Helping Knight in her investigation is a journalist, Shannon Wild. She is visiting New Orleans with her lover, Dr. Lauren Calder, who is working temporarily in New Orleans with Knight's lover, Dr. Cordelia James. At first Wild and Knight do not get along. However, circumstances throw them together in ways Knight could never have imagined.

Sponsor Message.

As is common with mystery fiction with a continuous protagonist, the vicissitudes of personal relationships can be as important, if not more so, than the case at hand. Although Cordelia James is on the sidelines throughout much of this novel, her relationship with Micky Knight is nevertheless at its core.

And then there is Katrina. Knight's evacuation from New Orleans with Shannon Wild and then dealing with the aftermath of Katrina as she relocates takes up the last third of the novel. She does solve the mystery of who tried to murder LaChance and finds his child, but the real interest of Death of a Dying Man is how Knight deals with her relationship to Cordelia James amidst the debris Katrina has left in her wake.

In 2003, Redmann co-founded Bywater Books. She soon decided, however, that she preferred to be a writer rather than a publisher. Although Redmann is no longer a principal in the publishing house, Bywater Books has reprinted all her books.

Redmann's "day job" is as Director of Education for New Orleans's largest AIDS organization, NO/AIDS Task Force.

Although most lesbian mystery fiction reflects a political stance, the most effective lesbian crime novels have been those that have most enthusiastically embraced the need to entertain the reader.

One of America's most colorful cities, New Orleans boasts a rich tradition for glbtq people and is both a popular travel destination for gay men and lesbians and the home of a diverse glbtq community.

Writer and editor Katherine V. Forrest has played a major role in bringing lesbian fiction to the forefront of the mystery and science fiction genres.

Prolific mystery writer Ellen Hart, winner of multiple Lambda Literary Awards, writes "whydunits" rather than "whodunits."

Award-winning mystery writer Val McDermid writes three successful series of novels, including one featuring lesbian investigative reporter Lindsay Gordon.