I was in high school when the first Tales of the City was released as a serial in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1976. My little crowd of misfits, who may or may have not known we would grow up to be the people we are, would gather in the locker area before classes started to discuss each day's installment. Regardless of how we identified at the time, having that story and the individuals who peopled it, gave us a sense that not only was it OK that we were who we were—whatever that was— but also that, dammit, we were kind of interesting. Maybe even marginally hip.

The central character of Mona of the Manor is, no surprise, Mona, a noncomformist, potty-mouthed lesbian who, via a brokered marriage with a Lord who longed to move to San Francisco, has become Lady of a manor. The manor is huge and crumbling, but not so crumbling that emergency evacuations need to be ordered. Mona offers a small B and B service and has generally had enough guests to allow her to manage the kind of bills that can crop up in a home originally built 400+ years ago. Some weekenders = a new water heater. A honeymoon = one more round of patching on the roof. Running the manor with Mona is her adopted son, Wilfred, who grew up in Britain, but is of aboriginal heritage. (For more of Wilfred's story, see Babycakes, the fourth volume in the series.) He's been looking for love, but it's hard going in the countryside where most of the gay men are halves of happy, retired couples.

Maupin is never shy about taking on issues in this series. In Mona of the Manor, Mona and Wilfred share the process of grieving friends who are dying of AIDS, get involved in scheming to protect a woman in a violent marriage, and plan a major Pagan summer solstice party. And more.

You can enter the Tales of the City series anywhere, and Mona of the Manor could be a good place to start since it moves back in time to the middle period of the series, so new readers can pick up a bit of background. To be honest, though, I would suggest reading the full series in order. I can absolutely assure you that time invested in Tales of the City is time very well spent. Oh hell, just ead whichever ones you can get your hands on—stat!

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own. ( )