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Mara Gilgannon Mystery #1
Death by Discount
Thirty-something Mara Gilgannon finds herself back in her dinky hometown of Aldoburg, Iowa, helping her Aunt Zee keep her struggling radio station alive while unraveling clues surrounding the murder of Glad, Zee's longtime partner. Mara begins to suspect that Glad's vocal opposition to a Wal-Mart opening in the town, an issue that has sharply divided Aldoburg, may have more to do with the murder than was originally supposed. But nothing is ever simple-especially when a beautiful police officer catches Mara's eye. Mary Vermillion is an associate professor of English at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, and her writing has appeared in Birthday Blessings and Testimonies .
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
5 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Mary Vermillion
4 books27 followersNovelist Mary Vermillion and her husband, Benjamin Thiel, are seeking a publisher for their dual memoir--a love story about his gender transition and how it impacted each of them and their marriage.
Mary is the author of three lesbian mystery novels—all set in Iowa and all featuring the plucky and neurotic radio personality, Mara Gilgannon, and her winsome BGF, Vince Loyacano. Mary's third novel, Seminal Murder, available May 10, features a murder in a sperm bank, and explores the differences between lesbians who want to parent and lesbians who don't. Mary’s first novel, Death by Discount, a finalist for two Lambda awards, portrays Walmart's impact on small-town America. Her second, Murder by Mascot, provides a darkly comic look at homophobia and sexual violence in the world of Division I basketball.
Mary is a Professor of English at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Mary and Ben live in Iowa City with their two cats, Bubbles and Squeaks.
Mary blogs at MIDWAY, exploring all sorts of transitions and in-between spaces: https://maryvermillion.com/blog
When Mary is not reading, writing, teaching, or hanging out with her partner, cats, or friends, she likes to kayak, travel, lift weights, garden, and watch women’s basketball. Go Hawks!
Mary is the author of three lesbian mystery novels—all set in Iowa and all featuring the plucky and neurotic radio personality, Mara Gilgannon, and her winsome BGF, Vince Loyacano. Mary's third novel, Seminal Murder, available May 10, features a murder in a sperm bank, and explores the differences between lesbians who want to parent and lesbians who don't. Mary’s first novel, Death by Discount, a finalist for two Lambda awards, portrays Walmart's impact on small-town America. Her second, Murder by Mascot, provides a darkly comic look at homophobia and sexual violence in the world of Division I basketball.
Mary is a Professor of English at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Mary and Ben live in Iowa City with their two cats, Bubbles and Squeaks.
Mary blogs at MIDWAY, exploring all sorts of transitions and in-between spaces: https://maryvermillion.com/blog
When Mary is not reading, writing, teaching, or hanging out with her partner, cats, or friends, she likes to kayak, travel, lift weights, garden, and watch women’s basketball. Go Hawks!
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 29, 2014
My rating: 4 out of 5
I really enjoyed this book! Despite the age difference between myself and Mara, the main character, I felt that I could relate to her very well. Perhaps it's being from the midwest that we have in common, but I'd like to think it's more than that. Mara is a strong-willed person who is going through a tough time but she has the ability to be as hard-as-nails when she needs to be. I cared about her, all of the characters, really, and enjoyed the ride as she worked through the clues like a champ. And Vince is very much the gay best friend I wish I had. Mary does a great job of weaving humor into the story. The sarcastic humor plus wonderfully written dialogue really makes the characters pop right off the page!
I haven't read many books that explore hate crimes or the prejudices against gays, in fact this might be my first one, but I appreciated the realistic tension Mary included in the book. Recently Iowa has proved that, as a whole, it's open to homosexuality, but that hasn't always been the case in small town Iowa. I like that the novel creates tension between homosexual and heterosexual characters, but that it's about so much more than that. It breaks down stereotypes that lesbians, gays, Catholics, small town folks, and even teenage "goth" kids face. Add that to a mixture of pro- and anti-Wal-Mart citizens and you've got one interesting town to say the least!
I had also never considered the effect Wal-Mart might have on a small town or any town. For as long as I can remember there's been a Wal-Mart in virtually every city and I'd never really thought about how it might impact the surrounding community. Now I have a better understanding of why people were, and still are, divided on the issue.
When reading this book you will laugh, cry, get angry, and then emerge with a fresh understanding of several issues that plague today's society.
I have to be honest though: I have one issue with the book. My one frustration is that every time I turned the page the characters were eating some sort of delectable dessert or casserole and it made me hungry for said dessert or casserole! Not the kind of literature you want to be reading while watching your daily caloric intake! :) I do have to say that I know where Mara gets her love of cookies and Coke from - the author herself!
