Idaho Code — Joan Opyr

Everyone knows that Idaho is full of crackpots. The big secret is that not all of them belong to right-wing militias. Some are lesbian separatists, some are ex-hippies, and some are members of Wilhelmina “Bil” Hardy's immediate family. Small town Idaho, where everyone knows your business, is no place for baby dyke Bil to go looking for love. Especially when murder and homophobia are stalking the streets. Burned by a love affair gone wrong, Bil has left college in Seattle and moved back home to Cowslip, population 23,000. It ought to be the perfect place to lick her wounds, recover her bearings, and begin to make a plan for the future. Unfortunately, Bil's terminally ill brother has embarked on a petty crime spree, Cowslip has become ground zero in the battle over an anti-gay initiative, and it looks as if Bil's mother might have been involved in a long ago murder. But how can Bil help her brother, fight oppression, and clear her mother's good name when what she really wants is a date with the murder victim's daughter?

Trapped in the coils of her eccentric family and off-the-wall friends, neither the course of true love nor amateur sleuthing runs smoothly for Bil in this rollercoaster brew of murder, mayhem and mushrooms.

Idaho Code is a very funny book about love, family, and the freedom you can find only in a state that values individuality more than common sense.