Customer Reviews

Capital Queers

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The latest Alex Reynolds book is Hunter's best one yet. The mystery is stronger than in other books, and the lovable main characters are just as strong as in other books. The gang's "part-time gig with the CIA" is less central to the plot -- leaving more room for Alex, Peter and Mother to interact with each other. I laughed outloud at several places in the book, and turned to the web at one point to look up some information on a humor reference that remained just under the surface of my brain. Laughing and thinking in the same book -- a winner by my standards!

I am not a Fred Hunter fan. In fact, I can't stand his Alex Reynold's series--with this notable exception. CAPITAL QUEERS is a smart, funny--even sexy book. It's Hunter's best book to date. The plot is sheer classic wacko--I loved it. The characters are actually becoming human. Jean, Alex's uh-dorable, mum has been toned down (thank you, God--or editor), and both Alex and husband Peter are becoming distinct personalities. I usually find Hunter's reparte to be painful; this time I found it occasionally witty. Either I'm being drugged without my knowledge or this really is 100% better book than I ever thought Hunter could write. If you feel like I did about this series, give the guy one more chance. I think you'll be as surprised as I was.

Alex Reynolds is a gay man who shares a home with his mother and husband Peter Livesay. Their friends Mason and Ryan are a happily married couple, who proudly show off to Alex the latest doll in Mason's fabulous collection. Not too long after that, Mason and Ryan are eviscerated to death. All of Mason's dolls are smashed as if someone was searching for something inside one of them.

Alex inherits the dolls and takes home with him the few still intact. However, his home is vandalized and two men insist he returns their artifact or else. Before long Alex and his housemates find themselves embroiled in international intrigue that has the State Department visiting them.

Fred Hunter is one of the best writers of gay mysteries that have a farcical twist to them. He always tells an interesting tale that includes wit, sarcasm, and slapstick. His characters are warm and accepting, regardless of sexual persuasion. CAPITAL QUEERS exceeds his previous work, as it is clearly an Edgar contender.

Harriet Klausner

"Capital Queers" started out well enough, as a man was found brutally murdered, with the broken pieces of his doll collection scattered about his body. Then it really heated up when the dead man's lover was found killed in a similar grisly fashion ... with HIS body surrounded by those very same doll pieces which had been thrown away only to reappear! By this time I was hooked, thinking that the third book in Alex Reynolds series was going to be the one in which author Fred Hunter finally found his voice. But then - alas! - a few pages later the author had reverted back to formula by trying to inject "humor" into the plot via his main characters: Reynolds; his "husband" Peter; and Reynolds' British mother, Jean.

Things quickly went downhill from there, in terms of the book's quality. By the end of the next chapter (less than halfway through) I had figured out exactly where the object being sought by the killers would eventually be found (I was correct, too!), and my nerves were grating as Alex started to refer to himself as a "faggot", and he and his lover had allowed an intimate moment to be interrupted by the obnoxious Mama Jean, who starts speaking in a Cockney accent when she's stressed out ... and with whom the codependent couple lives. These three are characters you would loathe if you ever met them in real life. Anyway, by the time the novel had ended with a blatant rip-off of (er, uh, "homage to") the 1997 film TITANIC, my disappointment was complete. Not recommended reading ... if you want a campy mystery, seek out something genuinely amusing and intriguing, such as one of David Stukas' lighthearted whodunnits.

Poor, VERY poor, completely predictably, primitive. Extremely light entertainment. Certainly, not a come back author.

Alex, Peter and Jean are at it again and the results don't disappoint. It can be dangerous to be gay and know these people since in the first few chapters, one of their friends returns from DC and is brutally murdered. His doll collection, which he had left to Alex, is smashed, and then his lover meets the same fate.

Going any more into the plot would start involving spoilers.

Fred Hunter keeps his slightly tongue in cheek style throughout the book, and the heroes and heroine are typically drawn into the investigation in official/unofficial roles as investigators, caring more about justice than the sometimes "realpolitik" aims of the official investigators. There are a number of scrapes, a few real bonehead moves by Alex, and the investigators get the best of everyone in the end.

Enjoyable light reading. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a good "beach gay detective" book.

