Steve Neil Johnson

The thing that I like about this book was how immediately engaging it's characters were which for me as a reader, is what I need.

The plot was clever, well thought out and kept me me turning the pages looking forward to what happened next This really is a dead-on depiction of life in New York city in the 1990s. I lived there during that time period and this book is right on target telling it like it was.

“Johnson has crafted a literate murder mystery that expands the genre to include deft commentary on the changing face of urban centers.” --Publishers Weekly

“One of the most exciting new detectives in years.” --John Preston

“Very entertaining…fun and lively.”
--Ten Percent

“Doug Orlando is dedicated, compassionate…appealing. Johnson provides an effective and unexpected ending.”
--Los Angeles Times

“It will keep readers fascinated until it’s read straight through to the end.”
--B’nai B’rith Messenger

“Deftly plotted and well written…I enjoyed it immensely.”
--Michael Nava, author of the Henry Rios Mysteries

The Doug Orlando Mysteries are the best books I've ever read describing the treacherous political landscape in New York City and the troubled relationships between the very different groups who reside there. If you've ever lived in New York, you'll know how honest and incisive these novels are.

FALSE CONFESSIONS is my favorite mystery novel: compelling, politically astute, with characters so sharply described you feel like you've known them all your life, and a climax so suspenseful I just couldn't put it down. I especially love the relationship between Brooklyn Homicide detective Doug Orlando and his partner, English professor Stewart, which is so real and sexy and yet quite humorous, too. The supporting characters--particularly caustic gossip columnist and political writer Herb Chiligny, and diesel-dyke medical examiner turned lipstick lesbian Ronnie Bell--originally introduced in the first book in the series, FINAL ATONEMENT, really hit their stride in this book. The scenes with Ronnie are especially hilarious and on-target--yet full of compassion--in skewering the cultural rift between older and younger lesbians.

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But at the core of this novel is the dead-serious subject of how people exploit religion to deny others their civil rights, and the devastating impact that oppression has on people's lives. When a serial killer targets gay men involved in underground piercing and tattooing culture, and rumors spread that the killer has confessed to a troubled priest who refuses to reveal the killer's identity, all hell breaks out between the gay community and the notoriously homophobic New York Catholic Church. Orlando's search for the killer brings him into contact with a wide variety of New Yorkers--with often bitterly different views on morality--but it's the haunting stories of the people Orlando encounters and what we learn about the human condition that makes this book so moving and compelling. The heart-stopping climax of the book has the best choreographed chase scene I've ever read. FALSE CONFESSIONS is a gripping page-turner and an absorbing must-read.

“Steve Neil Johnson may very well turn out to be our queer Raymond Chandler… the plot twists are clean and clever… strikingly original… the best casual reading I’ve come across yet. Orlando is a great detective… (builds to) a heart pounding climax.” 

I don't even know where to begin. I LOVED the entire L.A. AFTER MIDNIGHT Quartet, but this book truly started it for me. As a Southern California transplant, I loved the detail and descriptions of the streets and city I still travel. It was so interesting to learn the history of politics, police, and gay life in that time period. I'm "older" but this time period was before me and truly made me appreciate what people who were gay had to overcome. That said, there is so much more to the series besides just gay life. Relationships, communication, and friendships. The storyline is great, and it truly made me want to read more.

I loved everything about this story. It brought back lots of memories, both good and bad. I can’t wait to read more of Mr. Johnson’s books

I absolutely loved this book!! I read it on vacation and couldn't put it down. The mix of pace, flow, and character development is perfectly balanced. It Is beautifully written with interesting characters and a fascinating view of corruption and politics in late 1950's LA. I was sadly not aware of the levels of bigotry and persecution during that time and this book gave me a new awareness and appreciation for what people were forced to endure and obstacles they had to overcome. I can't wait to continue the series!

"Written in an elegant literary style, it combines Los Angeles' murky history of political corruption, organized crime, and real estate development over buried bodies, with the hidden world of gays in the 50's.

The main characters are well drawn, charismatic, and three dimensional. For readers who are not gay, they allow a window into the lives of people who may be different in their sexual orientation but that's about all.

The story and characters stay with you long after you put the book down. On to the next volume!"