Plot summary:
Mara Gilgannon was raised by her aunts in the small town of Aldoburg, Iowa, before she moved to the open-minded college town of Iowa City. When Mara gets the call saying that her aunt Glad is dead, murdered, to be exact, Mara returns to her roots and rushes to her aunt Zee's side. While Mara picks up shifts at the local radio station, helmed only by her aunt Zee now, Mara begins to investigate her aunt's mysterious death. After talking with the locals and with the help of her best friend Vince, and the lovely Officer Neale, Mara begins to uncover the truth behind her aunt's demise.
Related issues/key words: homosexuality, hate crimes, Wal-Mart, murder,mystery & detective, small town life, midwestern U.S.
Characters:
Mara Gilgannon (protagonist)
Vince
Zee
Glad
Other books by Mary Vermillion:
Death by Mascot
Seminal Murder
I really enjoyed this book! Despite the age difference between myself and Mara, the main character, I felt that I could relate to her very well. Perhaps it's being from the midwest that we have in common, but I'd like to think it's more than that. Mara is a strong-willed person who is going through a tough time but she has the ability to be as hard-as-nails when she needs to be. I cared about her, all of the characters, really, and enjoyed the ride as she worked through the clues like a champ. And Vince is very much the gay best friend I wish I had. Mary does a great job of weaving humor into the story. The sarcastic humor plus wonderfully written dialogue really makes the characters pop right off the page!
I haven't read many books that explore hate crimes or the prejudices against gays, in fact this might be my first one, but I appreciated the realistic tension Mary included in the book. Recently Iowa has proved that, as a whole, it's open to homosexuality, but that hasn't always been the case in small town Iowa. I like that the novel creates tension between homosexual and heterosexual characters, but that it's about so much more than that. It breaks down stereotypes that lesbians, gays, Catholics, small town folks, and even teenage "goth" kids face. Add that to a mixture of pro- and anti-Wal-Mart citizens and you've got one interesting town to say the least!
I had also never considered the effect Wal-Mart might have on a small town or any town. For as long as I can remember there's been a Wal-Mart in virtually every city and I'd never really thought about how it might impact the surrounding community. Now I have a better understanding of why people were, and still are, divided on the issue.
When reading this book you will laugh, cry, get angry, and then emerge with a fresh understanding of several issues that plague today's society.
I have to be honest though: I have one issue with the book. My one frustration is that every time I turned the page the characters were eating some sort of delectable dessert or casserole and it made me hungry for said dessert or casserole! Not the kind of literature you want to be reading while watching your daily caloric intake! :) I do have to say that I know where Mara gets her love of cookies and Coke from - the author herself!
Plot summary:
Mara Gilgannon was raised by her aunts in the small town of Aldoburg, Iowa, before she moved to the open-minded college town of Iowa City. When Mara gets the call saying that her aunt Glad is dead, murdered, to be exact, Mara returns to her roots and rushes to her aunt Zee's side. While Mara picks up shifts at the local radio station, helmed only by her aunt Zee now, Mara begins to investigate her aunt's mysterious death. After talking with the locals and with the help of her best friend Vince, and the lovely Officer Neale, Mara begins to uncover the truth behind her aunt's demise.
Related issues/key words: homosexuality, hate crimes, Wal-Mart, murder,mystery & detective, small town life, midwestern U.S.
Characters:
Mara Gilgannon (protagonist)
Vince
Zee
Glad
Other books by Mary Vermillion:
Death by Mascot
Seminal Murder
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
June 16, 2012Delightful!!! Reminds me a bit of Ellen Hart. Unfortunately, I book two is still in a box somewhere after the move. I'm actively looking for it (and forward to it).
Read
June 18, 2020Our protagonist sets out from her home in a large Midwestern city to her smaller home town, where one of her relatives has been murdered at the family-owned radio station. Sound familiar? It should if you have read Jean Erhardt’s Small Town Trouble. Except for the names, the basic plot is the same—as is the attempt at humor. A version of Erhardt’s book was vanity published in 2000—several years before Vermillion’s. Yet I choose to think of these similarities as just wild coincidence. I have read and reviewed Small Town Trouble and found it wanting; I expect Vermillion would have, too.
Not that Death by Discount is much better. Mara, our hero, drives to Aldoburg, Iowa, to comfort her aunt Zee, whose lover of many decades—Gladys—has been murdered on the eve of an important vote to decide whether the small town will allow a Walmart to invade their precinct. Did the murder have to do with Walmart (which the murdered woman was strongly opposed to) or was it committed by someone who simply hated her lesbianism (of which Gladys was openly proud)?
