One Dead Diva: A Novel

Marc and Paul Mystery #1

by Phillip Scott

Paul, a 50-ish opera queen with a habit of breaking everything he touches and Marc, a young, ditzy dancer and circuit boy, are an odd pairing as friends. As detectives, however, they are one small step from disaster. Why these two feel the need to investigate the death of Jennifer Burke, a rising opera star is almost a bigger mystery than whether the diva actually was pushed off a cliff. Hot on the trail of clues that lead to all the wrong answers, our energetically inefficient sleuths investigate a sharp-tongued music critic, a way over-the-hill prima donna, and a formidable drag artiste before accidentally stumbling over the truth. Phillip Scott , a lifelong resident of Sydney, Australia, is the author of two other Marc and Paul mysteries, Gay Resort Murder Shock and Get Over It!

Genres: Mystery, LGBT, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Phil has been performing solo cabaret at the piano since 1983 (A Legend in His Own Mind) and has appeared in all major Australian cities including several previous visits to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

As a writer, Phil’s cabaret shows include Newley Discovered (starring Hugh Sheridan, written with Dean Bryant), Pop Princess, Fat Swan and Little Orphan Trashley (all with Trevor Ashley). With Jonathan Biggins he wrote a new libretto for Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, produced by South Australian Opera in 2012 and Opera Australia in 2013. He wrote and performed for several ABCTV series including The Gillies Report, Three Men and a Baby Grand, and Good News Week. He has had four novels published in Australia and the US, including One Dead Diva and It’s About Your Friend.

Since 2000 he has co-written and co-starred in the annual political satire The Wharf Revue for the Sydney Theatre Company.

Also a composer, Phil has written film scores and musicals including Safety in Numbers (Q & Ensemble Theatres) and The Republic of Myopia (Sydney Theatre Company). As an actor he has appeared in the films A Few Best Men (dir. Stephan Elliott), Fat Pizza and Houses vs Authority (dir. Paul Fenech). Phil has worked as an actor and/or composer on many shows at Sydney’s Darlinghurst Theatre, including The Illusion, Love Song, Cloud Nine, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg and Torch Song Trilogy.

Phil pens a regular column for Sydney’s free paper SX, and reviews classical recordings for Fanfare, Limelight and Cult magazines.