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Verdict: The 1984 novel that gave lesbian fiction its first police detective, with a tough, wounded lead and a sharp sense of Los Angeles, held back by period bigotry on the page, a rushed ending and a romance built on a line a detective should not cross.
Best for: Readers who want the origin point of the lesbian mystery, who read procedurals for the detective rather than the puzzle, and who can take a 1980s workplace full of slurs as history rather than endorsement.
Heat level: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5 — low; romance.io does not index it)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.4/5 — a 3.70 Goodreads average, with the dated bigotry the loudest complaint by far)
Tropes: Lesbian detective, police procedural, closeted cop, detective and witness, workplace murder, grief and a late partner, forbidden attraction, 1980s Los Angeles, series opener.
Amateur City by Katherine V. Forrest is the first of ten Kate Delafield novels, published by Naiad Press in 1984 and kept in print today by Bella Books — a lesbian mystery and LAPD procedural set in mid-eighties Los Angeles, in which a closeted homicide detective still carrying the death of her partner walks into a high-rise murder and finds that the woman who discovered the body is the one person she cannot keep at arm’s length.
It has a 3.70 average across roughly 1,200 Goodreads ratings, a 4.3 on Amazon across 190, and a reputation well ahead of either: Kate Delafield is widely described as the first lesbian police detective in fiction. The reviews are respectful of that history and blunt about what has aged. Both halves are worth understanding before you start.
What Is Amateur City About?
Amateur City is a mystery first and a romance a distant second — a short, straight-ahead police procedural of the kind the 1980s produced by the shelf-load, with one difference that mattered enormously at the time: the detective is a lesbian, and the book treats that as the centre of her life rather than a footnote. Goodreads readers shelve it under Mystery, Crime and Lesbian, not Romance, and that is the right expectation: 204 pages, driven by interviews and legwork, set in an office tower full of men who say exactly what they think.
Kate Delafield is a former Marine and Vietnam veteran who has made detective at a time when that was new for women, and she has done it by keeping her private life sealed. Her colleagues know without saying so; she has also lost her partner, Anne, in a car accident, and she has not begun to grieve. Ellen O’Neil, new at the company where the murder happens, is the witness who finds the body and assumes the detective will be exactly as cold as she looks. The book stays close to Kate throughout — a woman whose competence is also her hiding place.
What Makes This Lesbian Detective Novel Work
- Kate Delafield herself: The most consistent praise in the reviews goes to the detective — intelligent, capable, difficult and plainly damaged — and readers who go on through the series say she is why they did.
- Historical weight: A large share of Goodreads reviewers frame the book as a landmark and say they picked it up to read the first lesbian cop in the genre.
- The procedural spine: Readers credit a well-built case with plenty of plausible suspects — the victim is a man his own workplace had every reason to hate — and at least one reader says they could not guess the outcome.
- 1984 Los Angeles: The period atmosphere, from the office politics to the chain-smoking, gets named repeatedly, and several readers treat it as a time capsule rather than a backdrop.
- A romance that stays in its lane: The attraction between Kate and Ellen is there and it matters, but it never displaces the case — which is exactly what the forbidden-love angle needs to stay interesting.
Book Synopsis
A senior executive is found dead in his office at the top of a Los Angeles high-rise, and it takes the investigators very little time to discover that almost nobody who worked for him is sorry. He was a bully, and every interview turns up another grudge. Detective Kate Delafield and her partner, Ed Taylor, have a crime scene, a long list of people with motive and not much else.
They also have a witness. Ellen O’Neil is new to the company, the person who found him, and badly shaken by it. Kate interviews her the way she interviews everyone, giving nothing away, and Ellen reads that as coldness. Kate is a closeted officer in a department that tolerates her on the condition that nobody has to say anything, and she is still carrying the loss of Anne, the woman she lived with, in a place she has not let herself look.
As the investigation widens through the company, Kate and Ellen keep ending up in the same room, and Kate’s professional distance starts to fail. The closer she gets to Ellen, the more she risks — her objectivity, the case, and the careful arrangement that has let her survive the LAPD. Somewhere in that tower is a killer, and Kate is no longer sure she is seeing clearly.
My Review
The thing to say first is that Kate Delafield is a genuinely good character, and she would be one even without the history attached. Forrest gives her a Marine’s discipline, a detective’s habit of watching everyone, and a private life she has walled off so thoroughly that her grief has nowhere to go. The best scenes are the ones where that wall is visible — Kate managing her face in a squad room that knows and won’t say. That is why readers kept going for nine more books.
The second strength is how firmly it is a procedural. The case is built from interviews, alibis and office politics, and the victim is so widely loathed that suspicion spreads naturally rather than being manufactured. Readers split on whether the solution is gettable, but nobody calls the case incoherent.