“Steve Neil Johnson returns in top form…the series promises to provide both extremely good reads and a better understanding of gay American life during a very crucial period.” --Lambda Literary Review

“Terrific…Steve Neil Johnson writes like a You Are There newscaster —breathless, on-the-spot reporting—and paints word images like a Weegee crime photo. His is the voice of a generation of gays who had only just begun, haltingly and courageously, to speak for themselves. Come for the page-turning storytelling, stay for the engrossing journey to a historical era that lies at the roots of modern day liberation. It’s a great book.” --Eric A. Gordon, author of Mark the Music: The Life and Work of Marc Blitzstein

“This is a real treat—believable characters who illuminate the dark just before the dawn of gay liberation. A bonus is the richly detailed backdrop of Los Angeles in 1956, including political corruption, real estate scams, Hollywood scandals and organized crime. I’m looking forward to the sequels.” --Peter Cashorali, author of Gay Fairy and Folk Tales

I am so glad that I ordered the entire quartet at the same time. I was traveling when I started Book 2 and so glad I brought Book 3 with me, because I couldn't put down Book 2 and finished it long before my travel was complete. Book 2 is closer to my generation and follows the characters of Book 1, but the storyline matures a bit. Same great content, but representative of the generation and time. There is more descriptive writing about the landscape, city and political climate, which made the book even more real. "The Black Cat" is a real place and it's on my agenda to visit and think about what was and what is! Great read into Book 3.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story is a page turner. The characters are believable, I especially rooted for Paul and David. I thought it was also a very honest portrayal of what it was like for LGBT people during this time in US history. And a hopeful ending. Totally recommend!

We return to L.A. ten years following the first book in this series. Steve Neil Johnson continues to unfold very believable characters whose lives and relationships clearly reflect the questions, conflicts, and turmoil that can preoccupy gay lives. The historical context is fabulous, so you can learn, or be reminded (if you were there) of the social and political unrest that were rocking the city, and the continuing emergence of the glbtq community in the larger society. If you enjoyed the first book (The Yellow Canary) you will not be disappointed in this second installment as Paul Winters is faced with the hard life choices of career over truth and relationships.Will he remain in the closet for the sake of his career? I really appreciate how carefully the author has constructed the personalities and psychology of his characters which ring true to life; they are plausible and realistic, not just paper cutouts of sexy gay men as in other gay novels. This series should be required reading for anyone who wants to better understand gay history and the emergence of the gay community into mainstream life.

Another great book. A wild generation, and it is described so well that you become a part of it. Loved Book 3 because all the characters continued to grow and evolve. They truly became my friends in Book 3. The action narrative is excellent too. Always a crime to solve! I think there is something really special about writing when the author can draw you in the way Steve Neil Johnson does with this quartet. The worst part of Book 3 is knowing that there is only one more book to read.

I'm still haunted by the depiction of gay life in 1950's Los Angeles in the quartet's first book ("The Yellow Canary"). That book was on my mind for weeks afterwards. But, in terms of story, this is Johnson's best book yet. Moving at a rapid pace, the mystery is intricate, with many components, but everything unfolds so smoothly that it is easy to follow. Steve Neil Johnson doesn't employ the unsatisfying tactic of so many other mystery writers where the story builds to a climax and then suddenly everything is revealed on the second-to-last page.

I wasn't born when the first novel was staged and I'm too young to remember much about 1967 (the second novel in the series). But, I remember the mid-70s. Johnson really captures the essence of the time, from the hair styles to the polyester shirts and bell-bottoms to the avocado-colored appliances in the kitchen. He's also done an admirable job of incorporating the changes in the gay rights movement since Stonewall, including the internal politics that threatened to destroy the progress that had been made so far.

The two main characters in the series, Paul Winters (a lawyer) and Jim Blake (a cop), are still wonderfully flawed. They have an attraction to each other that has spanned 18 years, but the author has thrown in some real-world complications and doesn't telegraph if they'll be overcome. I can't help but think of Jim Blake as a male "femme fatale" who has unintentionally managed to bring down the two men (and one woman) who have loved him, and brought himself down, too, for good measure.

I am both eagerly anticipating and dreading the fourth book of the series, to be set in the 1980s. I want to know what happens to Paul, Jim and Paul's boyfriend David Rosen, who is too good for him, but I can guess one of the series characters that we're going to lose and I'm sure he won't be the only one. I have a feeling that this final book in the quartet is as difficult for the author to write as it will be for many of us to read.
 

As other reviewers have mentioned, be sure to read the books in sequence.

