Secret Light

Z. A. Maxfield

Maxfield Publishing (April 5, 2014)

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Rafe Colman likes his life. He has a nice home, a good job, and a wonderful dog. But he’s exhausted by living a lie. When his home is vandalized because of his perceived German ancestry, he can’t even share the irony with friends.

Officer Ben Morgan falls for Rafe’s dog first, but it isn’t long before he’s giving her owner the eye. He thinks they have more in common than the search for Rafe’s vandals, and he’s willing to take a chance and find out.

If life in 1955 is tough on a cop in the closet, it’s even tougher on a refugee who’s desperate to hide his roots and fit in. Rafe knows from tragic experience how vicious prejudice can be. Every second with Ben is stolen, every kiss fraught with danger.

REVIEW BY CHRISTOPHER HAWTHORNE MOSS

This wartime romance takes place about ten years after the end of World War II.  Rafe has managed to succeed in his life as an unknown refugee, a German Jew who happens to be gay as well.  His quiet life is disrupted by vandals who want to hurt the German enemy soldier, since he has hidden his victimization, likely doubled or trebled because of American prejudices.  Fortunately Ben Morghan, the officer who comes to take the report on the vandalism and who is charmed by Rafe’s dog, keeps coming back for Rafe himself.  Will these two men find a way to share love and their lives in time of complex bigotries?  It is a good story that does not balk at telling it like it was.