Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
British playwright and drag queen Stars debuts with a witty murder mystery centered on budding London drag star Misty Divine. A fearless glamazon when she's onstage at the legendary Lady's Bar in Soho, Misty reverts to being average Joe Brown by day, working a dreary hotel job and binge-watching crime shows. One night, Misty's mentor, Lady Lady, is poisoned in her dressing room after appearing onstage in a dress believed to have been worn by Judy Garland and valued at nearly a quarter-million pounds. When the police arrive, they're less interested in finding Lady's killer than in determining how the stolen garment made it from a boutique in South Kensington to a drag club. Realizing the cops are unlikely to conduct much more than a perfunctory investigation, Misty resolves to take matters into her own hands, putting her skills as a couch detective to use within the backstabbing world of London drag. With lovable characters, lively dialogue, and dry humor ("It was a Wednesday night, hence the title of the chapter"), Stars concocts a winning formula. It's a glittering good time. Agent: Hayley Steed, Janklow & Nesbit UK. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
DEBUT This first novel by drag artist Stars is a witty, fast-paced cozy mystery that fans of RuPaul's Drag Race will find entertaining. Misty Divine is a 34-year-old drag queen whose mentor is the famous Lady Lady, owner of Lady's Bar, a cabaret club in London's Soho neighborhood. Misty is the one to find Lady Lady dead, having been killed by poisoned chocolates. The detective inspector assigned to the case is disrespectful and clearly biased against Lady Lady, forcing Misty to take the investigation into her own hands. The chapters are short, and the plot moves quickly, while still featuring vividly created characters and taking the time to discuss police bias against LGBTQIA+ people. The novel's depiction of Misty as powerful and headstrong, both in drag and out of drag (where Misty becomes Joe, a shy nonbinary hotel accountant), is particularly well done. Characters span a broad range of ages and include drag kings and nonbinary drag artists alongside the drag queens. VERDICT Stars's drag-themed cozy mystery debut is a must-purchase. Give it to fans of Kitty Murphy, Rob Osler, and Frank Anthony Polito.--Taylor Skorski
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
When the London drag scene loses a queen, her drag daughter works to make sure she can rest in power by solving her murder. Striking drag queen Misty Divine hasn't always been able to skate by on her good looks. Really, she owes a lot of her success to Lady Lady, her mentor and drag mother, who's let her perform at the glamorous cabaret club Lady's Bar for the last five years. Misty lives for these nights in the heart of Soho, while her offstage life as hotel accounts assistant Joe Brown is considerably more humdrum and drama-free. But drama isn't always good, as Misty finds when Lady Lady has an off night of hosting, bumbling where she's always been confident. Could the problem be some sort of fight with club co-owner Mandy White, whom Misty overhears in a surprising tiff with Lady Lady after the show? Before Misty can figure out what might be at the heart of Lady Lady's distraction, she finds her mentor killed by what seems to be poisoned chocolate. Although the distraught Misty expresses her hope to Miles, her partner, that justice will be served, the opposite seems to be the case as the investigation into Lady Lady's death begins. The police insist on referring to the deceased as Sean Fulton and not by her drag name, and Joe sounds like a pretty good suspect to them. Misty's sure that her knowledge of the ins and outs of the drag world will give her a leg up in figuring out what happened, but she doubts that she'll be able to grease the wheels of justice from a jail cell. A series debut that may grow into something really good. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