Where it struggles is the thing most reviewers raise first: this is a book from 1984, and it reads like one. The loudest complaint by some distance is the racism on the page — not only in the mouths of the obviously awful men in the office, where readers accept it as characterisation, but in Kate’s own narration, where a description of Anne’s eyes using a period slur is quoted with real dismay in more than one low-star review. Alongside that, readers flag the ending as rushed, some describe the prose and characterisation as dated, and a few note heavy smoking and talking-head interviews. Then there is Kate herself: several readers find it hard to square her reputation with a detective who becomes involved with the key witness almost immediately — and with a woman who is not single.
One expectation to reset: Amateur City sometimes turns up on sapphic romance lists, and it is not a romance novel. The relationship with Ellen is a subplot with real feeling, not an arc with a guaranteed destination. If a love story is what drew you, calibrate; if you wanted a crime novel that doesn’t get lost in one, this is that book.
My honest note: A historically important procedural with a detective strong enough to carry a series, dragged down by bigotry that has not aged and a rushed finish. Read it as the first chapter of Kate Delafield rather than a standalone romance, and it earns its place; read it expecting a modern sapphic love story, and it will let you down.
| Element | In Amateur City |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Kate Delafield & Ellen O’Neil — closeted LAPD homicide detective and the witness who found the body |
| Core tropes | Lesbian detective, police procedural, closeted cop, detective and witness, grief, forbidden attraction |
| Setting | A Los Angeles high-rise office in 1984 |
| Heat level | 2/5 — low; on-page intimacy, not graphic by reader accounts |
| Series | Kate Delafield #1 of 10 — the case resolves; the series ran from 1984 to 2022 |
| Content notes | Murder, repeated racial slurs and period racism, sexism and homophobia in the workplace, a closeted protagonist, grief over a partner killed in a car accident, involvement between a detective and a witness |
How Spicy Is Amateur City?
Low — a 2/5. romance.io has no entry for Amateur City, which is itself informative: it is not catalogued as a romance at all, and Goodreads readers shelve it as mystery and crime. The heat therefore comes from the reader reports. There is intimacy between Kate and Ellen on the page, and one Goodreads reviewer praises its “beautiful scenes of lesbian intimacy and romance” (Jake, 3.5 stars), but nobody describes it as explicit, and other readers note approvingly how firmly the romance stays second to the case.
The one element worth knowing in advance is the ethics of the relationship rather than the heat: Kate becomes involved with the main witness during an open murder investigation, and several reviewers object to that on professional grounds. For comparable heat in a period mystery, Even Though I Knew the End sits at 2/5 behind closed doors, and Proper English runs a notch warmer at 3/5.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you want to read the book that started the lesbian detective novel, you care more about the investigator than the puzzle, you like your procedurals short and unsentimental, and you’re open to committing to a long series that readers say gets better.
You may want to skip it if: period racism and slurs on the page will spoil the book for you whatever the context, you need a detective who keeps her professional lines, you want a romance with a happy ending in this volume, or a rushed final act ruins a mystery for you.
In short: a landmark with a great detective at its centre, carrying all the baggage of the year it was written.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)
There is no live discourse around Amateur City, and there is no reason there would be — it is a forty-two-year-old book. No meaningful Reddit footprint turned up in searching, there is no BookTok moment, and romance.io does not index it. There is no contemporary trade review to cite either: Bella Books’ page carries a Lambda Book Report line praising Forrest among the writers who defined the lesbian mystery, which is about her career rather than this title, and Wikipedia’s page for the novel records Maria Cipriani calling it “an entertaining and realistic portrayal of lesbian life.” What the book has instead is permanence: four decades in print, about 1,200 Goodreads ratings accumulated slowly, and, in March 2022, an audiobook — narrated by Kate Zane for Tantor, running 7 hours 26 minutes — alongside the publication that same year of a tenth Kate Delafield novel. That is how new readers still find it.
Prefer audio? Listen to Amateur City on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): Kate, first and most consistently — readers call her intelligent, capable and complex, and she is the reason they give for continuing. Then the history — many read it because of what it was, and several say it holds up as a mystery in its own right. The procedural construction gets credit for plausible suspects and a solution not everyone could call. And a notable minority praise the restraint — one five-star reader was pleased the book was not a romance — which runs directly against the readers who wanted a love story.
What readers argue about and complain about: Racism on the page, above everything. Reviewers at every star level, including five-star readers who love the book, say the racial slurs were hard to read; one notes a character using five or six epithets in a single conversation. The line two low-star reviewers single out is not a villain’s but Kate’s own description of Anne. Second: Kate’s judgement. Several readers cannot reconcile a supposedly excellent detective with one who becomes involved with the key witness early in the case, and at least one reader objects that Ellen is already in a relationship. Third: the ending, which multiple readers call rushed and at least one wished had run a few pages longer. Beyond that, recurring notes on dated prose and characterisation. The genuine split is over the romance itself — for some readers it is the heart of the book, for others it is the least convincing part.
