The cover of the first book
Written by Lisa Lawrence, this series focuses on private detective Teresa Knight, a Black Englishwoman with Sudanese ancestry. She investigates various cases, while getting into all kinds of sexual scenarios. It might be best described as "erotic detective fiction".The books of the series are:
- Strip Poker (2007)
- Beg Me (2007)
- Sexile (2009)
Examples:
- Action Girl: Teresa knows martial arts, and is willing to use them when necessary (such as while fighting the villain at the climax of Strip Poker).
- Ambiguously Bi: In the first book, Carl turns out to be secretly with Andre, his boyfriend. He'd also had sex with several women, Teresa included, though without as much enthusiasm. She isn't sure whether this means he's bisexual or really gay.
- Attempted Rape: Teresa stops a man who is about to rape his girlfriend at a sex club when she breaks off their encounter because of discomfort.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Teresa thinks so, frequently commenting mentally on men's large penises with approval (some her sex partners, others simply ones she sees).
- Blackmail: The first book involves a blackmailer inside exclusive sex gambling clubs in Britain whom Teresa is hired to track down.
- But Not Too Foreign: Teresa is a Briton of Sudanese descent, which is brought up though since she's born and raised in the UK. Teresa's culturally British so it doesn't affect her very much. She also has a completely English name.
- Camp Gay: Andre is described as a slim and effeminate gay man.
- Closet Gay: Carl kept the fact he was seeing Andre, a younger man, secret. It only came out with his death.
- Closet Key: Hooking up with Ayako makes Teresa realize that she's bisexual. Although she had sexual fantasies of women before, it just didn't sink in. She put that down to pent up sexual energy rather than specific attraction.
- Ethical Slut: Teresa unabashedly loves having sex, and isn't ashamed in the least of it. She's bisexual too, so while it's mostly men, some of her sex partners are also women. However, she's also very much concerned with consent and safe sex, with some cases she investigates involving violations of these. She'll also intervene if something is going on that's nonconsensual when she's present.
- Everyone Has Lots of Sex: Teresa has tons of sex across the books, starting just pages into the first one, while supporting characters also get into the act quite regularly.
- Fanservice Extra: Minor characters are often also described nude and or having sex, not just the protagonist.
- Friends with Benefits: Teresa has lots of relationships like this, and often sees friends/acquaintances of hers who are also her casual sex partners.
- Genre Mashup: It's basically erotica meets a basic detective story in each novel.
- Idealized Sex: Zigzagged. Sex is generally portrayed as working out fine, but some cases don't, and contraception or STD prevention is also brought up explicitly.
- Insistent Terminology: Teresa, who's of Sudanese ancestry, prefers being called African over black. Downplayed however as she doesn't make an issue of it all the time.
- Karma Houdini: In Strip Poker the bad guys who are really behind the book's events (people from the international corporations involved with trafficking coltan in the Congo) face no consequences as their hitman gets killed and so they're not identified.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Teresa gets busy in all kinds of places, including dogging inside a park while a much younger couple watch.
- Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Straight Gay Carl was with Camp Gay Andre, whom Teresa explicitly identifies as the "feminine" partner in the relationship.
- Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: In Strip Poker Teresa looking into blackmail and an ordinary murder leads her to discovering an international conspiracy by corporations smuggling coltan mined inside the Democratic Republic of Cargo by forced child labor that's connected with brutal rebels who have committed countless atrocities.
- Ms. Fanservice: Teresa is described as beautiful, and constantly has explicit sex scenes.
- Porn with Plot: The series, while it does indeed have a plot (which isn't just tacked on either), also features tons of very explicit sex throughout every book. A lot of this is somewhat justified by the story, but still tailor-made to fit pretty clearly.
- Really Gets Around: Teresa has tons of sexual encounters in each book. The very first one even segues to her having sex almost immediately.
- R-Rated Opening: The first book, and the trilogy overall, starts as Teresa is playing Strip Poker, the game soon turning into sex with the other player, a man. In the next books, this continues, with each one having an opening that soon features sex.
- Safe, Sane, and Consensual: Teresa, being an ethical slut, strictly abides by this regarding sex, as do the better sex clubs.
- Sex in a Shared Room: The sex clubs often have couples "perform" as others watch.
- Sex Is Good: The general view of the protagonist, and the series overall (at least if it's safe, with consenting adults etc).
- Sex Starts, Story Stops: Many if not most of the sex scenes have little buildup (often none), and are generally described in explicit detail. Generally this is justified as it's taking place in a sex club or between friends with benefits etc. It's also expected somewhat (this is erotic fiction) though the sheer number of sex scenes becomes pretty staggering.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: When the villain in Strip Poker starts to rationalize what he did, Teresa cuts it off instantly, uninterested by any speech of his.
- STD Immunity: Averted. STDs are explicitly mentioned as a threat for people who have a lot of casual sex. The sex clubs portrayed all require members be tested first before joining.
- Straight Gay: No one realizes that Carl was gay (or at least bi) until it came out after his death, given his style was just like his straight counterparts.
- Strip Poker: The first book is named this, and opens on Teresa playing it against a white man in Africa. Before long it turns into the two having sex.
