The morning after Alex Reynolds is attacked by two strangers demanding (quite forcibly) to know "where is it?," a CIA agent drops by to ask him pretty much the very same question. Alex didn't have a clue the first time, and he doesn't know any more now. All he knows is that he was having a few drinks, talked to a few people, and just barely escaped getting knifed when he went to take a leak.

When Alex reads in the paper that an unidentified man had been found murdered behind the bar and recognizes the description as that of one of the men he had been talking to, things get even stickier. Alex, along with lover Peter Livesay and Alex's mother Jean, can't help but do a little discreet sleuthing. Unfortunately, a little goes a long way when it comes to the spy business, and they just keep getting themselves involved more and more deeply.

The three of them make for an interesting team. Alex and Peter live with Jean, an unusual arrangement that works well all round. As Alex say: "I suppose some men are nervous about bringing their boyfriends home to Mother. Not only was that not necessary in our case, but my mother fell for him so badly that at one point I was afraid she'd adopt him and add incest to the rest of our social problems."

Government Gay is fast, fun, and humorous. Alex's accidental encounter with the world of secret agents and hidden messages is the stuff of a million old films and novels (he thinks of himself as Cary Grant in North by Northwest) but it works. The relationship between the three main characters is warm and real, and I like the fact that Alex recognizes that he's got a good thing with Peter. This is not a particularly complex mystery; it leans more towards being a spoof of the spy novel, but whatever it is, it is an enjoyable read.

--Jeri Wright