Here Comes the Corpse

Tom Mason and Scott Carpenter #9

by Mark Richard Zubro

Chicago area high school teacher Tom Mason and his lover, professional baseball player Scott Carpenter have had a taxing year. After publicly coming out, Scott and Tom have had to deal with a firestorm of publicity, a major loss of privacy, a great outpouring of support and an equal number of cranks. Now, finally, they are going to do something that they've always wanted - get married in a service before their family and close friends. Despite the potential problems of such of an event, the ceremony comes off with nary a hitch. With the reception in full swing - with a guest list ranging from long-time family friends and co-workers to the cream of the social elite - a small problem emerges. Tom happens to stumble over an ex-boyfriend from many years ago in the bathroom. Unfortunately, what he stumbles across is actually the corpse of the murdered ex-boyfriend and in addition to casting something of a pall across the proceedings, it puts Tom in the awkward position of being the prime suspect in the murder. If he's ever going to get to go on his long-planned honeymoon, Tom is going to have to uncover the truth behind the murder of this unwanted guest.

Genres: Mystery, LGBT, Romance, Gay, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M M Romance

266 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 3, 2002

About the author

Author also writes as: Mark Zubro.

Mark Richard Zubro is an American mystery novelist. He lives in Mokena, Illinois and taught 8th grade English at Summit Hill Jr. High in nearby Frankfort Square, Illinois.

Zubro writes bestselling mysteries set in Chicago and the surrounding Cook County area, which are widely praised as fast-paced, with interesting plots and well-rounded, likeable characters. His novels feature gay themes, and Zubro is himself gay.

His longest running series features high school teacher Tom Mason, and Tom's boyfriend, professional baseball player Scott Carpenter. The other series Zubro is known for is the Paul Turner mysteries, which are about a Chicago police detective. The books are a part of the Stonewall Inn Mystery series, published by St. Martin's Press. Zubro won a Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Men's Mystery for his book A Simple Suburban Murder.

Series:
* Tom Mason and Scott Carpenter
* Paul Turner

I am the author of twenty-four mystery novels and five short stories. My book A Simple Suburban Murder won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Men's mystery. I also wrote a thriller, Foolproof, with two other mystery writers, Jeanne Dams and Barb D'Amato. I taught eighth graders English and reading for thirty-four years and was president of the teachers' union in my district from 1985 until 2006. I retired from teaching in 2006 and now spend my time reading, writing, napping, and eating chocolate. My newest book, Another Dead Republican, is my thirteenth book in the Tom and Scott series which features as main characters, a gay school teacher and his lover, a professional baseball player. One of the keys in my mysteries is you do not want to be a person who is racist, sexist, homophobic, or a school administrator. If you are any of those, it is likely you are the corpse, or, at the least, it can be fairly well guaranteed that bad things will happen to you by the end. And if in my books you happen to be a Republican and/or against workers' rights, it would be far better if you did not make a habit of broadcasting this. If you did, you're quite likely to be a suspect, or worse.

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

When an author writes a book, he creates the world in which the characters live. Some authors create worlds that strive to replicate the real world. Other authors create a false world in order to manipulate events and motivations that coincide with their own agendas. Mark Richard Zubro is, unfortunately, one of those authors who drapes a false sense of reality over the books he writes in order to present his own prejudices. I use the term prejudices in what I consider to be a fair assessment.

This is the ninth book in the Tom & Scott mystery series I've read. In each of them I have found Zubro's presentation of straights to be influenced by his anger towards that group of people. Almost all straights in his books are either actively against the gay lifestyle or, at best, are incapable of understanding it. Even those people who sympathize with the plight of gay people in a straight world are written as being unsure and puzzled by those who are gay. I find this black and white, right and wrong division of the value of people offensive. Yes, in Zubro's books straights can be good people. But, it is very obvious that as good as they are, they can never be as good as their gay counterparts.

This book begins with the marriage of Tom and Scott. The descriptions of the preparations for the wedding ceremony are, politely put, over the top. Actually, I found this excess of grandeur to be not only over the top but painfully stereotypical of how people misjudge the gay lifestyle. Once the murder takes place, the pace and momentum of the story picks up. But, not for long. What follows is a series of interviews with various people involved with the person who has been murdered. These interviews are muddled to say the least. I never felt the attitudes and motivations of these people were either clearly defined or very realistic. Once again, Zubro's need to push his own attitudes about certain groups of people intrudes into the story. Not only are straight people painted as less than desirable. He also creates a scenario where athletes come across as stereotypically dumb jocks with inflated egos. Once the ending is reached and the culprits are identified, this reader felt that the whole book was nothing more than a chance for Zubro to vent against those groups of people he dislikes. Why do I feel this way? Because there is no trail that the reader can fololw that leads to who did the murders. It felt like he had attained the contracted number of pages for the book and then gave a conclusion that did not have much to do with what went before.

Yes, I will continue to read this series. The best thing I can say about the Tom & Scott mystery series is that the books are uneven in quality. Out of the nine books I've read, a couple have been much better than the others. So, it is with a sense of hopefulness that I keep reading in this series. But, with each finished book, that glimmer of hope get dimmer and dimmer.

[Gavin Stephenson-Jackman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very different twist to a wedding. Tom and Scott have planned the wedding of the century, just to tick-off all the homophobes. The wedding goes off without a hitch, the reception, not so much. When Tom makes his way to relieve himself he finds his ex bleeding out in the bathroom. Acting at the request of the deceased parents the couple endeavour to find out what could drive someone to murder Ethan. As they get closer to the truth the body count rises, and the list of suspects is immense. Certainly very interesting as the perpetrators are unexpected.

[Suze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another entertaining story about Tom and Scott - the wedding edition!
We go from media circus celebrity wedding to murder quite quickly.
Scott's family is all wrapped up in what is going on, all passive aggressive with a variety of characters.
Tom's family is closer to the murder through parents.
There are some tough topics and mores brought up.

[Lily Heron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom and Scott are finally getting married, but then Tom finds the body of his first love in the bathroom. Enjoyable but also weirdly forgettable. I found the first half stronger than the second in terms of pacing.

Cw: incest.

[Daniel Hand · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Zubro's work. this is one of my favorite series.

[Cecil · Rating 5 out of 5]

What? OMG, the ending will slay you.

[Alicia Polak · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anticlimactic ending :( Didn’t even remember the killer(s) since they were barely mentioned. Also very clearly written in the 2000s given the language they use

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled to finish this one. The language was very stilted. "Your nephew was more recalcitrant than the most hardened gangbanger." "I hate to belabor the obvious." Who talks like this?? Also, there were so many characters introduced that I lost track of who was who at times and when the killer was revealed, I'd forgotten who the person was. I liked the premise of this book and I was hoping I'd enjoy it enough to read other books in the series, but I think I'm one and done with Tom and Scott. Two stars for the Chicago shout outs.

[Barry Rocklin]

By the time the murderer was revealed, I only vaguely remembered him (them, actually), from earlier in the book, so it wasn't the shocker of an ending it might have been. But, I continue to enjoy both Zubro series, and am about to start on his book, SCHOOLED IN MURDER.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good gay mystery which starts with Tom and Scott's getting married. Too bad Tom finds a body in the bathroom at the reception.

[Jill · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the worst books I have ever read! Childish prose, ridiculous plot, I hated it!