Customer Reviews

Drag Queen in the Court of Death (Gay Mystery)

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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.

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.

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.

This is a great mystery that has elements of passion, romance, heartache, regret, betrayal, new love, friendship, and resolution. The large cast is essential to the story where every detail is actually a stepping stone towards much needed answers. Initially the title seemed off putting but after reading the story, it's actually incredibly fitting. An absorbing and fascinating mystery that holds you captive through the various twists and turns with a wonderful history of gay culture woven into the story. This is really one of the best mystery books I've read in quite some time. I think this may be one of the only mystery stories to lack any noticeable holes and leave not a single detail hanging. A rather impressive feat on top of a wonderful story.

The story starts with Michael Dunn-Barten discovering a corpse in a sealed trunk of the house of his dead ex-lover. The existence of this corpse throws everything Michael knew about Ronnie into doubt and he's questioning if he really knew the man at all. Considering Ronnie was Michael's first love, and homosexual love at that, Michael struggles with understanding the man who literally changed his life. Michael's love affair with the then seventeen Ronnie led him to leave his wife, job, family, friends, and life at the age of twenty two to embark on a passionate relationship with the love of his life. After only a few months, Ronnie broke the relationship off, leaving both men wounded and hurt without answers. Twenty five years later, Michael embarks on a discovery to find answers about the mysterious corpse and numerous secrets hidden in Ronnie's past.

The story is told in person from Michael's perspective, which causes a few writing errors but very few. These may be more noticeable for those that have difficulty with first person narratives, but for the most part shouldn't cause problems for readers. Instead the gripping mystery and complexity of the relationships and the narrating character of Michael capture your attention and hold it throughout the story. The pace of the novel is very even with no noticeable increase of drama or tension. There is certainly enough drama and tension woven into the story but without the peaks and falls traditionally associated with murder mysteries.

The intricacy of the murder plot is really stunning. Each of the details, of which there are innumerable, are important and blend to give a texture not only to the characters and the book but are essential to the mystery itself. From the story line with Julie and Ryan giving rise to a later conversation between Michael and Bianca to the benefit party where Michael and Lew discuss Nigel, each seemingly superfluous detail and scene is actually a clever foundation for the final answer. The actions and choices of the characters have layers of meaning; even their mistakes are sometimes acknowledged mistakes but made for reasons important to the characters. There are surprisingly no extraneous characters in a cast of dozens, where every person plays a part ~ large or small ~ leading to the resolution of the mystery.

The main character of Michael is a strong voice and fascinating in his own right. He struggles with understanding the actions and resolution to a love affair that literally changed his life, regardless of the short time they were together. His need for answers is more than a need to solve the mystery, but it's a need to come to terms with the truth of his life and the person he loved so passionately that never really left his mind or heart. This specter unwittingly stayed with Michael until he could understand and put to rest his own confusion and questions. His choices, even his mistakes, are not always easy and sometimes naive and frustrating but always with a purpose and conscientious choice.

The setting is very essential to the story and interestingly, takes place in 1989. This dates the book and atmosphere immediately but works especially well considering the plot focuses on memories and actions that took place in the late 1960s and from there to the present time. The setting of 1989 questions when this book was written but seamlessly slides into the journey of exploration into a man's past over 25 years. This highlights the changes of attitude and especially so during the 1960s in Canada where homosexuality was not accepted in any form. Considering the majority of the remembered action revolves around a few months in the spring of 1965, this time period is vividly reflected in the details with all its tawdry glory. Additionally the city of Toronto is vibrantly described with a surprising level of detail, giving the book a reality that draws readers in immediately.

I have no complaints about this mystery but it may not appeal to all readers for a few reasons. First the pacing of the mystery was wonderful in my opinion but it won't appeal to all mystery lovers. The details slowly merge, creating different parts to the puzzle until the very end, when the reader steps back to fully appreciate the finished product. There is no appreciable tension buildup, no heart racing action scene, no blurted details, no missed clues, and especially no "ah-ha" moments where the answer becomes clear. This is a subtle and intricate dance to the end where every scene and subplot adds a careful and essential layer to the mystery. The gradual and simultaneous building and unfolding of details creates a different tone and mood from a more conventional murder mystery. So this may not be for all tastes.

