Books like Tell Me What You Like — picked by fans

Nikki Baker is the first African-American writer of lesbian mysteries and her character Virginia Kelly—who works as a financial analyst in Chicago—is the first African-American lesbian sleuth. This makes it important, but what makes the book outstanding is the writing, especially the voice of the protagonist. The plots are slick and entertaining, but it is Virginia’s internal musings and interpersonal relationships that make this—and the other 3 books in the series—a clear 5-star winner. 

Forrest’s Kate Delafield, a San Francisco homicide detective, is surely the most famous character in lesbian mystery fiction. She is also the first lesbian police officer. Although most of Forrest’s 10 Delafield novels deserve 5-star ratings, The Beverly Malibu goes far beyond the usual whodunit limits in that it revisits the terrible McCarthy era when minorities—including the LGBTQ community—were kicked down at by the elite. This is also the book where Kate meets her long-time lover Aimee. 

Like the novels in my first 3 picks, this one is part of a series. Nea Fox, the protagonist, is a private eye working out of London. The story contains a series of intricate puzzles with exotic characters and engaging relationships. Think of the Fu Manchu novels if they had been written by Patricia Highsmith. In this one, Nea investigates an alleged haunting and reveals a great deal of monkey business. And if it’s action you like, this may be the most exciting lesbian mystery of all.   

When I was writing my first mystery series, I knew very little about the history of the lesbian detective novel. Because I wanted to work within the genre’s boundaries, I spent almost as much time researching it as writing. With the 2022 publication of The Lesbian Detective Novel, Megan Casey has made this task way easier for future lesbian mystery authors. She lists over 1,000 titles along with their creators and adds a few pertinent notes about each book or series. When you finish my first four picks and are looking for other lesbian mysteries to enjoy, this is the book to have by your bedside. I certainly have it beside mine.

This book is a coming of age, thriller book that blew me away. I had no idea what the book was about when I read it and I did not even know which genre it was.

The storyline flicks between the past and present with the present chapters giving you a sneak peek into a troubled relationship between a lesbian couple. The past chapters are full of unanswered questions, heartache, and some truly shocking experiences.

The book is gripping and deep, it feels like you are inside the MCs mind. The traumatic life experiences she is forced to go through alongside becoming an adult is probably fascinating to others. I felt I could identify with many of the experiences so I enjoyed reading it for a comforting reason. The shocking ending is truly beautiful and satisfying.

One of the biggest draws for me in this story is that both women are both around fifty years old. One, Ida, is a closeted lesbian, having hidden her sexuality for decades to protect her Hollywood career. The other, Faye, has never considered the possibility that she might not be 100% straight, until she and Ida ‘play gay’ for a movie and have to kiss. But it isn’t just the kiss that sets Faye’s mind whirling – it’s how fascinating she finds Ida as a person. The more time they spend together, the more confused Faye gets. It’s so well written, with alternate chapters from each woman’s point of view, but all in first person, which is cleverly done.

For a more romance-driven option, Safety Protocols for Human Holidays is a sweet winter holiday-themed novella, wherein Raskli, an alien security officer, is asked to check in on human Jen, who is exhibiting odd behavior. Jen is the only human on the ship and is depressed, and it is up to Raskli and the rest of the ragtag crew to sort out how to cheer her up. Perhaps a holiday! But what human holiday to pick? 

This book is straight-up joyful fluff. Yes, it’s in space, and yes, the pairing is sapphic, but it’s also a cute human/alien romance. No stress on this read, and no heavy thinking. Just, well, kissing. And antics. And Christmas.

This book needs to come with a health warning – will make you laugh so hard you’re in danger of pulling a muscle. The humor, usually provided by the two elderly ladies one of the main characters, Jorie, lives with, really is side-splitting. But alongside their hilarity, the romance between Jorie, an out lesbian, and the random woman, Lena, she shares a car ride with when snow cancels their flight is delightful. Mainly because, for once with a ‘late coming out’ story, Lena very quickly accepts her new sexuality, and it’s Jorie who struggles with what it means to be the first woman that Lena’s attracted to.

Unemployed lawyer, Nick, gets offered the chance to make quick bucks in the car repo business. With her repo partner, Frankie, she sets off across North Carolina on a series of zany (and dangerous) jobs to recover the cars. The jobs get more and more bizarre, the characters they meet are loveable and eccentric, and, despite not liking each other much in the beginning, along the way Nick and Frankie fall for each other.

Mixed in with the humour (and there are a lot of zingy one-liners, banter, and snort-coffee moments) are racial and small-town issues that give depth to an otherwise light-hearted story.

If you like novels with big heart, larger-than-life characters (including the cat, Carol Jenkins), an action movie feel at times and a banter-filled developing romance at others, this book will delight you.

Finally, a sapphic space book with a humanly complex protagonist. Alana Quick lives in poverty, barely making ends meet as a spaceship mechanic. Her chronic illness takes whatever money she can come by, for her meds. She finally takes life by the wolf-paws (read the book, you’ll get it) and stows away on a ship, determined to find a better life. Of course then chaos ensues, there’s a hot captain to fall in love with (yes, fight authority, Alana. It makes it that much more fun when you two eventually kiss), and Alana must continually navigate her disease, save her sister, and negotiate for a position on the spaceship Tangled Axon.