Books: 763

Desert Reunion: A Dante and Jazz Mystery
Michael Craft
Questover Press
$17.99

Dante O’Donnell and Jazz Friendly’s latest caper illustrates the high odds of murder when the wealthy-wealthy gather en famille. Craft rings the changes on motives in Palm Springs and surrounding Ranchos, plausible through Dante’s position as Sunny Junket Vacation Rentals concierge. DNA tests have uncovered a new scion of wealthy Richard Gibb’s family, one Harold Gibkin of Atmos Phuel R&D, seeking a family reunion,(i.e., funds to develop his electricity-from-air machine.) Sudden death of Gibkins’s well-disliked wife points to Dante and Jazz’s aging, exotic friend Zola as the culprit, so they enter the fray. The Gibkins family is gathered, the end is in view, but… Craft slyly pulls the rug out from under reader as well as suspects and … The ball’s in the reader’s court, now. 

The Axeman’s Carnival
Catherine Chidgey
Europa Editions
$18

A tale told by a magpie, signifying…quite a lot, here. Tama, our narrator, experiences life, hunger, need; a pink scrap fallen to earth, scooped up into New Zealand farm wife Marnie’s “pillowed palm,” against the wishes of husband Rob. One might expect a twee talking bird tale, but when Marnie holds fast, asserting, “You owe me,” the atmosphere darkens. Their sheep farm is failing, Rob drinks, vents his anger on Marnie; Tama learns too quickly, talks too much, too often. Rob, for pride must win a tenth consecutive trophy axe in the upcoming Axeman’s Carnival. He’s becoming increasingly jealous of Marnie. Talking Tama is earning money online, outperforming Rob as breadwinner. The scorched land, its dying grasses, their withering hopes–all fuel for the flame.

Sugar-Baby Bridge: A Gay Marine’s Story I
Brett Edward Stout
Breur Media
$24.95

It’s 2001, Brad is 21, just out of his Marine posting on the tropical paradise of Mau’i, flies free for a weekend in San Francisco. This first of a projected trilogy opens in the dingy Detour. Brad orders milk, and waits… (Back in rural Ohio, he hadn’t been popular with beer-drinking peers.) Wiping the frosted mug dry, he inspects the bar for dampness or stickiness, sets the mug down. He waits, is approached. “I’m Ron,” says a clean-cut, khaki-shorts-and-polo-shirt stranger, setting off the book’s action. They go to Ron’s place, an empty apartment (which Ron owns, along with the building.) They have sex (not the main thrust of the novels) set off in the morning–after Ron buys a new Mercedes SUV to replace one he’d dinged. “You drive,” says Ron handing over keys to Brad, who has no license. They proceed from nautical rich to landed richer around Lake Tahoe, Ron buying Brad clothes and food as necessary. They visit Ron’s married sister and other, ever grander, repositories of wealth, then return.

Semper Civilian: A Gay Marine’s Story II
Brett Edward Stout
Breur Media
$29.95

Returned to Hawaii, Brad, now solo, has a landlord he’s avoiding and gay friends not answering his calls phone. Sober, broke, but tidy. (“I worried that his groping would wrinkle my freshly-ironed shirt.”) Entering a Gay Bachelor (charity) Auction at Hula’s, he doesn’t receive highest bid, but does meet Danny, a gossip columnist who knows everyone in the local arts scene, who can open doors for whom. Older, lives with parents, Brad doesn’t return Danny’s interest, but allows him to chauffeur him about, pay for food, cover tickets, and introduce him into society. Brad also gives his number to a pair of bearded daddies in a rest-room encounter. Brad is swept up in a giddy, freebie round of activity with a famed Italian dancer, nude film-posing, and sundry fleshly delights until he blows off an appointment with Danny for a fling with those lusty daddies. Danny precipitates a scene of reckoning, bringing denial then, the dawn: “I was going to have to find a way for myself. I was going to have to discover the most elusive thing in any of these worlds. Home.”  See vol III, Point and Shoot.