Are You Nuts?

Tom Mason and Scott Carpenter #7

by Mark Richard Zubro

After a difficult summer, the last thing that gay high school teacher Tom Mason needs in the new school year is turmoil. But a conservative parents' group, "worried" about gay teachers corrupting the students, is attempting to take over the local PTA. And it soon gets worse--one of the ringleaders of the parents' group is murdered in the high school after a very contentious PTA meetings, and Tom's best friend is arrested for the crime. Now to prove her innocence, Tom must hunt down the real killer...

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

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1998

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

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know I should be reading these books for the mysteries involved, but to be honest, I read them because the character developement. I've been loving the relationship between Tom and Scott, and find them so relatable. On to the next book!

[Eric L Aust · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

The title is repeated a bit much in book otherwise one of his better books.
The politics aspects reminds one of just how bad the 90s was with the religious rights fight on gays. It was a hard time and I wonder just how much of the backlash on the left today is from the actions taking then.

[Suze · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*
Mostly Tom in this one, Scott is there but largely contemplating life in the background.
Not sure what was up with me on this one - too much union angst, not enough time to read properly but I just didn’t get fully into it.
All the old union drama just didn’t grab me. Tom works his way through all the fighting factions to the answer eventually-just as Scott drops a bombshell!,

[Daniel Hand · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always been a fan of Mark Zubro's books. I love mysteries. Despite being published 25 years ago, I am just getting to this series now. I find the cultural references quite fascinating compared to today. How some things have radically changed and yet other aspects have stayed the same. Nonetheless, the Tom and Scott series is an engaging who-done-it series.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Tom is an annoying self-righteous character but he's not as bad in this book. Scott was hardly in the book. This entry was not as ugly as most of the books in this series are. Bad things happened but they were not as oppressive as in previous stories.

[Keller Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite book of the series I have read so far. It was still good but I felt something was a little off. I missed Scott in this book, he had a much smaller role in this one. And the “are you nuts” thing sort of drove me nuts.

[Lily Heron · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to say it but this one was quite boring :( I hope there'll be more Scott in the next book!

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked the book, however this series is getting a little tedious. Too many things happen to Tom, it's just not humanly possible. However, I love Scott and Tom they are a great couple together and I enjoy all the information about Chicago.

[William Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best work.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good gay mystery in which a conservative running for union rep is found bludgeoned in the school library and one of Tom's friends is the top suspect.