As so many other reviewers have said before me, all three books in this series are engaging and suspenseful. Not only as a well crafted and convoluted series of events unfolds in this third novel, we are also drawn into the complexities of our gay selves and gay souls. We are challenged to consider who we love, why do we love, and can we love more than one person? Difficult questions at any time, but thank you to Steve Johnson for bringing us to this task again. This reflection on our personal psychologies and emotions play out against the backdrop of the horrendous misuse of mental health to torture and permanently maim the lives of gay men and women who were seen as sick and mentally ill because they were homosexuals. This is not a pretty history of gay glamour and martinis and club life. This is the tumultuous, gritty story of the 1970's and the challenges and choices faced by every homosexual person in America at the time. Steve Johnson clearly portrays the conflicts we all struggled with: to be activists or to work within the system? To submit to the power and authority of law and medicine or to believe that we were "normal" human beings?

Steve Johnson uses his fictional novel to bring to life the sorry antecedents of the misuse of therapy as well as portraying the role of activism in bringing about gay liberation. I hope this effort succeeds in reminding each of us to consider our responsibilities to our community as the power to oppress will never disappear although the victims may shift.

With all this sad and painful history as backdrop Steve Johnson does not fail in providing an engaging story that will keep you turning pages deep into the night (or under the summer beach umbrella!). Plaudits to the author for engaging us in the story while teaching us, or reminding us, of the sordid backdrop of gay life in the 1970's.

Enjoy the story, become attached to the main characters and share in their struggles, and learn this history. Or history will repeat itself (is repeating itself)! Now on to the next book and the decade of the 80's.

You know you are in the hands of a master writer when he can combine suspense with the sharp detail of time and place along with characters that jump off the page. The paranoia of AIDS coupled with rampant homophobia takes the reader back to the Los Angeles of the eighties when it was acceptable for a police detective to chortle derogatory words about homosexuals.

For those us who lived through the eighties the reference to watching The Golden Girls on Saturday night is one of the rare fond memories of the plague years.

Throughout the novel Steve Neil Johnson’s spot-on descriptions like “an archway of gnarling deep-red bougainvillea and steep terra cotta steps” make for glorious vivid reading.

The author elegantly weaves the politics of AIDS, tense procedural plotting, believable mystery twists and an unrequited romance that will flood your eyes.
This excellent book is the fourth in the series but it is so clearly written that it can easily stand alone as a literary stunner.

I’ve been waiting for this book for over two years and I wasn’t disappointed. The Red Raven, the final book in the LA after Midnight Quartet left me emotionally drained. In a testament to Mr. Johnson’s skills as a writer, the book is both devastating and uplifting.

As a gay man who came of age during the 80s, I expected that the book would be difficult to read. It wasn’t. It was painful, and I couldn’t put it down. Interwoven with a worthy mystery were the anger, terror, hopelessness, determination, and compassion found in the gay and lesbian community in the late 80s. In the midst of all this are the two main characters, Paul Winters and Jim Blake, who have been passionately in love for 30 years yet always kept apart by fate and their own fears. Although the characters are fictional, the circumstances are very real. As the storylines of Paul, Jim and the other characters in the book resolved one-by-one, I found myself simultaneously angry and, literally, tearful. I can’t think of another book that has had such an emotional impact on me. It makes me wish that there was a discussion group devoted to this series.

As I mentioned, this is the final book in the LA after Midnight Quartet. While it can be read standalone, Mr. Johnson doesn’t spend much time on character development or filling in backstory in this book. In order to truly understand the characters, both major and minor, and their motivations and their references to the past, one should read the entire series in sequence, starting with The Yellow Canary.

WOW! The emotions generated through this book were incredible. The 80's were a horrible time period for gay people. Steve Johnson captures these emotions and puts them into words. I wish young gays today would read this series to better understand the journey that was taken to give them the freedom they enjoy today. Book 4 was tougher than the others because of the content; however, the character development and crime action were great. I realized that when I walk to the beach, I am walking the same path described in the book! That's cool. The entire book (and quartet) was captivating. There are SO MANY books out there to read, and I am so glad that I was introduced to this quartet.

This series has occupied most of my past week. When not working, I have been reading. I would finish one book and download the next. Such great stories at the same time as an 81 year old former LA, NYC, and Nashville resident who lived through and nursed friends living with and dying from the PLAGUE, I was moved to tears multiple times.
Great read.
Thank you Steve Neil Johnson for your work.

A wonderfully satisfying and moving conclusion to the LA after midnight quartet of books. Mr Johnson is a gifted writer indeed.

Extremely riveting ending to a series I fell in love with. The history, the characters, and the writing are simply amazing. A series I'll be re-reading in the future.