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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Compelling Story with Depth and Compassion, April 19, 2007
This review is from: Drag Queen in the Court of Death (Gay Mystery) (Paperback)
The title may sound melodramatic or campy, but this story is absolutely neither. Drag Queen in the Court of Death is a powerfully compelling tale about moving past horror, anger, and betrayal in order to find meaning and understanding. Unfortunately for the title character, that meaning and understanding can only come after his death, and proves extraordinarily hard to find for the loved ones he has left behind.
Caro Soles has created an entire cast of believable characters, many fitting into classic folkloric roles, yet without a single empty stereotype. The author has imbued motivation -- and even dignity -- in even those characters who seem to act in the most superficial manner. I am always impressed when an author shows such compassion in creating fictional personalities, and Soles has impressed me very much with this work.
This story is a murder mystery decades after the actual horrific deed, with the added twist that the primary suspect has also died, leaving an ex-lover to look for the answers. Through a logical, reasonable, entertaining, and always riveting progression, just enough of the facts are finally brought to light, and they provide the story with a meaningful and poignant arc. Adding to this barreling freight train of plot is a very visual style of writing that leaves the reader with mental pictures as vivid as if they had been projected onto the silver screen.
I highly recommend Drag Queen in the Court of Death. The book satisfies on every level.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Truly Unique Gay Mystery, June 2, 2007
This review is from: Drag Queen in the Court of Death (Gay Mystery) (Paperback)
I've read my fair share of gay murder mysteries. They tend to have a great deal in common; hot handsome detectives, sexy suspects, homophobic villains and predictable plots easy to figure out. Many are excellent, but few stray from the tried and true formula. I'm pleased to say that DRAG QUEEN IN THE COURT OF DEATH is completely unique to the genre.
Michael Dunn-Barten was a young naive teacher from a wealthy Toronto family when he met Ronnie Lipinski in 1965. Ronnie was a newly arrived, seventeen year old student at the high school where Michael taught and both were immediately attracted to one another. Ronnie claimed his family sent him to Canada to avoid the draft and Michael never questioned it. For the love of Ronnie, Michael left his wife, was disowned by his family, and lost his job. All this would have been okay, but Ronnie suddenly broke it off with Michael, and left him confused and miserable.
It's now 1990, and after many years away Michael finds himself back home in Toronto, teaching History at the local university. Over the course of twenty five years Ronnie led a double life as a conservative and successful accountant by day, and a wildly popular drag queen by night, and he amassed a sizeable fortune.
Upon his return Michael and Ronnie, who was extremely ill with AIDS, reconnected and became friends again for the short time Ronnie had left. Michael is shocked to discover that Ronnie has named him executor of his estate. Michael begins the sad task of disposing of Ronnie's effects. While at Ronnie's home, an apartment Ronnie lived in his entire life in Toronto, Michael opens an old trunk and discovers a mummified corpse stuffed inside. This discovery forces Michael to reexamine his past in an attempt to reconstruct events and try to figure out who the dead person is.
I really enjoyed this novel, and as I said before, it's a very unique story, told in a most convincing, and different manor. Michael is not a hotshot investigator. He is an attractive man in his late forties trying to solve a decades old puzzle. What suspects he can think of are middle aged and hardly what one would call sexy, and the only homophobes around are of the internalized closet case sort. Every time you think you've got the murder figured out, you realize you don't. This book kept me guessing right up until the end, and that's truly what a worthwhile mystery should do.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Kind of Time Machine, October 23, 2007
This review is from: Drag Queen in the Court of Death (Gay Mystery) (Paperback)
I confess I found the title offputting for a long time - it seems to me to suggest the mid east, pashas and deys and dark eyed houris - but now that I've read the novel, I think it fits. And a very good novel it is, too - not quite like any other gay mystery I've read before. For one thing, it sort of works as a time machine, moving back and forth from the present to the past while the author lays out for you a labyrinthine story of murder, betrayal, love, desertion. Soles keeps all the threads carefully knitted together to the satisfying wrapup at the end. If I have a complaint, it's that Soles' novel is plot driven rather than character driven, which I prefer, but which I confess is growing increasingly rare in today's writing world. Having said that, though, I must add that the cast of characters is large and engaging and well drawn.
All in all, this is a highly satisfactory read. I tend to place a lot of importance on the writer's ability to start a story out strong, and I doubt that anyone would read the first few lines of this one and not feel compelled to read the rest. Likewise, I think they will be entirely satisfied when they've read the last few lines as well.
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