Above All Honor

Radclyffe
Justice House Publishing
0970887426

The Secret Service in Radclyffe's Above All Honor has their hands full. They are trying to guard Blair Powell, the daughter of the President of the United States. Blair, a prominent artist in bohemian art circles of NYC, has grown tired of the oppressive consequences of her father's political career. The polished, beautiful, and politically savvy, Blair is willing to play her role within reason -- speaking for special events, sponsoring charities and making appearances in political venues that are all accepted parts of her public persona; however, she is tired of the constant invasion into her personal life. In her private life Blair is unabashedly lesbian. That private life her father prefers she at least keep discrete. Frustration has led Blair to taunt, tease, annoy and evade the security detail whenever possible. She leads them on merry chases through a range of ... bars in the city, particularly enjoying opportunities to lose the easily spotted "straight laced" agents in one of the leather clubs. Much to the embarrassment of the agents, Blair is quite skilled at her disappearing act.

Senior Agent Cameron Roberts has just been given a clean bill of health after a near fatal shooting during an undercover operation that went badly. Displeased with her new assignment in charge of a security duty for the President's daughter, Roberts quickly realizes that her own lesbian identity is one of the reasons for it. Roberts is determined to treat Blair with as much respect and professionalism as possible without being stymied by her little games. Despite her handsome, butch lesbian, appearance, Roberts seems immune to Blair's charms. This impression is not entirely true of Roberts, but Blair is quite willing to rise to the challenge of the enigmatic agent. Both women carry painful secrets in their past making the possibility of a romance professional inappropriate and personally difficult. No light romantic comedy, the courtship dance in Above All Honor has an edgy, tense quality, although at times it is predictable. Meanwhile, Roberts' charge to protect Blair becomes more challenging when she begins to receive "gifts" from a stalker.

A fast-paced read, Above All Honor has some entertaining and erotic elements. It does not, however, entirely succeed as an "action and suspense thriller" reinterpreted through a lavender lens. The novel is too short in that it leaves too many questions unanswered and too many allusions unexplained. Blair and Robert's pasts are hinted at, but not explored enough for this reader. Blair's behavior almost goes too far for her to be "redeemable" without more background. And one storyline is left hanging in an un-fulfilling, even annoying, manner. Because of the weak character development and the incomplete plot, Above All Honor does not hold up to the promise of Love's Melody Lost, Radclyffe's lavender, tongue-in-cheek tribute to gothic romances. Hopefully, Radclyffe will find better ways to express these elements in future stories.

-MJ Lowe

BN: Above All Honor was re-release in an all new, expanded edition by Bookends Press in 2002 and again by Bold Strokes Books in 2004.