Despite the very professional job of printing and editing by Alyson Publications, the story misses on a number of levels. Although on the surface, Vermillion makes strong points about the death of Midwestern towns due to encroaching corporate interests, she simply dwells on things too much, even referring the reader several times to a specific anti-Walmart book. Yes, Walmart is bad, we get it. By giving us page-by-page, blow-by-blow, chapter-after-chapter descriptions of arguments between former friends and speeches at a town-hall forum, Vermillion makes it impossible for the reader not to think that it is more her agenda than it is her characters’.
The mystery, too, drags on and on. Several chapters into the book, Mara has already decided on her list of suspects and throughout the book, she goes over them again and again and again until by the mid-point of the book, I no longer cared which of them committed the murder. In fact, I desperately wanted it to be someone else.
The cover of the book—a bar code with a shot-dead smiley face stuck on, seems to indicate that the book is intended to be humorous. I didn’t find it to be, and rather than blame my faint sense of humor, I suspect it is because the book just isn’t funny. Did the cover designer not consult with the editors or the author? Sure, some of the book is lively, and some of the characters a bit quirky, but funny? No. Maybe the cover was an afterthought.
As you would expect from someone who graduated from the University of Iowa, Vermillion writes pretty well, although there is no pretense of being literary. Her character tries to be witty and creative, but falls just short. Here’s a sample that pretty much sums up Mara’s personality: “If the road to hell was paved with good intentions, I was creating an eight-lane interstate to eternal damnation.” And Vermillion sometimes falls into the unfortunate habit of the first-person obsessive point of view: “I poured more syrup on my already soaked pancakes.” But if you like this style of writing—used by many—be my guest.
There are good things about the book. As I mentioned above, the author’s points about the smothering of Middle America are well taken. I also enjoyed her description of the inside of a small radio station that has only recently transitioned from turntables to computers—a tidbit that was left out of Jean Erhardt’s Small Town Trouble. Mara’s romantic tryst with a pretty police officer is also a good distraction from the more boring parts of the book.
And admittedly I did find myself reading with interest and concentration as the story came to a close, but I would rather have been doing that much earlier. And when the actual ending came, I wished I had not read it at all. I offer Death by Discount no higher than 3 stars, along with my regrets that Vermillion did not excise about 30,000 words from the finished product. As it is, I will leave it to someone else to review the other books in the Mara Gilgannon series.
Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
Not that Death by Discount is much better. Mara, our hero, drives to Aldoburg, Iowa, to comfort her aunt Zee, whose lover of many decades—Gladys—has been murdered on the eve of an important vote to decide whether the small town will allow a Walmart to invade their precinct. Did the murder have to do with Walmart (which the murdered woman was strongly opposed to) or was it committed by someone who simply hated her lesbianism (of which Gladys was openly proud)?
Despite the very professional job of printing and editing by Alyson Publications, the story misses on a number of levels. Although on the surface, Vermillion makes strong points about the death of Midwestern towns due to encroaching corporate interests, she simply dwells on things too much, even referring the reader several times to a specific anti-Walmart book. Yes, Walmart is bad, we get it. By giving us page-by-page, blow-by-blow, chapter-after-chapter descriptions of arguments between former friends and speeches at a town-hall forum, Vermillion makes it impossible for the reader not to think that it is more her agenda than it is her characters’.
The mystery, too, drags on and on. Several chapters into the book, Mara has already decided on her list of suspects and throughout the book, she goes over them again and again and again until by the mid-point of the book, I no longer cared which of them committed the murder. In fact, I desperately wanted it to be someone else.
The cover of the book—a bar code with a shot-dead smiley face stuck on, seems to indicate that the book is intended to be humorous. I didn’t find it to be, and rather than blame my faint sense of humor, I suspect it is because the book just isn’t funny. Did the cover designer not consult with the editors or the author? Sure, some of the book is lively, and some of the characters a bit quirky, but funny? No. Maybe the cover was an afterthought.
As you would expect from someone who graduated from the University of Iowa, Vermillion writes pretty well, although there is no pretense of being literary. Her character tries to be witty and creative, but falls just short. Here’s a sample that pretty much sums up Mara’s personality: “If the road to hell was paved with good intentions, I was creating an eight-lane interstate to eternal damnation.” And Vermillion sometimes falls into the unfortunate habit of the first-person obsessive point of view: “I poured more syrup on my already soaked pancakes.” But if you like this style of writing—used by many—be my guest.
