Synopsis/blurb….
Mr. Global Leather
has been murdered!
In the Grand Sterling
Hotel of Midtown Manhattan, home of the huge annual leather/BDSM/fetish ball
and contest, Mr. & Ms. Global Leather, last year's male winner lies dead on
the floor of his suite, wearing only very frilly, bright yellow panties. Cormac
"Mack" Steel made a lot of enemies in his year wearing the studded
leather sash, not the least being his co-winner Mistress Ravenfyre. But she is
not alone – there are over three thousand attendees at this year's
fetish-festooned event from all over the world, some of whom might have had
some very personal issues with the corpse.
Enter Detective
Rebecca Feldblum of the Midtown East Precinct. Assigned to this doozy of a case
because, as one of NYC's only out lesbian detectives, her Lieutenant seems to
believe these are "her people." Shocked, amazed and alternately
puzzled and amused, Detective Feldblum must navigate a world of doms and subs,
masters and mistresses, pups and trainers, leather, latex and lingerie, and
discover who murdered the late Mack Steel – and hopefully do it before the
weekend is over and everyone goes home. In the process, she will discover more
about the sexual underworld than she ever really wanted to know, and more about
her own past than she could have ever imagined.
Written in the
classic spirit of Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun, The Killer Wore
Leather is both an engaging mystery and a humorous glimpse into the world of
modern, pansexual international leather/BDSM contests and conferences.
Only Laura Antoniou
could write The Killer Wore Leather. In addition to being the author of the
best-selling Marketplace series of erotic novels, she has over 20 years of
experience teaching, speaking to and occasionally skewering the alt-sex
communities around the world.
With a wicked sense of humor, insider information
and a twisted imagination, she crafts a spicy mélange of mystery and mayhem!
The Killer Wore
Leather is a deliciously tongue-in-cheek murder mystery set at a leather
convention, allowing readers into this private world of personalities and
peccadiloes. The kinkiest game of clue ever with a sex toy as the murder weapon
and every leather man and woman lacks an alibi. Cleverly crafted and highly
humorous, Antoniou is at her wicked best in this page turning fetish fest.
Laura is the
best-selling author of the classic BDSM series, THE MARKETPLACE, which has sold
more than 400,000 copies and been translated into 5 languages.
A bit of a trip outside of my comfort zone here with a
previously unread author. Laura Antoniou
is more closely associated with fiction of an adult flavour, but on this
occasion has turned her hand to a murder mystery. So how did we go?
Best book ever? Err……no but not the worst either. If I have
a criticism it would be that it was a bit too clunky, over 400 pages long which
for me was maybe 100 too many. In an effort to display the BDSM community as
normal folk with the same hopes, worries, dreams and insecurities as us “normal”
non-BDSM folk; the book just seemed a bit too busy with perhaps a few too many
peripheral characters given a bit of time in the daylight.
The other major downside was that our victim was a fairly
loathsome individual, so I didn’t particularly feel any emotional investment in
seeing the culprit brought to justice, other than maybe identifying him/her for
the purposes of pinning a medal on their chest!
We had a few likeable individuals which were worth the
admission. The investigative duo; one a New York lesbian detective and the
other a black, single cop hailing from the Deep South formed an intriguing team
and collaborated well to get the job done. Both were interesting, in their own
rights, and as a couple overcoming their initial misconceived perceptions and
prejudices to work together constructively.
A few likely suspects were thrown up as the investigation unfolded,
and it was a decent sideshow having a journalist reporting on the conference,
when she lands in the middle of a head-line grabbing murder. The Christian
right-wing “You’re all going to burn in the fires of Hell, you perverts!”
protestors outside the Global Leather Convention also added a bit of fun to the
mix.
On the whole….. an okay read, not fantastic but I’m not
wishing my time back either.
Would I read more from the author in the future? Hmm,
perhaps – maybe the same detectives in a book two-thirds the length of this
one.
Laura Antoniou
has a website here, if you want to catch up on this or some of her non-mystery
work.
3 from 5
Publishers Cleis
Press were kind enough to provide me a copy for review.
You can find Cleis here.
Col - Thanks as ever for the candor. I know exactly what you mean about a victim who's unpleasant enough that you don't very much care who killed him. And yes, there's always a balance between adding too much detail and not giving the reader enough information. To be honest, I"m probably not going to race to get this one...
ReplyDeleteMargot cheers. Yes - didn't tick all the boxes this time around, but hey hoh .....plenty more on the pile to be read!
DeleteOK, well very interesting to read about, but out of my comfort zone I reckon.
ReplyDeletePlenty of costumes of the leather variété for the blog ........maybe not - you'll offend your typical Guardian reader!
DeleteCol, thanks for the review and a peek at the work of another new writer. A lot of stuff I read is out of my comfort zone although I can't say I have one.
ReplyDeleteI don't regret reading it, but would perhaps struggle to recommend it TBH.
DeleteWell, I did read Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun. And I can see how the comparison could be made. I am currently reading a book that is out of my comfort zone, but not quite as much as this one might be.
ReplyDeleteI like that title I'm going to have to go and look that book up.
DeleteAnything with BIMBO in it deserves a closer look......I'm kind of picturing a cover with a couple of surgically enhanced bikini-clad babes.......I might be reading this before the week's out!