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A homophobic candidate elected to government. The reintroduction of anti-homosexual legislation. A rash of what appears to be gay-hate crimes. . . . The American publication of this Australian murder mystery (published there in 2000) could not be more timely. Only a tax proposed by the New South Wales premier of "a special levy on those antifamily groups and organizations which fall outside the accepted norm" has not been bruited in the U S -- or at least I don't think so. MARDI GRAS MURDERS is the third, and apparently the last, in a series featuring Marc Petrucci, a 50-year-old Italian-born opera lover, and his comrade Paul Silverton, a musical comedy gypsy in his mid 20s. Having successfully solved the murders in the earlier cases -- ONE DEAD DIVA, 1995, and the somewhat weaker GAY RESORT MURDER SHOCK, 1998 (both republished by Alyson Books, 2003) -- Marc, egged on by Paul, is ready to tackle the mystery of a dead and bandaged body that has been discovered in the gay cruising area of a Sydney park. The novel is simultaneously the funniest and the most serious of the three, and by far the best. Paul is always droll. But the special pleasure the series offers is having as its narrator and hero an older but still lusty man: someone who is not a gym bunny but keeps fit enough to attract other men, young and old; someone who cannot hold his alcohol (one of the laugh-out-loud scenes involves Marc's inadvertently getting drunk at a whisky tasting); someone who, according to Paul, badly needs a queer eye for the queer guy; someone who transforms the stereotype of the opera queen into a real and quite likable person. In their latest outing, Paul has taken advantage of his newly acquired fame (from his part in solving the second case) to move into television. He becomes one of the hosts for "a weekly infotainment lifestyle program" as well as the writer for a related advice column, 'Get Over It!' (the novel's Australian title). He arranges to have Marc hired as his assistant. Paul proposes that Marc ghostwrite the column and use the station's resources to solve the murder. At the same time the gay community is faced with a car salesman, newly elected to the state parliament, who does not waste a moment to attack gays. "The tenor of [his] speech rang alarm bells, even for under-politicized me," Marc tells us. "Bells I hadn't heard in 20 years." As a result, Marc becomes involved in political demonstrations. A personal complication occurs when his former mate breaks up with his current partner and throws himself on Marc's hospitality. In the course of the novel the reader gets glimpses of Australian television and of gay bars, restaurants, and a social center in Sydney; a satirical and quite comical view of an S/M group; a sympathetic look at gay politics (though Marc cannot abide a strident lesbian who runs for office); and a short visit to the rural gay and lesbian scene around Adelaide. What one does not get is a sense of Mardi Gras, the only event described being a rural church's parade. Hence, the American title, though more catchy, is somewhat misleading. The novel was lightly revised (and some typos introduced) for its US readers, but the American slang and allusions were very much part of the original text. One of the pleasures of rereading a skillfully-written mystery comes from observing how the author manages the plot. Scott is scrupulously fair. The revelation of the killer is simultaneously surprising and very satisfying, for the political and the criminal come together at the end. We are also reminded, "Murderers can be locked up -- when and if they're caught -- but politicians are more dangerous and a lot bloody harder to stop." A character in Oscar Wilde says, "In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing." But a work that unites a campy style and high seriousness can have great power. Here, more than in the earlier novels, Scott yokes the two quite effectively.
Reviewed by Drewey Wayne Gunn, August 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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