Dungeons and Dragqueens: A Tony Allegro Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Jackie Collins - Watch Out!
Review: An awesome first book in the new Tony Allegro Mystery Series. A breath of fresh air from the traditional mystery with suprisingly realistic and humorous characters that anyone can relate to or has in his/her life. The book appeals to all sexual predferences as the issues intermingled in the plot can be identified by all, such as the trials and tribulations of dating, finding the perfect mate, job stress, codependency and much more all wrapped into a gender-bending experience surrounding the doomed Miss Gay Royale Pageant held in South Beach each Halloween. With the cast of zany characters, gay people will appreciate them as well as straight people will gain a bird's eye view into the offbeat world of drag and mayhem. This will be a cult classic.

Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: Finally a funny and thoroughly entertaining read with hilarious characters amid the backdrop of South Beach. I can't wait for the sequel!

Rating:
Summary: A total flop
Review: I thought this would be a fun book as I generally love mysteries set in [...] culture. But there wasn't a single believable character in this melange of bad writing, absurd plot points and unlikely events. This book is a disaster. And "A Tony Allegro mystery"? I think not. He disappears in the first chapter and doesn't surface again until the end. Don't waste your money on this stinker.

Rating:
Summary: Bury This Puppy in the Dungeon!!!!!!
Review: I want to start this review by stating emphatically, that I was sure I was going to love this novel. After reading the promotional material and a few reviews, I was certain this book would be a riot. It had drag queens fighting over a pageant title, it was set in swinging South Beach, and it was supposed to have loads of campy situations all packaged in a nifty murder mystery. I thought, WOW...drag, camp, and murder, three of my favorite ingredients for a festive read, how can I
lose? I ordered it toot sweet.

I just finished the book, and I have only one word to describe it. Ghastly! Have you ever watched an old Ed Wood's movie like GLENN OR GLENDA or an early, John Water's film, say DESPERATE LIVING? Remember how absolutely vile they were? As much as you wanted to like them, because they were exploring subjects in a way that had never been tried before, using drag queens and attempting high camp, you had to admit, by the time the final credits rolled, they were totally amateurish and awful. Well, DUNGEOUNS AND DRAG QUEENS lands face first into this category of entertainment.

The book is poorly written, and badly plotted. It tries desperately to be clever, but all it manages is garish buffoonery. The author obviously knows nothing about the world of drag, and his sense of camp is embarrassingly non-existent. I had to force myself to finish it as a sort of penance for having been so sinfully wrong in my selection.

The only positive things I can say about this book are that it has a colorful cover, and the opening paragraph (used to promote this mess on internet book sites) is catchy. Way too catchy I'm afraid. I encourage everyone to run, not walk, away from this absolute disaster.