There are good things about the book. As I mentioned above, the author’s points about the smothering of Middle America are well taken. I also enjoyed her description of the inside of a small radio station that has only recently transitioned from turntables to computers—a tidbit that was left out of Jean Erhardt’s Small Town Trouble. Mara’s romantic tryst with a pretty police officer is also a good distraction from the more boring parts of the book.
And admittedly I did find myself reading with interest and concentration as the story came to a close, but I would rather have been doing that much earlier. And when the actual ending came, I wished I had not read it at all. I offer Death by Discount no higher than 3 stars, along with my regrets that Vermillion did not excise about 30,000 words from the finished product. As it is, I will leave it to someone else to review the other books in the Mara Gilgannon series.
Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
December 31, 2010
A murder mystery with a group of realistic midwestern characters, including a lesbian protagonist. Entertaining and scary, the story is woven through with facts about the details of Walmart's corporate domination, as well as issues around small town homophobia. However, the characters have depth that defies stereotyping and quirks that make them seem ordinary. A hint of romance works with the story, rather than detracting from it.
February 5, 2010
This was an enjoyable, fast read.
May 10, 2023
A cute cozy mystery with well-balanced queer representation in a small-town environment and a great twist.
February 4, 2019
Full disclosure: I'm friends with the author. But regardless, I enjoyed this mystery, especially for its setting in rural Iowa, where I'm also from. Vermillion did an excellent job capturing the good and bad of a claustrophobic small town. I can definitely recommend it, and she had me completely by surprise at the twist ending!
January 20, 2015
At the highest level, this murder mystery follows one of the standard whodunit formulas. A woman (Glad) is murdered in a small Iowa town (Aldoburg) and there are many suspects, largely because there is no strong evidence against any particular person. A young man is arrested, but the evidence against him is so weak that it is clearly a case of a hapless small town cop feeling the need to do something. Few in the town really believe that the young man did it, so it is a case where the lack of evidence forces the heroine (Mara Gilgannon) to consider all possibilities.
There are two other major plot lines in the book. Aldoburg is currently in the throes of a major debate over a plan for a new Wal-Mart being built on the edge of town. There are those who believe that the new store will be an economic savior and there are others convinced that it will destroy the local businesses that have operated for generations. Glad and her domestic partner Zee operated the local radio station, and have been forcefully arguing against the new store. The arguments are passionate on both sides, with many long-term friendships at risk, so it certainly could provide the motivation for the murder. Vermillion has certainly done a great deal of research into the issues concerning Wal-Mart. The arguments over the consequences of a new Wal-Mart and their business practices could have been taken from local news stories in many areas of the country. At no time does she exceed the realistic bounds of argument on either side in order to embellish her story.
The second major theme is that of lesbian/gay personalities. Mara is a lesbian and her housemate (Vince) is a gay man. Glad and Zee are lesbian partners, a fact well known to the residents of Aldoburg. After Glad was killed, the murderer spray-painted "dyke" on the wall next to the body. This raises the possibility that the murder was a hate crime, and there are two young local men who recently beat up one of their gay classmates. Since the two beaters are the sons of prominent citizens, there is the potential for their fathers using their influence to protect them. The lesbian/gay theme recurs throughout the book. Mara's boss (Orchid) is also a lesbian and Mara's former partner moves in with Orchid. As she investigates the crime, Mara discovers a few other closet lesbian/gay people; one is a hot female cop that raises her sexual temperature. I found myself pondering something that I have never pondered before; "Will the girl get the girl?" It was also interesting and amusing to read the bits where a lesbian woman is sizing up another woman, noting her curves and rating her chances of getting to know her better. There is some lesbian/gay sex, but nothing one would rate as juicy.
With one exception, the strong focus on lesbian/gay themes did not distract me from the trail leading to the killer(s). That exception was the seeming need of the author to describe the attire of all individuals in more detail than was necessary. The colors of the clothes always seem to be mentioned, even when it had no bearing on the story. For example, Mara visits Zee and we read ". . . and her yellow T-shirt was wrinkled." Since there is no further reference to the shirt, knowing the color was unnecessary. Even though Mara's lesbian lifestyle has led to some estrangement with her parents, that is wisely kept very low key.
The climactic identification of the killer and the aftermath are well done. I certainly did not suspect the culprit and there are additional complicating factors due to some of the features of small town life. As a small town Iowa boy, I appreciated and understood many of the themes of Aldoburg life. My favorite small town situation in the entire book is when the heroine surreptitiously follows one of her prime suspects onto the darkened football practice field, hoping to witness a payoff. When she is breathless with excitement and exertion, she hears a steady stream and notes that there are "no bucolic creeks in the vicinity." Every man who grew up in a small town can relate to that situation. The murder aspects of the book kept my interest, and the story moves along with no large sections of unnecessary filler.
