of her story.

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, but would have written the same opinion if I had come across this author on my own.

You can find my Amazon review under CC-A mystery to die for, possibly quite literally for Det. Delafield

I could write a dissertation on the great Katherine V Forrest. I was on BBC Radio4 Woman’s Hour telling Dame Jenni Murray how much I love KVF and Naiad Press (as was). Kate Delafield first appeared in 1984 and this is the tenth book featuring the LAPD Detective. Through the decades Kate has endured a lot and each book develops her character and refers to the politics and sometimes notoriety of Los Angeles. KVF is a brilliant writer and is well able to sustain a character and plot over a book series and I really hope this isn’t the end. But the book finishes with an acknowledgement of the people who have helped the writer’s career through the years and sounds like a retirement statement. I hope it isn’t and yet at the same time cannot begrudge Ms Forrest the time to relax given the joy she has given me over the years.

Kate is living in the desert enjoying her retirement. Except she has a credible death threat hanging over her head. A woman jailed for murdering her daughter has been exonerated with DNA evidence after serving 19 years and is coming after Kate. Detective retired Delafield sees her own guilt because the case at the time had too many echoes of an early case when Kate found the Nightwood Bar. And was being investigated while Kate was mourning her life partner Anne. She let her inexperienced police partner take the lead and now feels guilty and slightly fatalistic about the outcome.

There is a lot going on here and while waiting to read this, I reread the previous books. No hardship believe me and you will definitely get more out of this if you have read the others but it is not critical as the author does a good job of dripping in bits of previous stories to thread the narrative with back story. Kate is a great character and I really wish she could be happy but happy characters don't have enough drama. Maybe at the end… no spoilers here so I won’t say any more but this is a great book to continue the Delafield series and I hope it isn’t the last. If it is I thank KVF for 4 decades of brilliant writing and editing and joy.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley

Almost twelve years ago when my partner and I started dating she introduced me to Katherine V. Forrest's Curius Wine. It was a revelation and began my love affair with lesfic. I read a few of her Kate Delafield books but then life got in the way. When an opportunity to read Delafield came up, I couldn't grab it fast enough and it reminds me of the immense talent Ms. Forrest has. She is a pioneer and the authors of today owe her a debt of gratitude.

Kate Delafield is an unforgettable character. In this, the tenth book in the series, we find Kate retired and living in a small desert community. She spends her days and nights waiting for the moment she dies. After spending twenty years in prison, wrongfully convicted of her daughter's murder, Ellie Schuster is out and has vowed to kill Kate for her part in her confinement. Kate feels a tremendous amount of guilt for the way the case was handled as she let her rookie partner take the lead on the investigation.

This book is intense and I felt so bad for Kate. She is such a tortured character. After so many years in law enforcement she's haunted by so much, the cases that's she's worked, the loves she's lost. She is her harshest critic and doesn't see all of the good inside of herself. This is a beautifully, haunting character study of a woman working to maintain her sobriety while trying to make amends for the mistakes of the past. I will be going back and reading the previous books in this series because this book has reminded me of just how brilliant and legendary Katherine V. Forrest is.

An ARC was received from NetGalley for an honest review.

I read quite a few of this series back in the day- I remember the first two, Amateur City (1984) and Murder at the Nightwood Bar (1987) clearly, and (now former) LAPD Detective Kate Delafield is undoubtedly a pioneering character in lesbian fiction.

Delafield (I guess Forrest ran out of title ideas) is the tenth in the long running series. Kate is now retired - hey, we're all getting older, right? - living alone on the edge of the desert.

And now, haunted by a twenty-year-old murder investigation during which Kate - finding it far too painfully reminiscent of another tragic case - temporarily took her eye off the ball, resulting in the wrong person being convicted. Now, the wrongly-convicted Ellie Shuster, mother of a murdered teenager, is out of prison... and out for revenge, making threats against Kate's life.

Meanwhile, Kate's volunteer work at a local hospice generates a steady stream of issues - apparently, a lot of people want to speak to an ex-detective before they die.

Detective Kate was always iconic and Retired Kate is no different. I did wonder if this was the start of a new era of the Delafield Private Detective Agency. But the ending and the author's acknowledgments at the end feel pretty final, sadly. Still, who knows?

Many thanks for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Kept me interested even though I thought there may be more action with the stalker and a bit more about the investigation into the old case. The reminiscing by Kate I liked. I'm not one for stories of on again off again romances. So Kate and Aimee's relationship (or lack of it) was disappointing and yet inevitable.

Retired LAPD detective Kate Delafield’s life is in danger from a woman she helped convict of murdering her daughter and her daughter’s best friend twenty years earlier. The woman, Ellie Schuster, was released after spending nineteen years in prison when her innocence was proven with the help of a DNA test. A few months later Schuster began sending death threats to Kate. When a letter from Schuster arrives in the mailbox in front of her desert home in the Yucca Valley of California without a postmark, Kate knows she’s a dead woman walking, and Schuster is nearby. While her house is fortified like a bunker, Kate knows if someone wants her dead, the attack could happen anywhere at any time.

Katherine Forest has written a tension-filled novel about an iconic LesFic character. As Forest ratchets up the tension throughout the book and Delafield begins looking harder at her life, the book becomes increasingly harder to read while at the same time being harder to put down.

The ending is unexpected and more satisfying because of it. People who either haven’t met Kate Delafield before or maybe haven’t read the last few books in this series won’t be left out in the cold because Forest deftly reminds her readers of the major cases Delafield had handled over her thirty years as a member of the LAPD.

The only question that Forest didn’t answer by the end of the book was whether she will allow Delafield to go quietly into an unfettered retirement or whether she’ll be back in another book so we can see what she does in her retirement and whether she’ll find someone to love.

If you love police procedurals or thrillers or suspense or mysteries or books about familiar characters, then this book is for you. If you love well-written character-driven books, put this book at the top of your to-be-read list.

My thanks to Bella Books and NetGalley for an eARC.

I didn’t read the previous books so I’m going in blind with Kate she just retire and living her days but there was one case that shook her to her core is now coming back to bite her. She regretted giving a rookie cop the case and because of this the suspect was innocent now that suspect is out for blood.

I like this read because Kate own up to her mistakes and try to right the wrong I won’t get into what happens but it has a great ending.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Book ten of the acclaimed Kate Delafield Mystery Series finds Kate retired from the LA police force and living on her own in the desert high country. Kate is waiting, expecting to die any day now.

Twenty years ago a brutal homophobic murder of a young girl shattered Kate to her core. She allowed her rookie partner to take the lead on solving this murder. The girl’s mother has sat in death row for nineteen years until new forensic testing has proven her innocence. The mother has vowed to take Kate’s life as payment for the wrongful imprisonment.

I have been a diehard fan of this series since its inception in 1984 with Amateur City. Each novel can be read as a stand alone but I highly recommend reading each and every book of this multiple award winning series. Ms Forrest has created a brilliantly tortured character in Kate. She is the sum total of her experiences, losses and life choices. Kate has never seen what others have in her. Being her own harshest critic has always kept Kate from embracing her accomplishments and the love offered to her.

Ms Forrest is a brilliant writer. Her word choices combined with the deep understanding of the human ethos has me rereading the same sentence in a poetic haze. She speaks to my soul. Let her speak to yours.

I received an advance review copy from Bella Books through NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.