Gumshoe Gorilla [Paperback]

Keith Hartman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2001

2024 was a rough year for Drew Parker. His car broke down, his rent went up, and his partner was kidnapped by a revenge-crazed performance artist with a grant from the NEA. Worse, one of his clients had been tossed off a sky scraper-after being stripped naked, smeared in human fat, and painted with occult symbols. Drew himself had broken into the headquarters of the Christian Militia on a wild goose chase, and nearly gotten his brain fried trying to get back out. And then there was the assassination attempt on that cross dressing Cherokee Shaman, which Drew might not have stopped if he'd known how much trouble it was going to get him into. And that's not even counting the talking gorilla in the fedora. So far, 2025 isn't shaping up to be much better. What had started as a simple case involving identical quintuplet actors cloned from the frozen corpse of a dead movie star was suddenly getting complicated. The pushy stage mom was to be expected, but the secret agents from the Cherokee nation came as a bit of a surprise, as did the lethal martial artist in the clown mask who had broken into his office. Nor had Drew planned on finding himself in the middle of a political death match between competing tele-ministeries. Besides, Drew had a personal score to settle, a little matter involving a privatized version of the KGB, a ring of male prostitutes, and a vampire sex cult. Oh well, at least his Wiccan partner, Jen, is back to help him out. If he can just get her to cut back on the practical jokes and the dating advice.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in 2025 Atlanta, this sequel to Hartman's first novel, The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse (2001), features gay detective Drew Parke, his Wiccan partner Jennifer Grey and a large supporting cast of strange people. Like its predecessor, it employs the same irresistible zaniness and wit, multiple viewpoints, high sexual content (both gay and straight) and cheerfully chaotic narrative technique. Jennifer is hired by a young deaf-mute named Skye, who wants to find out whether her boyfriend, Charles Rockland (an actor, and one of five cloned hunks), is cheating on her. Meanwhile, Drew's sidekick and sometime lover, Daniel, is in trouble with the law. In both cases, it turns out that there's extremely nasty blackmail behind the troublemaking what might be called a family feud in real life. Add to this a band of Cherokees trying to get back Georgia, while lurking in the background are dueling televangelists, each with his crop of the ambitious or the thuggish (you expected the devout?), and it's obvious that the author has produced another engagingly weird novel of the near future, satirizing everything he can get his word processor on and doing most of it extremely well. In the absence of conventional narrative, readers can instead enjoy jumping from good part to good part. (Nov.)nominated for a Lambda Award in both the mystery and SF/fantasy categories.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Keith grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, which in addition to being "Rocket City USA" also has the distinction of being one of the few cities in America ever captured by a Russian general. (Or so the story goes. Alot of really odd things happened during the Civil War.) He graduated from Princeton University, then went on to study at the London School of Economics, then started a PhD in Finance at Duke University. Sometime around his third year of the finance program, he realized that he really didn't want to spend the rest of his life teaching MBA's how to screw each other, and ran away to become a writer.

His first book was Congregations in Conflict, an examination of nine different churches and how they dealt with the issue of homosexuality, sometimes in surprising ways--like the Southern Baptist Church which voted to marry two gay men, the order of seventy year old celibate monks who all came out of the closet together , and the Black Catholic church which expelled its gay organization in order to be more "inclusive". The book was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, and Keith appeared as a guest on NPR's Talk of the Nation in conjunction with it.

His second book, The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse is one of those novels that really confuses book store owners, because they can never figure out which section of the shop to put it in. The critics have alternately described it as science fiction, mystery, social commentary, magic realism, and even a coming of age story. It won two Spectrum Awards for science fiction, was picked as one of the "Eight Best Mysteries of 1999" by The Drood Review of Mysteries, and was a double nominee for the Lambda Literary Awards in the "Men's Mystery"and "Science Fiction / Fantasy" categories.

Over the years, he's also choreographed dance pieces, written and acted in radio dramas, worked as a theater critic, and even spent a couple of years performing with the Princeton Mime Company. Keith currently lives in West Hollywood with his boyfriend Scott and his cat Urvashi, named after a Hindu Goddess whose principal duties consist of lounging around and letting the world admire her beauty. His hobbies include juggling, RPG's, and falling down in interesting ways.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Meisha Merlin Publishing, Inc. (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189206524X
• ISBN-13: 978-1892065247
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,618,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Keith Hartman grew up in Huntsville Alabama, where he was a weird little boy who didn't fit in. He went to Princeton University, where he was supposed to study economics and instead blew all his time on theater courses. He then started a PhD in Finance at Duke, before realizing that he just couldn't spend the rest of his life teaching MBA's how to screw each other. So he ran away to be a writer.

