Book Bingo March 2021

Romance: One Night in Boukos by A. J. Demas [e-book]. This author was recommended by ancientreader, and I really enjoyed it. It’s set in a fictious, ancient Mediterranean world. Two men, a guard and a eunuch who are part of a diplomatic entourage in a foreign country, lose their ambassador on a festival night, so they wander through the place looking for him and fall in love with two locals. One is a m/f romance and one is a m/m romance. I am looking forward AB (after bingo) to reading two more of her books, which are set in the same world and involve a warrior and a eunuch. Romance with eunuchs is a new one to me, but I like it!

Historical (fiction/nonfiction): Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March [audiobook, 16 hours, narrated by Vikas Adam]. I chose this because of the narrator whose voice I enjoyed reading in KJ Charles' Unfit to Print. It’s set in 1892 Bombay. The main character Jim Agnihotri likes Sherlock Holmes stories and receives A Sign of Four at the start. He reads of a mystery in the newspaper and decides to do some sleuthing himself. I liked the mystery and Indian history part of it. I did not like the romance (m/f) and the family drama. Jim is an orphan and winds up taking care of five kids lost during fighting and falls in love with the family for whom he’s solving the mystery. I could’ve done without all that.

LBGTQ Author: Vermilion by Nathan Aldyne [e-book]. Nathan Aldyne was a pseudonym of Michael McDowell and Dennis Schuetz. Both died in the late ‘80’s and late 90’s. McDowell, at least, officially from AIDS-related symptoms. He is best known for writing the screenplay of Beetlejuice.

This is a wonderful book, and AB I plan to read the other three in series. This is an old-fashioned mystery with clues and all the trappings but set in the gay community of Boston during the 1970’s, pre-AIDS. The amateur detectives are a gay bartender named Daniel Valentine and his straight female friend Clarisse Lovelace who is a real estate agent. From the first chapter, I kept asking myself ‘This is fic. Why do I think this is fic? Because there are so many gay people in it!’ Daniel and Clarisse investigate the murder of a young hustler. There is everyone and everywhere: hustlers, drag queens, lumberjacks, professors with young live-in lover/houseboys, homophobic bigoted cops and politicians, kinky S&M couple prostitutes, bars, bathhouses, gyms, all of it. One summary said for people who like Nick and Nora Charles. Well, that’s me. But it’s very gay but because there’s so much gay (not just one token) it feels more realistic but still fun. And all the titles are colours.

Collection/Anthology: Murder in the Manor, edited by Martin Edwards [e-book]. This is from the British Library Crime Classics series. Lots of fun country house murders and only one, Copper Beeches, that I’d read before. I liked the one by Anthony Berkley best.

( Full list )