As usual, there always seems to be a controversy around Hunter's books -- some love him, some hate him, but nobody seems unaffected (which I always think is the sign of a really vivid writer). Those who love Hunter (as you can see from their reviews) recognize the Alex Reynolds mysteries for the romps they are--light-hearted, hilarious adventures that are near satires on the snappy 40s mystery movies that many of us love--only here it is with a gay couple. Those who hate these books seem to not be in on the joke.

In Capital Queers, Alex Reynolds returns with his lover Peter, and his delightful mother, and embark on a very dangerous quest to find a missing religious artifact that everyone seems to think they have. Along the way the run into the usual unfeeling police, and run afoul of a bizarre religious cult. As usual, the book has a lightening quick plot that is filled with quick wit, pot-shots at movie stereotypes, and a great deal of affection. And also as usual, the book is a joy to read.

Anyone who inspires the passionate responses I've seen of Hunter's books is a must to read!

I know there are many Fred Hunter fans who will say this review is not helpful just because they don't agree with it. Nevertheless.... First of all, "Capital Queers" has an entertaining plot. However, the book is populated with all the requisite stereotypes: the receptionist "doing her nails," the effeminate antique shop owner, the kickass dykes who live upstairs, the inept bumbling police, the overly-solicitous mother of the gay protagonist. My biggest complaint? This writer has so many technique quirks I was distracted from the overall story line. The dialogue (and there's a lot of it) is banal and full of cliches. Must every character roll his or her eyes, "sigh deeply," and raise his or her eyebrows? Any good author knows you must convey emotion by setting, mood, and the character's actions and unique expressions--so why does Hunter feel the need to smother his dialogue with adverbs? After the twentieth "said leerily," said stuffily," "said feebly," "said benignly" I was ready to scream. And I'm suspicious of a writer who overuses exclamation points, sometimes several per page. If I had to read "there was a beat" before someone replied or "I think you've lost your mind" one more time, I think I would have lost my mind. There are too many wonderful writers of gay mysteries to spend time reading this author, although I must admit this is my first (and sadly, last) Fred Hunter mystery. If you want exciting plot, read John Morgan Wilson or R.D. Zimmerman or Michael Craft. If you want nuanced characterization, read Michael Nava. If you just want to laugh, read Zubro or Grant Michaels. If you're a Fred Hunter fan, borrow this one from the library and save yourself 13 bucks.

I read an interview with Hunter where he said he thinks of these books as comedies, and he's right. This is some of the funniest writing I've ever read. Alex Reynolds is a wonderful character who is chronically in over his head, and knows it. His view on his situations, especially in this book, is always delightfully skewed. This is the type of plot (about a religous cult racing to retrieve a stolen icon) that is so outlandish you would find it hard to take if it weren't for the fact that the hero (and the author) acknowledges that the plot is outlandish. At first when confronted with the bad guys, Alex finds the situation so strange he thinks he's losing his mind, and as it escalates, he repeats "then I REALLY thought I was losing my mind!"

The book is full of some of the most colorful dialogue I've seen: as when Alex laments "Suddenly I felt like the only woman in a Japanese prison camp movie." And there are some great supporting characters, like Alex's boyfriend, Peter, who is his rock, and his mother, who is more resourceful than he is. The minor characters are also a lot of fun: most notably, the owner of an antique store who reminds Alex of Miss Havisham in Great Expectations.

Hunter is one of those rare authors who seems capable of satirizing everything at the same time. As with all of these books, there's a lot of fun to be had here.

Fred Hunter makes Mark Zubro look like Raymond Chandler, and that's quite an accomplishment. I'm surprised at Mr. Brainard's recommendation below. He's usually a more astute critic than that. This is just pretend mystery (or, to use Truman Capote's memorable take on Jack Kerouac, it's only typing). Cutsey-pie stuff whose raison d'etre seems to be to showcase the feeble humor of the protagonist (Mr. Hunter has obviously spent his fair share of time in front of the TV screen, absorbing the inanities of second rate sitcoms.) And the references to "my husband," "my husband," "my husband" get just plain annoying. Stick with the masters.