His parents were thrilled.

He sold his first short story to a tiny magazine that went out of business, and his first book to Rutgers University, which did not.

He moved to Los Angeles a few years ago to direct low budget movies. It turns out that everyone in Hollywood is stark raving mad.

And Keith fits right in.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, September 23, 2001

By 

S. Coit "readeroffantasy" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gumshoe Gorilla (Paperback)

The year is 2025. Scientists have discovered the gene for homosexuality, the Cherokee are suing the US government for their rights to large tracts of Georgia (with China's support) and the Baptist News Network is struggling to survive in the face of Reverend Stonewall's infamy. Keith Hartman paints a remarkably plausible picture of the United States 24 years in the future, full of humanity and rife with startling glimpses of humor. Gay private eye Drew Parker and his Wiccan partner Jen Grey are hired by Skye Phillips, the Plot Coordinator of the hit show Czechmates. Skye wants to know what her boyfriend, the hunk movie star Charles Rockland, is up to. Although she fears she won't like the answer, she is more afraid that he is in trouble over his head. Meanwhile, Drew's old friend Daniel believes he has met the love of his life in the shadowy character of Vincent Jett. While _Gumshoe Gorilla_ lacks some of the brilliance of his first book, _The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse_, it is nevertheless a very good book. First, it's a well-written mystery that kept me guessing to the very end. Second, it's a fascinating view of things to come if current trends continue in American society. This book contains very little violence. It has "adult situations" but they aren't explicit. While this book is a sequel to _The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse_, it does not contain all of the same characters and can function as a stand-alone novel. It also leaves some plot lines open, so there will probably be another book to follow.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, entertaining, book!, May 20, 2002

By 

jen__b "jen__b" (Atlanta, Ga USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gumshoe Gorilla (Paperback)

I read this book in about 2 days. It's a good, fast read. The plot moves quickly and the character development is just enough to make you really like them. There are some parts of the book that touch on some deep, intense subjects, such as testing for a gay gene, and political/religious ethics. I like the fact that the author doesnt spell everything out. He assumes the reader is of average intelligence and can put 2 and 2 together. Although the mysteries arent that hard to figure out, the fun is in how the characters deal with them. My favorite character is "Jen" the witch. Not just b/c we share names... but she is Wiccan and has a wicked sense of humor. I would love to see a book just about her. My ONLY complaint is that some of the story lines were left hanging at the end of the book. Maybe that was on purpose to pursue them in the next book. I am definately doubling back to read his first book, The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Many Clones Does It Take to Play a Part?, April 30, 2002

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gumshoe Gorilla (Paperback)

When momma had the idea of cloning five children from the cells of a well-known actor, she knew exactly what she was doing. In 2025, the Rockland Brothers are hot property, especially since they make it possible to film five scenes at once. This is important when the average television show must be instantly available at all levels of sex and violence. So when Skye Phillips shows up in the offices of private investigators Drew Parker and Jen Gray worried about some 'trouble' that Charles Rockland may have become involved in, it gets their attention. Soon Jen is on the set posing as an acting intern and Drew is digging up trouble in the background.

Drew has another problem. Daniel, a not even slightly reformed prostitute and good friend has started to use drugs and has gotten into serious trouble. He has become entangled in a relationship that seems to be leading him into places even weird people shouldn't go. Drew is more than a little worried, especially when he finds that some of Daniel's new friends have a strong taste for fresh blood. Between the brothers Rockland and Daniel Drew is getting very little sleep. Just to make things a bit more complicated Drew finds himself nursing a two-week-old kitten and arguing with the Cherokee Nation.

This is a complicated tale that never unravels, full of a rich stew of ideas of what can happen in the future with only a few twists. Witchcraft works and large gaps divide the various religious segments of the population. Fundamentalists have their own schools and cry out publicly about the International Satanic Conspiracy. Homosexuality has gained general acceptance, but the ability to test for the gene involved has had major social repercussions, which add much of the punch to the story line of the 'Gumshoe Gorilla.' If you like science fiction, fantasy and mystery in a heady concoction with a good dose of tongue-in-cheek social commentary, Keith Hartman is the author for you.

Hartman manages his story by telling it from multiple viewpoints. Unlike 'The Gumshoe, the Witch & the Virtual Corpse,' where no one was in charge, Parker and Gray are clearly the stars. But expect to see the action from the viewpoints of most of the rest of the caste, both victim and bad guy. Normally I do not like this style of writing, but Hartman manages to make it work, building great rapport between the reader and the characters. Occasionally things get confusing, but no worse than it must be like to live in Hartman's novel new world.