The successful accomplishment of this complicated and wonderful mystery however was enough for me and likely others to greatly appreciate the story. I can't wait to read this book again and when I finished, I was almost disappointed. I wanted to be able to open the book with fresh eyes and no knowledge, just to experience the journey Michael takes as he searches for answers. This story is a fabulous piece of mystery fiction and literature lovers will be delighted by this tale.

I usually don't like to much mystery, it's not my genre, but this one is different, I have the feeling that the main character, Michael, more than trying to solve a mystery is trying to find himself, and for a 47 years old man it's probably the time.

When Michael was 22 years old, he was the classical good son of an upper class family, English teacher in a private school, already married with a family friend, it seemed a perfect life. But then Ronnie entered the picture, 17 years old and American refugee in Canada, officially to avoid the war in Vietnam. Even if Ronnie was underage he was way more experience than Michael, and Michael didn't know that. To the young boy it took not so much to convince closeted case Michael to leave job, family and respectability and living as a bohemian in a little apartment: sex as food for love was enough. But the fairy tale didn't last, another man entered Ronnie's life, and Michael was soon forgotten, apparently.

25 years later Ronnie is dead, AIDS complications, and Michael is named executor. It's not something he likes, he wasn't so near Ronnie anymore, and I have the feeling that Michael wanted to remember Ronnie as that 17 years old, the boy who still loved him. The man who is now dead is a stranger and looking through his things is like starting to destroy the image of that 17 years old boy to substitute it with the adult Ronnie. To help that destroing process, Michael finds a mummified corpse in a trunk inside Ronnie's apartment, the same apartment the man always lived in and stubbornly refused to leave. Someone could think the reason was that it was difficult to remove a corpse and it was better to stay there near it, instead I think that, like Michael, also Ronnie wanted to remember the time when he was happy, when Michael was there with him, probably the only man he loved and was loved back.

As often happens when I read a novel with a deceased character, who can't speak for himself, I try to imagine what his voice is; I like Ronnie's voice, probably since, despite the fact that Ronnie dumped him and they didn't speak for years, Michael still loves him and can't believe that he is a murder. Since Michael is a good man, there should be a reason if he thinks so highly of Ronnie. Of Ronnie himself we have only some pictures, in different moments of his life and a diary, where he mostly talks of his great love, Michael... what happened to Ronnie to renounce to that love?

This is what wants to know Michael: it's not a question to discover the true to have some sort of justice, most of the people of that time is not more alive, Ronnie is dead, the corpse is obviously dead and no one seems to have missed him in 25 years... To Michael is important to know the truth since, if he mistook to judge Ronnie, he probably mistook all his life. And in the search of the truth he will grow: at first he is still anchored to 25 years before, when he was hardly a man and loved a boy. And so, even if he is now 47 years old, he still loves a boy, Ryan, someone that maybe remembers him Ronnie, a runaway kid without family to back him, someone who needs the comfort and steadiness of a man like Michael. But Michael is no more 22 years old, and as I said, he grows during the story and he grows tired also of Ryan. To excuse him, Ryan is not exactly a saint, and not even a boy in dear need, and so it's no hard blow for the romantic readers. Instead I found way more interested the other two men who gravitate around Michael, Jaym and Logan. Actually I really wondered about Logan, the straight friend, who was like a Jimmy Cricket for Michael, even if he didn't give advice but only borrow a friendly ear.

The story is all about Michael, and I like very much how it wrapped up. I'm still a little sad for Ronnie, but he was already dead when the book started, so there was no hope for him... but he is anyway the strongest voice in the novel, Michael is more the silent type, pondering and doing always the right thing.