- Hardcover: 215 pages
- Publisher: St Martins Pr (May 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312155360
- ISBN-13: 978-0312155360
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 13.7 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,989,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
With Peter, his longtime lover, busy for the evening, Alex Reynolds decides to stop in for a quick beer at a local Chicago gay bar and survey the nightlife scene he left behind for "married" life years before. Quickly unamused, Alex decides to call it an early evening, stopping off in the men's room before going home. But there he is assaulted by two men who demand of him, "Where is it?" Acting quickly, Alex is able to escape before the situation turns dangerous, and thinking it an unfortunate case of mistaken identity, he only wants to forget the whole evening. Alex, however, is not that lucky. A dead body turns up outside the bar the next morning, and a CIA agent arrives at the door of the house Alex and Peter share with Alex's unflappable mother and begins asking some very confusing questions. To make matters worse, Alex soon discovers that the two men from the bar are shadowing him. With both the government and the "other side" convinced he knows something he isn't revealing, Alex must first discover what he's unwittingly become involved in and then rescue himself, his lover, and his mother from it before they all come to a more permanent conclusion.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Author
A few words about the Alex Reynolds mysteries:
The Alex Reynolds mysteries feature Alex and his lover, Peter Livesay, who are a supremely symbiotic "old married couple" who happen to be gay. They are based, in part, on the relationship that I had with my late husband. No, we weren't forever falling into government plots, but the dynamics of the relationship are there: the obvious caring and the "completing-each-other's sentences-ness" that happens when you've been with your partner for a while.
The Alex Reynolds mysteries feature Alex and his lover, Peter Livesay, who are a supremely symbiotic "old married couple" who happen to be gay. They are based, in part, on the relationship that I had with my late husband. No, we weren't forever falling into government plots, but the dynamics of the relationship are there: the obvious caring and the "completing-each-other's sentences-ness" that happens when you've been with your partner for a while.
Along for the ride is Alex's mother, with whom the couple lives. Together, the three of them form a truly unusual sleuthing team, and an equally unusual family unit.
Although these books have the trappings of mystery/adventures, I think of them primarily as comedies. There's been some confusion about that point, and I have to take the blame for that, at least in part. I was once asked in an interview to describe GOVERNMENT GAY, and I said jokingly, "Well, if you took 'North by Northwest' and put the man of your dreams in the Eva Marie Saint role, you'd pretty much have it" -- never in my wildest dreams thinking that anyone would take a statement like that seriously (especially after reading the books: Alex and Peter's relationship is almost a polar opposite to that of Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint)! But then, in black and white and with no vocal inflection, it's all too easy to misunderstand. If anything, the series spoofs adventure type movies.
My purpose in writing this series was twofold: to make them as different as possible from my other books, the Ransom/Charters mysteries, and to write a series with gay characters where the object was for the reader to have FUN--something I've found all too lacking in gay lit. It's my hope that readers will come away from these books feeling that they've had a good time! --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This author was new to me, and I didn't know what to expect. I certainly didn't expect what I got: a really playful mystery featuring one of the most engaging sleuthing couples I've seen yet. Alex and Peter are such a wonderfully matched, loving couple they made me jealous! They demonstrate a kind of old-married-couple sensibility that was different from a lot of gay fiction I've come across. And the addition of Alex's mother, Jean, to the mix was a wonderful touch. The plot, involving Russian spies and defectors, was hilariously complicated (and somewhat silly, but that was part of the fun). I'm going to get the rest of the series ASAP.
Format:Hardcover
It's really a shame this wasn't any good because the idea is great: take Mr. Gay Everyman and involve him in espionage--with plenty of laughs. Except that for this premise to work you have to mix the laughs with danger. If you think about NORTH BY NORTHWEST, the viewer does believe that Cary Grant is in danger, and that Eva Marie Saint is in trouble. There are plenty of chuckles, but the threat is always there, always real. That's one reason (one) that GOVERNMENT GAY does not work. Not for one moment do we believe the main characters are imperiled. Even THEY don't seem to think so. It's all so silly. And not a good silly either. And you know, Roger Thornhill's mother does offer some comic relief in NORTH BY NORTHWEST, but she's not in every single scene! She's not the main character; she doesn't rescue Roger and his lady every time they are in a tight spot. Finally, since the main inspiration for GOVERNMENT GAY seems to be NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Cary Grant and Eva Marie do not seem like the same character, correct? Not even the female and male version of the same character. But Alex Reynolds and his lover Peter do. They have different hair color, that's about it. I couldn't really pin any personality tags on either of them. Who is the outgoing one? Who likes to dance, who doesn't? Who is allergic to cats? You know, details that make characters seem like people. Obviously you don't get details in a film, but you need them in a book. By the end of this one I was hoping Alex and Peter and Jean would do us all a favor and defect to the other side.
Format:Paperback
Hunter creates a cast of characters we'll want to visit agin and again. Government Gay is a welcome addition to the growing ranks of gay sleuths!" --Ellen Hart, author of the Jane Lawless series
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
From THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (6/14/98)
Plenty of laughs are found in Fred Hunter's goofy GOVERNMENT GAY.... a charming excuse for a slew of cute one-liners, and the byplay among Alex, his partner Peter and his... Read more
Published on 29 Sep 1998
One of the funniest books I've read in years.
This is probably one of the funniest books I've read in years. It was so refreshing to discover a new series that doesn't take itself so seriously! Read more
Published on 30 Oct 1997
KISS KISS, KILL KILL.
Despite an entertaining premise (a gay NORTH BY NORTHWEST), A breezy, readable narrative, and an assortment of diverting characters, GOVERNMENT GAY left me cold. Read more
Published on 7 Oct 1997
Delighful debut of a mystery series that is funny and witty
When Peter, his lover, is working late one night, a bored Alex
Reynolds stops at a Chicago gay bar that he used to frequent before he
married Peter. Read more
Reynolds stops at a Chicago gay bar that he used to frequent before he
married Peter. Read more
Published on 2 May 1997
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