BUTCH FATALE, DYKE DICK: DOUBLE D DOUBLE CROSS by Christa Faust

* Book 1 of the Butch Fatale, Dyke Dick series *

After thoroughly enjoying Money Shot, I couldn't resist squeezing in a read of Double-D Double

Cross, the first book in Christa Faust's PI series. Faust set out to write a detective book in the same hard-boiled pulp vein of the 40's and 50's, but with a queer erotic twist. The story ticks off all of the usual classic PI conventions, but instead of Mike Hammer running around solving cases and bedding dames, we have Butch Fatale, a broad-shouldered, big-titted, good-hearted, but tough-as-nails lesbian private detective, who cuts her hair like Tony Curtis and keeps a pistol and a strap-on dildo under her office desk for, you know, emergencies. 

Unlike most of our literary detectives, Butch's vice isn't liquor, it's vagina. And because her stomping grounds is sunny Los Angeles, there is plenty of temptation/distraction around. But make no mistake, Butch is also pretty formidable as an investigator, searching for a missing drug addict and ex-prostitute.  

 She looks like a Mormon quarterback but fucks like a wolverine.

Butch Fatale is a great character that really deserves a full series. She is even more fun to read than Angel Dare from Money Shot, and Faust brings her to life with writing that features her usual flair, well-tuned pacing, and clever wit. 

I've got a substantial ego, and like to think of myself as pretty bad-ass. Okay, maybe more bad-ass adjacent, but still...

While reading, you can feel how much fun Faust is having writing this story as well as her love for Butch and for the city of Los Angeles. Are there a lot of explicit sex scenes? Of course. It's an erotic crime novel so what did you expect? And as one might also expect, the book is a bit derivative, but it's still a really enjoyable and highly entertaining all the way up to a wild and crazy, climactic chase sequence from Malibu to the Palisades, an audacious sequence that has to be read to be believed! I read that last quarter of the book in glee, with a smile on my face. I hope for many more Butch Fatale books, and I'm happy to hear that Faust is already working on the next two novels, with Book 3 titled My Tongue Is Quick! How awesome is that!??

GRADE: B