Yet She Must Die

<p>June 1977 New Orleans. Wat Thorne a Tulane University graduate teaching assistant investigates the murder of a civil rights lawyer who hails from his hometown in North Louisiana. Against the backdrop of Anita Bryant's crusade against gay rights Thorne assisted principally by his friend Wilhelmina (Willie) and a young policeman Nick not only solves the crime but also illuminates the precarious state of gay people even in a city as apparently accepting as New Orleans.</p><p></p><p>Offering insight into the city's gay life as well as the academic milieu of the time the novel is also a character study. In Wat Thorne Ted-Larry Pebworth creates a memorable character whose penchant for literary allusions and witty repartee masks his deep mourning for the murder victim and his yearning for a committed relationship. <em>Yet She Must Die</em> is at once a murder mystery a historical novel and a romance. </p>