The series question everyone should ask first: the case in Amateur City resolves; this is a complete mystery, not a cliffhanger. The personal story does not — Kate’s relationship with Ellen is not where the series goes, and some readers are unhappy about that. The more useful fact: the series gets better by readers’ own numbers. Book two, Murder at the Nightwood Bar, holds 3.92 across about 940 Goodreads ratings; Murder by Tradition sits at 4.11; and the two most recent, High Desert and 2022’s Delafield, are the highest-rated in the run at 4.20 and 4.44. There are ten books in all. If book one’s dated edges bother you but Kate works for you, the evidence says to keep going rather than stop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Amateur City a romance novel?
No. It is a police procedural with a romantic subplot, and Goodreads readers shelve it as mystery and crime rather than romance. The relationship between Kate and Ellen matters, but the murder case drives the book.
How spicy is Amateur City?
Low, a 2/5. romance.io does not index the book, and readers describe the intimacy between Kate and Ellen as tender rather than explicit. The romance stays second to the investigation.
Does Amateur City end on a cliffhanger?
No. The murder case is solved within the book. Kate’s personal life carries forward into the series, and the relationship with Ellen does not become the series’ central romance.
How many Kate Delafield books are there?
Ten, from Amateur City in 1984 to Delafield in 2022, the most recent. The later books are rated higher on Goodreads than the first, peaking at 4.44 for Delafield.
Is there an audiobook of Amateur City?
Yes. It is narrated by Kate Zane for Tantor, released in March 2022 and running 7 hours 26 minutes. It is also available on Libro.fm.
If You Loved Amateur City, Read These Next
If a sapphic detective on a murder case is the draw, Even Though I Knew the End puts a queer investigator in 1941 Chicago noir, with the same low heat and far more heartbreak. For a period whodunit where the romance gets an equal share, Proper English sets a country-house murder against an Edwardian love story. And if Kate’s guarded, professional reserve is what you liked, The Red Files builds a slow-burn romance around a journalist who keeps everyone at a distance.
For more in this register, browse our full lesbian mystery and thriller books guide or the complete Book Reviews collection.
The Bottom Line
Amateur City is a book whose importance outruns its polish. Kate Delafield is a detective worth following, the case is built honestly out of motive and legwork, and the book’s refusal to hide its lead’s sexuality was a real act in 1984. It is also full of period bigotry that readers at every rating flag, rushed at the finish, and built on a relationship that makes its excellent detective look careless. Whether that trade is worth it depends on why you’re here — for the origin of the lesbian mystery and the start of a series that improves, it is; for a sapphic romance, look elsewhere. Check Amateur City on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Amateur City ranks as a landmark 1980s lesbian police procedural — anchored by a detective strong enough to carry ten books, held back by period bigotry and a hurried ending, and best approached as the start of the Kate Delafield series rather than as a romance.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5
- ✓ 3.70 average across 1,214 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ First lesbian police detective in fiction
- ✓ 4.3 on Amazon across 190 ratings
- ✓ Period racism is the loudest complaint
Romance ★★★☆☆ 3/5
- ✓ Kate and Ellen’s attraction feels real
- ✓ Stays secondary to the murder case
- ✓ A minority call it the book’s heart
- ✓ Detective-and-witness ethics trouble readers
Characters ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ Kate is the most-praised element
- ✓ Closeted life drawn with real pressure
- ✓ Grief for Anne gives her depth
- ✓ Kate’s choices frustrate several readers
Writing ★★★☆☆ 3.3/5
- ✓ Lean at just over 200 pages
- ✓ Procedural detail handled cleanly
- ✓ Strong 1984 Los Angeles atmosphere
- ✓ Slurs in Kate’s own narration
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 3.7/5
- ✓ Kate’s delayed grief lands late
- ✓ The cost of the closet is felt
- ✓ Workplace cruelty gives motive weight
- ✓ Rushed ending blunts the payoff
Heat Level ★★☆☆☆ 2/5
- ✓ Not indexed by romance.io
- ✓ On-page intimacy, not graphic
- ✓ Readers praise its tenderness
- ✓ Romance is a subplot, not the draw
Ending ★★★☆☆ 3.1/5
- ✓ Murder case fully resolved
- ✓ No cliffhanger
- ✓ Some readers could not guess it
- ✓ Multiple readers call it rushed
Re-read Value ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Series rises to 4.44 by book ten
- ✓ 7 h 26 min audiobook for a second pass
- ✓ Historical interest rewards a return
- ✓ Dated language discourages a reread
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