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Chicago detective Paul Turner is a widower raising two sons, 16-year-old Brian and Jeff, who is 11 years old and in a wheelchair. Paul is also gay and out of the closet with a live-in lover. The boys want to go to a very large science fiction convention. It has been discussed. and with supervision by parents, Brian, Jeff and a couple of their friends will be allowed to go. At least one parent will be in the hotel at all times to make sure their kids will be safe. A famous author, Muriam Devers, is the guest of honor. Muriam has written many books and is considered to be kind and generous. When she is discovered dead in her 27th floor suite, Paul and his partner on the force Buck Fenwick start to investigate. Brian was wearing a costume that included a sword. Muriam has been found wearing a Xena costume and with a similar sword in her chest. Apparently, there was more to Muriam than most people realized. Buck and Paul start interviewing people who knew Devers or who had been wearing costumes that included swords (by the way, the swords were supposed not to have been sharpened and to have been affixed to the costume more or less permanently). Muriam was not all sweetness and light as she appeared to her fans. To those behind the scenes, in the publishing and publicity end of her fame, she was a monster, often going behind the back of those who had helped her, bad-mouthing them, and having people fired. There were many people who wished Muriam ill. The picture of Muriam developed by the author seems familiar. We all know someone like her. But the depiction of the other characters, and of the con itself, is less than stellar. The fact that Paul is gay is irrelevant, in this book anyway. We don't have to be struck in the head with a hammer to prove that gay men make good parents, but that is what this book does. In fact, Paul is somewhat overprotective. My daughter went to her first SF convention, in another town from where we were living, at the age of 12. I trusted her to do the right thing and to hang out with her friends. Also, the venue, a science fiction convention, is not well-defined. It is sort of just a background. Zubro goes out of his way to make up outlandish names -- Oona Murkle, Muriam Devers, Brandon Macer. All this takes away from the book. I guess you have to be a die-hard fan of Zubro's work to appreciate this title.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, July 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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