Are You Nuts? : A Tom & Scott Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Predictable, but enjoyable
Review: Faithful readers of the Tom & Scott mystery series will find familiar characters and situations -- with a few twists thrown in. I wish there were more twists and less familiarity. In this book, Tom does the sleuthing while Scott gets to decompress from a grueling schedule. His character appears to be nothing more than window dressing in this outing(no pun intended).

Zubro does have on-target descriptions of school staff, administrators, and even board members, but you know who it's all going to end.

It was an enjoyable escapist read for the evening.

Rating:
Summary: Teacher Cat Fight!
Review: If anyone hated high school and relishes the idea of reading a book where stuffy teachers threaten each other, act like children, and commit homicide then give this book a try. I think this book could have been better than it was but as a murder mystery it has the right stuff and I didn't guess who the murderer was (always a bonus)!

Rating:
Summary: NUTCASE #7
Review: One morning in 1989 gay school teacher Tom Mason unlocked his Chicago classroom and opened the door to one of the most successful mystery franchises in gay fiction--the real mystery being the apparent popularity of this implacably mediocre series.

And yet there is much to be said for Zubro's work. His plotting, though predictable, is crisp and clean, a balance of action and analysis, with all loose ends tidily knotted. Through the (currently) eight books of the series--not even counting the Paul Turner series--Zubro worked out a formula which has served him well, although his characters, ex-Viet Nam vet and high school teacher Tom Mason, and southern baseball star Scott Carpenter, never evolve. When we first meet them they have already been a couple for eight years. Scott, we are given to understand, is initially closeted, but it never puts much strain on their relationship. The differences in their personalities are never explored--possibly because there aren't any. The books are written in a passionless, simplistic style ideal for teaching English in ESL courses.

In ARE YOU NUTS?, the seventh book of the series, Tom echoes his 1989 entrance by finding a body in the school library. (No wonder the PTA is in an uproar; it probably has less to do with Tom's orientation than the fact the man is a walking health hazard, an academic Jessica Fletcher trailing death and disgrace in his wake). As usual one of Tom's closest friends and allies (there's still some alive?) is arrested for the murder, and Tom and Scott (Scott, suffering mild depression--and who could blame the guy) set off in flat-footed pursuit, following the blueprint so successfully laid down eleven years earlier.

That, eleven years after Tom Mason stumbles on his first body, there are still very few gay mystery series' probably explains the relative popularity of Zubro's books. It's interesting that this series is published by the Stonewall Inn imprint and Keith Kahla, who recently asked in "Having Our Say" why so many gays seem to have abandoned the written word? Just a clue, Keith, but possibly if publishers offered something a little more substantial in the way of genre fiction, readers might be more interested.

Rating:
Summary: As a mystery, so-so, as a gay affirmative novel, very good
Review: The value of the book as a mystery is pretty average. However, I found, as usual, the portrayal of gay characters very affirming and supportive. Especially good for gay teens or people just coming out.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable amateur sleuth
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Torturous
Review: This is probably the worst book that I have ever read. It is terribly boring. There is nothing in it that people might relate to, or care to. This is a "must skip", unless you're an insomniac looking for a way to fall asleep.