It"s 1954 and McCarthyism is running rampant through the American psyche. For Detective Inspector Roach, the discovery of Gregory Stein"s naked corpse, "chained up like a dog", brutally whipped, is only the proper end for a sick life: "If the fags are getting their rocks off by killing each other, at least they"re doing good for the community". But for Mark Hanson, newly assigned to Roach"s squad, the body summons other feelings, since "He was also a queer: sexual prejudice got him worried." That line holds the key to The Fair Cop, one of a new trend (from Idol Books) in gay erotic fiction. Here, of course, are all the porn set pieces: the unfeasibly detailed sex journal left by the unfortunate Stein; the similarly unnatural articulacy--not to mention total recall--of Chico the Puerto Rican youth; Flynn, the handsome, ambiguous young cop for Hanson to lust over (and get, eventually); and of course, plenty of action for Hanson himself. But in its historical context--complete with drag queens, closet cases and a stab at an authentic ethnic mix--there"s an attempt to deal seriously with a key moment in US political life, with particular consequences for the suppression of gay culture. It"s an odd mix, though--with its Terrence Higgins Trust Safer Sex guidelines, and its polemic versus prejudice, this is very much turn-of-millennium UK mainstream gay politics once again turning to the US for its inspiration, with the usual problems of cultural translation--there"s a jarring "arse" on page one, for starters. But nonetheless, it"s an intriguing project and--who cares? It"s literate, well-paced, horny enough erotica and whether it works or not can"t be measured in a polite review. --Alan Stewart