Editorial Review

The good news is that Henry Rios, the hero of several of Michael Nava'searlier thrillers (Read more

Reviews (17)

A Great Ending to A Great Series
I think Michael Nava's Henry Rios books constitute by far the finest gay mystery series extant.I held on to this book for two years before reading it simply because I didn't want the series to end.I began reading with trepidation and sadness but Nava has done a masterful job of wrapping things up by giving Henry so many new beginnings.It's not much of a mystery -- you'll figure it out before Henry does -- but it is well written and believable.As a lawyer who has never done a criminal proceeding, I've appreciated Nava's insights into the law.And he approaches all aspects of his characters in the same methodical way.Thanks Michael for all the joy you've given to so many.Henry Rios is gone and I can accept that but I hope that you will reconsider your decision to not write another mystery.

Compelling and absorbing!
I am very disappointed that this is the last of a captivating series. Rag and Bone is a wonderful book. It is powerful, emotionally charged, riveting and deeply touching. I am glad that there is a silver lining for Rios. However why must Mr Nava ends there. I hope he will change his mind and continue to develop his amazing protagonist's life.

I Demand More!
I pray that this is truly not the end of the Henry Rios series.If, sadly, this indeed the case, Nava offers his hero and his readers a credible ending to a phenomenal series.After gay attorney Henry Rios suffers a heart attack, he is paid a visit by his estranged sister, Elena.As the two recall their violent childhoods, they slowly being to rebuild the relationship that ended when they were still children.After revealing painfuls secrets to each other, Henry is shocked when his sister reveals that she had a child while she was in college and gave her up for adoption.Desperate and ashamed, Elena prays her daughter will attempt to contact her.Read more

Subjects:  1. American Mystery & Suspense Fiction    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    4. Gay    5. Gay men    6. Legal    7. Los Angeles (Calif.)    8. Mexican Americans    9. Mystery & Detective - General    10. Mystery & Detective - Series    11. Mystery/Suspense    12. Rios, Henry (Fictitious charac    13. Rios, Henry (Fictitious character)   

Reviews (6)

only dead egotistical morons will finish this book
This book goes downhill from the title. Besides some amazingly convoluted, ungrammatical sentences, the actual dialogue is unbelievable, the characters are one-dimensional and the plot attenuated.
A Fun Premise Turned Into A Tedious Exercise
Zurbo came highly recommended to me, but after reading Morons I can't imagine why. The characters are prefabricated and flat, with no appeal; the actual clues to the killer are nonexistent; and the book ends with a fizzle that somehow manages to be almost as tedious and unbelievable as it is out of nowhere... like maybe a quota of words had been met to fulfill a publisher's contract so an end was tacked on. The only thing I can imagine duller than reading this is the actual writing of it, since it doesn't even approach the couch potato equivalent of a creative exercise.

Mildly entertaining at best.....
....amusingly mediocre at worst.There was nothing special about this book, nothing to really hold my attention.The author's physical descriptions of the boys in the band made it seem like several of the boys were skinny little nerds who would never in a million years be members of a wildly popular singing group.Also, his overuse of the word "screwed" really annoyed me.If all Mr. Zubro's books are like this, I won't be reading any more of him. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American Mystery & Suspense Fiction    2. Chicago    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    5. Gay police officers    6. Illinois    7. Mystery & Detective - General    8. Mystery/Suspense    9. Police    10. Turner, Paul (Fictitious chara    11. Turner, Paul (Fictitious character)    12. Crime & mystery   

Reviews (1)

Small Gathering offers most genuine view of Jamaica Gay life
"A Small Gathering of Bones" offers one of the most genuinerenderings of Gay life in the Caribbean in print. It shows with refreshingaccuracy the spaces Gay men have created within Jamaican society as well astheir challenges. Powell's writing creates surprising and intimate texturesof male life. "Small Gathering" gives the lie to many stereotypesof Gay life in Jamaica and the Caribbean. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. AIDS (Disease)    2. Caribbean Novel And Short Story In English    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    5. Gay men    6. General    7. Jamaica    8. Mystery & Detective - General    9. Patients    10. Popular English Fiction    11. Caribbean islands    12. English    13. Fiction / General    14. Literature: Special Interest    15. Modern fiction   

Reviews (2)

Sexier Than Brandstetter, Darn Near as Good
I wouldn't dream of reviewing Mr. Hansen, since he's an idol of mine, but I will add this note: From a Gay point of view, 'Pretty Boy Dead' is a lot sexier than the Dave Brandstetter books the author is justly famous for. It's hardly X-rated, so non-Gay readers will enjoy it too, but it is more explicit; to me that made it surprising, fun, even hot, since I came to this book after discovering 'A Smile in His Lifetime' and then the Brandstetter series. 'Pretty Boy' is clearly a transition book for the author; he begins to feel his power here, he knows he's on the right track. Readers who love Brandstetter but haven't read this one, buy it. Enjoy it. Devour it. When you're done you'll appreciate even more one of the great mystery writers of all time. You'll be ready to click on All Books by Joseph Hansen, because his non-mysteries are quiet works of art.

HANSEN IS, AS HANSEN DOES.
I love this book.Originally published as KNOWN HOMOSEXUAL, then STRANGER TO HIMSELF, PRETTY BOY DEAD was Hansen's first mystery novel, written under the pseudonym of James Colton.This is everything a mystery novel should be.Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. Gay    4. Mystery & Detective - General    5. Mystery/Suspense    6. Popular American Fiction    7. Modern fiction   

Reviews (1)

Light reading page turning mystery novel
Not the greatest or most suprising mystery novel ever written but a good follow up to the first novel. Potrays the gay community in a much more favorable light than the media usually conveys to the general public. As acollege teacher I introduced it to my English Literature class and waspleasantly surprised. It opened up a discussion on homosexuality for thesestudents, I believe, that they had never dwelled on before. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    3. Gay    4. Mystery & Detective - General    5. Mystery/Suspense    6. Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General   

Subjects:  1. Brandstetter, Dave (Fictitious    2. Brandstetter, Dave (Fictitious character)    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    5. Gay men    6. Mystery & Detective - General    7. Mystery & Detective - Hard-Boiled    8. Mystery/Suspense    9. Private investigators    10. United States   

Reviews (1)

PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME
I am going to break this to potential readers gently.This is a patheticstory and a tired, frayed cliche.Don't waste your time.Read more

Subjects:  1. Mystery & Detective - General    2. Boston (Mass.)    3. Detective and mystery stories    4. Fiction    5. Gay men    6. Lovelace, Clarisse (Fictitious character)    7. Valentine, Dan (Fictitious character)    8. Mystery/Suspense    9. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective   

Reviews (1)

Surprisingly Good -- Great Beach Reading
Donald Ward is a master of capturing oddball characters in hilarious snapshots. Arnie, a six-foot-six body-building truck driver who listens to La Boheme on his stereo and suspects that if only Mimi had known about proper nutrition and jogging she would be "skipping around" today, arrives home from a trip to Vancouver to discover that his lover Bobbie has been viciously murdured.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    3. Gay men    4. Mystery & Detective - General    5. Mystery/Suspense   

Reviews (6)

'Sweeper' a Mess
The whole time I was reading "The Chimney Sweeper" I found myself wishing John Peyton Cooke had just gone ahead and wrote the gay porno novel he's obviously itching to write. As it is, we're kept well apprised of main character Jesse James Colson's physical attributes, his genitalia in particular. Still, I was willing to suspend disbelief. But when Jesse improbably becomes a policeman and manages to get his police blues in cotton rather than the standard issue polyester by feigning an allergy to man-made fiber, I stopped even trying to take this book seriously. (Cooke takes it further by having Jesse alter his uniforms so they accentuate his Tom of Finland bod.) "The Chimney Sweeper" does have a compelling story, and I kept reading despite its increasing ridiculousness with each chapter. Compared to Cooke's far-superior novel "Torsos," "Sweeper" is a mess.

Improbable, downbeat read
While this story has some interesting plot twists and good discription of time and place, it's too improbable to become all that compelling.It involves a former teenage runaway who becomes a homeless hood committing street crimes, then becomes a police officer in a fictional Wisconsin city (apparently, a combination of Milwaukee and Madison).People with backgrounds like that don't become policemen.In fact, most have college degrees in law enforcement and/or criminal justice, and have to go through the police acedemy.And that's just the most glaring example.There are too many lapses of logic for me to reccomend this book.

Cool book!Fun read with a bittersweet ending
This book is interesting in that it is told from a straight man's point of view ....for a while.Both exciting and engaging, The Chimney Sweeper is a murder mystery that revels in its reverse format.It's not the greatest book you'll ever read, but it is really a fabulously enjoyable one. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American Mystery & Suspense Fiction    2. Criminals    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Psychological Suspense    5. Gay men    6. Mystery/Suspense    7. Police    8. Psychological    9. Wisconsin   

Reviews (4)

Very enjoyable.
I've enjoyed this series....it's fun and amusing.It's not great plotting (a little baroque and over-blown), but the characters carried me through.Worth a look.

Candy Factory Fun
This was my first reading of a Grant Michaels mystery, but I'm ready for more!His hero, hair dresser Stan Kraychick, is known as Vannos when he works at Snips, but when he's out catching murderers, he's just plain good!Great characters, enough tension to keep me reading, and guessing whokilled who!

A great murder mystery on par with Sue Grafton's A-Z series
Grant Michaels knows how to write the murder mystery.His "Nancy Drew" character, Stan is someone you can admire and respect, even if you don't normally go for the hair dresser type (whatever that is).Stan breaks down the stereotypes and does a fair job at determining the facts.Of course, solving the mystery and staying alive are mostly a matter of luck.For anyone who is a murder mystery fan, I'd recommend it.Since this is a gay novel there is one fairly explicit sexual situation but it's well done and very well placed and the book wouldn't be the same without it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Beauty operators    2. Chocolate industry    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    5. Gay    6. Kraychik, Stan (Fictitious cha    7. Kraychik, Stan (Fictitious character)    8. Mystery & Detective - General    9. Mystery & Detective - Series    10. Mystery/Suspense    11. Valentine's Day    12. Crime & mystery   

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. Gay    4. Literary    5. Movie-TV Tie-In - General    6. Mystery/Suspense    7. Popular English Fiction    8. Fiction / Literary   

Reviews (1)

toujours gai archy
This is one of my all time favorite "gay mysteries."I'm not even exactly sure why, because by the end, what with the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. and the K.G.B., the plot does seem to have taken a sharp detour and sped right off the edge of the map.Still there is something classic about THE NIGHT G.A.A. DIED.Read more

Subjects:  1. American Mystery & Suspense Fiction    2. Detective and mystery stories    3. Fiction    4. Gay liberation movement    5. Gay men    6. Mystery/Suspense    7. Private investigators   

Reviews (1)

Anybody need a good HR man?
Dave Brandstetter is a smart-ass insurance investigator trying to solve a mystery: a born-again preacher trashes a local porno store and is later found murdered. Dave suspects the store owner; it seems a logical starting place. During his investigation he wisecracks through the usual list of reluctant witnesses--but something is different here. Dave never gets slugged for his smart mouth or his pushy ways. All the traditional detectives always get slugged. Instead, these witnesses open up, bare their souls willingly in deep, meaningful disclosures. What remarkable, persuasive quality does Dave have that I've missed in the dialog? And something else, too. Dave meets lots of syrupy females, but he never makes a pass. It's they who broadcast the sexual bait. Does he have a subliminal respect that dames can detect but I can't? Isn't this unusual for a private dick; or am I misreading all this? I've got a nervous feeling about Dave and this book. The story is tepid, at least in the first third of the book. Lots of internalizing, lots of feelings, not very much external action. But then, as Dave is grilling steaks on page 69 (coincidence?) I get my answer. Dave's gay! No wonder his car's been repossessed by his insurance company. No wonder he had problems with his dad. No wonder those dames--never mind. Somehow, though there was a lot of possibility ahead for lurid sex scenes on the set of porno flicks, and maybe a chance for personal enlightenment, I just couldn't maintain my interest in the adventures of an independently-wealthy gay insurance investigator. Call me a bigot, call me tradition-bound; I admit it. I just didn't feel like swallowing another hidden agenda disguised as a novel. Maybe you'll feel different. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Brandstetter, Dave (Fictitious    2. Brandstetter, Dave (Fictitious character)    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - General    5. Gay men    6. Mystery & Detective - General    7. Mystery/Suspense    8. Private investigators    9. United States    10. Modern fiction   

Subjects:  1. American Mystery & Suspense Fiction    2. California    3. Daniel, Victor (Fictitious character)    4. Fiction    5. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    6. Gay    7. Los Angeles    8. Los Angeles (Calif.)    9. Mystery & Detective - General    10. Mystery/Suspense    11. Private investigators   

Reviews (3)

An Erotic Thriller
Obi's Feast of Peonies opens with its main character, Ashanti Ra caught in a very compromising position.He wakes up in bed with Phyllis, a Latino drag queen that he met at a club.Phyllis easily entices Ashanti to have intercourse with him.This begins a very fast pace ride in the lives of these characters.
A Feast of Peonies
In A FEAST OF PEONIES, author Obi created a memorable tale of sex, deceit, violence, and intrigue. As the reader, you were taken on a roller-coaster ride that was the life, loves and sexual escapades of one Ashanti Ra. Ashanti, an intelligent, successful man, found himself torn between two lovers, a female lawyer and a drag queen by the name of Phyllis, whom he woke next to one morning after a drunken one night stand. As Ashanti struggled with forbidden desires and a jealous lover, the unthinkable occurred, making his life even more complicated. sex, philosophy and the devil
I read the book, yes the whole book, the same night. I didn't think the sex was that weird or freaky or overwhelming to the book. I really didn't think that sex was the point. I more got the philosophy deal. I loved the parts of the book where Obi wrote about what i'm sure were parts of his own childhood on the south side of Chicago.Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction - General    2. Gay    3. Mystery/Suspense    4. General & Literary Fiction   

Subjects:  1. Espionage/Intrigue    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - Espionage / Thriller    4. Gay    5. Mystery & Detective - General    6. Reading materials    7. Spanish language    8. Spanish: Adult Fiction   

Subjects:  1. Fiction - Romance    2. Fiction / Gay    3. Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General    4. Thrillers    5. Conspiracies    6. Fiction    7. Gay    8. Murder    9. Mystery & Detective - General    10. Pilots and pilotage   

Reviews (3)

A perfect lazy day weekend book
It all started when I was persuing books in the airport bookstore when I came across the title, "Death Wore a Fabulous New Fragrance."I pulled it out and did a quick thumb-through when I heard my flight's boarding call.Having found nothing else that even came close to piquing my interest, I paid for the book and ran to catch my flight.For the next two hours, I was grinning, laughing, and having a grand time with two of the most imaginative characters in the most glamourous of situations to the point that *I* was jealous of them.Yeah, yeah, they're fictional characters but the panache they pull off when ordering Bombay Sapphire Gin Martinis....buy this book, make a pitcher of Bombay Sapphire Gin Martinis (or Long Island Iced Teas) and lose yourself in this book.I *dare* you to read between the lines on some of these characters!I know I did and it made it all that much more enjoyable!

This is a great sunny afternoon iced tea drinking book.
I really enjoyed this book for several reasons.First, I had read Mr. Outland's first mystery book and enjoyed it thouroughly.Second, it was fun trying to figure out who the famous people in the book he was talkingabout were (some I could, some I am STILL trying to figure out).Lastly, Ireally enjoy Mr. Outland's style of writing.It is very easy to read, andthe dialogue is fun, and timely. Thanks, and I can't wait for the next inthe series! Jenny

Outland has a style all his own we should be glad of it
Socially vacant people would take one look baby Binky van de Kamp and homosexual Doan McChandler and stereotype the pair as a drag queen and a fag.Anyone who gets to know them, quickly realizes that they are just two people who prefer to live the high life to the fullest, but do not have the cash to do so in an orthodox manner.The unusual ideas this pair uses to maintain their current lifestyle is ludicrous.Still they would go the extra mile for a friend in need (hopefully finding cash on the way). Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    2. Gay    3. Mystery & Detective - Series    4. Mystery/Suspense   

Reviews (14)

First Rate
Wow!This book is a real treat---the reader embarks on the plot in very much the same way as he/she would enter a room and observe its inhabitants; by catching glimpses ofthe conversations and attempting to draw meaning from the actions.The Caesar dance studio is a full blooded organism--throbbing with the people who make it work--each of these people have lives--many lives which are disclosed partly but mostly are kept private--very much like our own.As the "new kid on the block", the reader is allowed to let all the impressions sink in and actually speculate, as does Inspector Terry, the police detective called on the job when the Caesar's lead dancer is discovered missing right before a key performance. Highly recommended
When a beautiful dancer disappears, everyone becomes suspect. The reader follows along, incredulous, as Jessica spends days manicled to a bed in her parent's abandoned house, and suffers with her the fear of losing the gift of life in the dance. For without the ability to dance, Jessica has no life. The evolution of this character in contrast to the diminishing sanity of her captor keeps the reader on edge until the last page. A great debut!
Christine Spindler's introduction of British Inspector Terry is well done. Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    3. Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General    4. Mystery & Detective - General    5. Gay men    6. Mystery and detective stories    7. Tap dancing   

Reviews (2)

Murders in Paradise !!
Set in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, the Mid-Atlantic's answer to Fire Island and Provincetown, this gay mystery is a truly great read. Gay Rehoboth is exposed for all of the sexually competitive, fun loving, over-indulgent place that it is, while simultaneously, a dark and quirky mystery takes place amidist the sex and sand.One by one, gay men are dying mysteriously, and there seems to be no common theme or thread to link the deaths.Dr. Fox, a new Medical Examiner for the area is faced with having to solve the mystery with a police chief who is forced to look beyond the obvious.Fast paced and gritty, the novel alternately exposes the reader to the sexual activities of a series of gay men, and the inner workings of a Medical Examiner's office. THIS IS A VERY GOOD READ.Don't miss it.

Great Beach Read
If you have ever been immersed in the gay beach scene, this isthe summer book for you!Funny, sexy, and tragic -- just like reallife (almost).The complex story of a newcomer to the beach moves along swiftly to its ... end, but in the meantime there are hilarious one liners that will be used on the boardwalk for years to come.A perfect companion for your beach bag. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthologies (multiple authors)    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    4. Gay    5. Mystery & Detective - General    6. Crime & mystery