This review appears on Amazon
There are two other major plot lines in the book. Aldoburg is currently in the throes of a major debate over a plan for a new Wal-Mart being built on the edge of town. There are those who believe that the new store will be an economic savior and there are others convinced that it will destroy the local businesses that have operated for generations. Glad and her domestic partner Zee operated the local radio station, and have been forcefully arguing against the new store. The arguments are passionate on both sides, with many long-term friendships at risk, so it certainly could provide the motivation for the murder. Vermillion has certainly done a great deal of research into the issues concerning Wal-Mart. The arguments over the consequences of a new Wal-Mart and their business practices could have been taken from local news stories in many areas of the country. At no time does she exceed the realistic bounds of argument on either side in order to embellish her story.
The second major theme is that of lesbian/gay personalities. Mara is a lesbian and her housemate (Vince) is a gay man. Glad and Zee are lesbian partners, a fact well known to the residents of Aldoburg. After Glad was killed, the murderer spray-painted "dyke" on the wall next to the body. This raises the possibility that the murder was a hate crime, and there are two young local men who recently beat up one of their gay classmates. Since the two beaters are the sons of prominent citizens, there is the potential for their fathers using their influence to protect them. The lesbian/gay theme recurs throughout the book. Mara's boss (Orchid) is also a lesbian and Mara's former partner moves in with Orchid. As she investigates the crime, Mara discovers a few other closet lesbian/gay people; one is a hot female cop that raises her sexual temperature. I found myself pondering something that I have never pondered before; "Will the girl get the girl?" It was also interesting and amusing to read the bits where a lesbian woman is sizing up another woman, noting her curves and rating her chances of getting to know her better. There is some lesbian/gay sex, but nothing one would rate as juicy.
With one exception, the strong focus on lesbian/gay themes did not distract me from the trail leading to the killer(s). That exception was the seeming need of the author to describe the attire of all individuals in more detail than was necessary. The colors of the clothes always seem to be mentioned, even when it had no bearing on the story. For example, Mara visits Zee and we read ". . . and her yellow T-shirt was wrinkled." Since there is no further reference to the shirt, knowing the color was unnecessary. Even though Mara's lesbian lifestyle has led to some estrangement with her parents, that is wisely kept very low key.
The climactic identification of the killer and the aftermath are well done. I certainly did not suspect the culprit and there are additional complicating factors due to some of the features of small town life. As a small town Iowa boy, I appreciated and understood many of the themes of Aldoburg life. My favorite small town situation in the entire book is when the heroine surreptitiously follows one of her prime suspects onto the darkened football practice field, hoping to witness a payoff. When she is breathless with excitement and exertion, she hears a steady stream and notes that there are "no bucolic creeks in the vicinity." Every man who grew up in a small town can relate to that situation. The murder aspects of the book kept my interest, and the story moves along with no large sections of unnecessary filler.
This review appears on Amazon
June 12, 2014
A book about someone who is murdered in connection to opposing a Wal-Mart coming to town. That's what I thought this book was about. In a way, it is. It is also a an anti-corporate treatise (which I expected and kind of wanted) and sexual-orientation-discrimination issue book as well. One or the other of these issues would have been fine. For me, the problem with having both was that the book became more of an "issue" book than a mystery. I am willing to read both types of books, but I read each type on purpose. This seemed to pretend to be one while it was actually the other.
To its credit, I liked the characters in the book and found their interactions to be genuine, if not a little stereotypical for a small town setting.
To its credit, I liked the characters in the book and found their interactions to be genuine, if not a little stereotypical for a small town setting.
August 13, 2023
I read the first half of the first chapter thr day the book arrived but I swallowed the rest whole within one day! A real page turner - I simply couldn't go to bed without knowing whodunnit. Besides that, it felt like being back in Iowa again, remembering the occasional Wal-Mart trips, its low prices and (often) low-quality goods. The debate in the gym really got me hooked and thinking about big shops and how it's both good and bad to have them in town. And how the bigger the chain is, the lousier its treatment of employees is. But what to do when you need to put food on the table NOW? In short: can't wait to start the sequel!
April 21, 2012
This is the ebook version of my first mystery novel! I hope it provides you with a fun way to learn about Walmart's impact on smalltown America (and beyond).
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews