June 1977, New Orleans. Wat Thorne, a Tulane University graduate teaching assistant, investigates the murder of a civil rights lawyer who hails from his hometown in North Louisiana. Against the backdrop of Anita Bryant's crusade against gay rights, Thorne, assisted principally by his friend Wilhelmina (Willie) and a young policeman, Nick, not only solves the crime, but also illuminates the precarious state of gay people even in a city as apparently accepting as New Orleans.

Offering insight into the city's gay life, as well as the academic milieu of the time, the novel is also a character study. In Wat Thorne, Ted-Larry Pebworth creates a memorable character whose penchant for literary allusions and witty repartee masks his deep mourning for the murder victim and his yearning for a committed relationship. Yet She Must Die is at once a murder mystery, a historical novel, and a romance.