Customer Reviews

One Dead Drag Queen: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Stonewall Inn Mysteries)

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They have been a happily married, faithful couple for years. Scott Carpenter is a well-known professional baseball pitcher while his spouse Tom Mason is an English teacher. They hid their sexual preference and their relationship out of fear for their careers, especially the athletic Scott. However, unable to hide any longer, they reveal their relationship to the world and to their sock and joy, most everyone supports them.

Tom and Scott begin to openly support gay rights, but soon become symbols and targets of the opponents. Things begin to turn ugly forcing Scott to hire bodyguards. Scott assumed that he, being the more public figure, would be the target if tragedy struck. Instead, while Tom is at the Human Services Clinic, a series of bombs go off destroying a whole block, killing many people. Tom is lucky to survive, but is badly injured. Scott wonders if Tom ultimately was the target. He begins his own investigation that will lead to a dangerous person with a deadly goal who will do anything to attain it.

ONE DEAD DRAG QUEEN is as much a relationship drama as it is an amateur sleuth mystery. The tale stars two heroic, realistic males trying to make the world a better place. Mark Richard Zubro has written a mystery inside the mystery. The technique can slow down a story line, but works extremely well in this plot because the author never loses sight of the main theme and ties the subplot back to it. By providing color and insight, the secondary characters are vital to the beat of the tale and lead to a special treat for readers.

Harriet Klausner

I liked the idea that Zubro shifted the focus of this novel from Tom, ex-marine superman, to Scott, the "sidekick". Unfortunately the plot in which Zubro involves Scott on his first outing (no pun intended) is rather weak when compared to previous novels ("Why Isn't Becky Twitchell Dead?" is one of my favorites). A good read for fans of the series, but it needed more meat. I am not sure if the subject (the bombing) was thought to be too sensitive for a real murder mystery; if that was the advice given to Zubro, he shouldn't have heeded it, because it provides a sub-par novel.

I just finished the novel. This is the first Tom and Scott novel I have read. I was a bit disappointed with the novel because there was not enough gay drama and fun about the novel. It might as well have been about straight characters. Tom and Scott might as well be a straight couple as they are so Victoria and Albert, with a relationship not a bit strained by anything. It's too good to be believable. And the plot - I guessed who the culprit was going to be long before the end of the story. And since the title mentions a drag queen I expected more of a story based on the lives of drag queens and what they do and how they live. This was a very unusual drag queen who seemed to live the life of an Arab sheik in Chicago. I wanted more normal, everyday drag queens and lots of them. In any case, I thought the story was well written but just not exciting enough and not enough drag queen stuff. This is only my opinion and you should read other reviews before deciding.

There's a bombing downtown and Tom is one of the victims. His lover Scott is frantic and begins his own investigation into the catastrophe. Was it random, or aimed at the clinic where Tom was volunteering, or was it aimed at Tom himself? After Tom wakes from a coma, the duo find even more clues pointing in many directions. And when a drag queen friend of Tom's is killed, they know they're targets themselves. The plot is action-packed and hardly gives the reader time to breathe, and yet I never felt involved in the story. Of course, this is the first Zubro I've read, so that's part of it, but each book in a series ought to bring the reader into the series and entice. The solving of the bombings and murder was well crafted and believable, and Zubro certainly is a great writer. This just may not be his best overall, so.