Rafe and Ben were very much children of their time. The interactions between those two men, how Ben approached Rafe with utmost subtlety, how Rafe, even though he was almost petrified from fear, couldn’t help but open up to Ben’s gentle persistence – all this was drawn out in a way that kept me in awe. Ben takes a tremendous risk putting out tentative feelers towards Rafe, more so since his partner, Calhoun, proves far too perceptive even though Ben goes to great lengths to keep up his tough image.

But as he forms a tentative connection with Rafe via Rafe’s dog, Ben senses something from the crime victim – he barely dares to hope, but could Rafe actually be a kindred spirit? It’s the 1950′s, after all, and if being found out as a gay man means ostracism in general society, being found out as a gay cop can literally mean death. At first, it’s only the hatred behind the crime that gets Ben’s hackles up, and the way his partner Calhoun shrugs it off on the same prejudices that fueled the crime in the first place. His house being defaced with Nazi symbols and his garage going up in flames calls LAPD Officer Ben Morgan to the scene, an honest man and a protector at heart. Ironically, Rafe’s safety is broken by a prejudice about him that couldn’t be further off the mark. Caught up in secrecy and fear, Rafe isolated himself from each and every personal contact he has no friends, only colleagues and neighbors, and the only being he really has a connection with is his dog, Mookie (who, by the way, was a treat and a wonderful character in her own right and, as opposed to other canine matchmakers I’ve come across now and then, actually served another, very crucial and rather dark purpose in the plot.) However, the price Rafe pays for his safety is terrible, soul-freezing loneliness. Extra precaution has been ingrained into him ever since he was a child, and events he witnessed since only reinforced his preformed notion that he can’t allow anybody to find out about him, never, not on any terms. But beneath this disguise, Rafe hides even more secrets. He even concocted a clever scheme that secures him the sympathy of the women he keeps hooking up with as part of his cover.

First and foremost, he’s not the womanizer he acts for the benefit of his co-workers, not in the slightest – he’s gay, and on the surface his life revolves around keeping this secret a secret. (His motto is “nobody says no to Rafe Colman.”) But except for his prowess as a Real Estate agent, everything else about his life is a lie. He changed his too-German sounding name, made himself a new home in his new country and eventually managed to make a good life for himself through hard work and a winning personality. Rafe came to the United States at the age of twelve as a refugee after the Nazis invaded his native Austria.

Secret Light by Z.A. Maxfield