Lesbian, transgender couple become mystery writers

InsideBayArea.com – By Lucinda Ryan, Staff Writer

They say writers should write what they know. For some authors, that comes naturally.

Presenting Diane and Jacob Anderson-Minshall’s first book, “Blind Curves (Bold Strokes, $15.95), a mystery set in the Bay Area. The jacket blurb states the story’s fictional facts: A lesbian publisher is found murdered on a hiking trail in Woodside, and police suspect investigative reporter Velvet Erickson did the deed. So Velvet, who has 48 hours to clear her name before she’s arrested, rushes to her former lover and private eye friend, Yoshi Yakamota ? whose Blind Eye Detective Agency reflects the detective’s own failing eyesight.

The gay whodunnit is the first of an upcoming series published by Bold Strokes Books, which focuses on lesbian-themed general and genre fiction.

The Hayward couple who wrote it, Diane and Jacob Anderson-Minshall, aren’t unfamiliar with mysteries. Jacob’s brother-in-law was murdered in Idaho in 2000, and the case has not been solved.