Sunfish & Starfish: Tropical Drag Queen Detectives

by Wallace Godfrey

Two unlikely heroes. Two confounding mysteries. How did a $1,000 jewel encrusted Prada shoe end up under a dumpster in a back alley in a deserted part of town? And will we ever find out whether the man hiding in the shadows of a South Florida gay bar is really a conservative South Carolina reverend—who’s running for Congress? Two fun-loving drag performers are lured out of the spotlight and into some very dark the shady, drug-fueled world of Miami’s high-society debutantes, and the cutthroat world of national politics. Larry Nussbaum and Oscar Arias (a.k.a Sunfish & Starfish) find their campy little seaside life nearly torn apart by intrigue and deception—as well as their own character flaws and hapless investigations. The police refuse to help. Mobs of protestors threaten them and their families. Even their friendship takes a hit. But when they finally try to walk away, they are drawn right back in by events beyond their control and an unquenchable need to find the truth.

350 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2015

Reviews

[LenaRibka · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 stars

Oh dear...
How I wanted to like this book!..



The blurb sounded INTERESTING, promising and fancy. I watched some movies about the world of drag but I have never read a full-length novel where the main characters were drag performers, these beautiful creatures who use their cha­risma, unique­ness, nerve and tal­ent to enter­tain and mes­mer­ise!

And, be honest, how often do you come across a book with TWO drag queens at the same time in a leading role?



And not just some novel - a mystery! And not just a mystery, but one of the best mysteries of the year, because this book was nominated for the 28th Lambda Award in the category Gay Mystery!

Maybe I had too high expectations, we all know that high expectations SOMETIMES could be very tricky.

The good things:
Extraordinary and likable protagonists. This duo has potential to fill a niche in MM genre.

Larry and Oscar are not a love couple, but best friends and partners on stage. They differ not only in appearance, they are different also in their ideas and ways of living and thinking. Larry - the six-foot-two, two-hundred-fifty-pound hairy bear of a man - has his feet planted firmly on the ground, he lives together with Stan, his life partner since 15 years. The ever single Oscar, a star-spangled Hispanic, 12 years younger than Larry, is hopelessly romantic young man with dreams too big for the real world.

A decent writing style.

The author is a full-time ghostwriter and novelist. He is not a beginner in this field, and one can feel it.


My issues:

What disappointed me mostly was a mystery part. When I pick up the book, that is supposed to belong to one of the best gay mysteries of the year, I expect a mystery, that will keep me on the edge of my seat all the time, I expect to be stuck to it and not to be able to put it down.

For the most part of the book I felt bored. And irritated. Because I didn’t see what Oscar saw, and I wasn't convinced with the explanations the author delivered me trying to justify Oscar's annoying behavior.

An expensive lonely left (or was it right?) shoe under a dumpster in a parking lot leads to surveillance video that recorded two fighting people without giving away their faces, and this video in turn leads to a very reach girl with a black eye, THAT in turn leads to a BAD BOYFRIEND. OH HOW AWFUL. (I'm trying not to be sarcastic)

You HAVE to have a VERY good fantasy and a well-developed six sense to suspect something wrong here, and it is exactly what everyone DID NOT.

Except Oscar. He sacrificed his free time, his power and sanity hunting a BAD BOYFRIEND of an occasional reach girl whose problems he takes VERY personally, following her every step and begging her to report it to the police. I don’t know what I as a reader was supposed to feel. Probably compassion with the victim and admiration for Oscar’s exemplary moral courage, but all I felt was non-stop-eye-roll and annoyance.

The easiness with that Oscar got an access to this reach circle (maids, house, friends, clubs), the eagerness with that everyone chattered with him about family and other secrets, delivering all kind of information he needed was very unbelievable. All he had to do was just to say, "I'm a friend of...."

Of course he was much luckier with his ingenious method than the police. WHAT A LUCK (Again I'm trying not to be sarcastic) .

The fact that he WAS right with his suspicions, became irrelevant at the end, because
1) I didn't care
2) of course you can find a crime behind many domestic violence cases that CAN look innocent at the first sight, but IF an author decided to make a thrilling story out of it, then he HAS to put more credibility, more healthy sense in the actions of his amateur sleuth.

Sure, an author can do it without any logic, but at least he can make it FUNNY and WITTY. It is always helpful when any good sense is secondary.

And it is WHERE I come to my second complaint: I wish the story would be more humorous and have more funny situation, because OBVIOUSLY two drag artists offer all these good stuff by themselves. There were some humor but not enough for my liking.

There are two subplots to the main story line:
I have to confess that I like them more than the main one

Edward Hannandale, a politician and a priest who names himself reverend and who is well known for his hate speeches towards gay society has been accidentally photographed in a gay bar during the show of Oscar and Larry. Suddenly Larry, together with Hannandale, are the number one news on all TV channels. And Jerry's gay bar, a home stage for our boys, is occupied by all news team of the country. The whole situation got out of control.

My favorite subplot! Oscar and his love affair(s). Did he really mean it - AT LAST to leave Niko behind and make place for a new real relationship?


I understand that as a starter for a new series, the tasks of the first book was to provide readers with the first insight into surroundings, characters’ lives, it has to introduce not only those who play the main role in the series, but also those who play the second part. I can imagine, that I’ll like the next book more. The first case was solved and maybe the next case will be more interesting for me, and if there will be also more of a private life of our protagonists and less of a private life of people that are less interesting (to me), then I'll probably enjoy it much more.

I have though to warn you, that I'm in the minority with my opinion, and it looks like other readers enjoyed this book, so don't take my review too seriously or like a not recommendation to read it. Because you can like it.

[Alec Rigdon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mystery plot could be streamlined quite a bit, but the rest of the book teeters from fun-loving to everyday struggles. The first 50 pages can take some getting used to, but once it starts rolling it's a pretty decent read.

[Marta · Rating 1 out of 5]

IF you are looking for a "cozy mystery" ghost-written by Kevin Spacey on a quaalude binge, then go for it and read this book.

[Shaun Lake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two unlikely heroes. Two confounding mysteries. How did a $1,000 jewel encrusted Prada shoe end up under a dumpster in a back alley in a deserted part of town? And will we ever find out whether the man hiding in the shadows of a South Florida gay bar is really a conservative South Carolina reverend—who’s running for Congress? Two fun-loving drag performers are lured out of the spotlight and into some very dark places: the shady, drug-fueled world of Miami’s high-society debutantes, and the cutthroat world of national politics.

Larry Nussbaum and Oscar Arias (a.k.a Sunfish & Starfish) find their campy little seaside life nearly torn apart by intrigue and deception—as well as their own character flaws and hapless investigations. The police refuse to help. Mobs of protestors threaten them and their families. Even their friendship takes a hit. But when they finally try to walk away, they are drawn right back in by events beyond their control and an unquenchable need to find the truth.

Awesome book, great characters and an all round fun read.

[James Quentin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable but not amazing. With a tighter edit to cut some of the chaff, and a better spellcheck for typos this could have been a 4* but it was a 2.5*.

There were some good jokes at the beginning and general comedic moments but the author couldn't decide if they wanted a camp romp or a more serious character study. Oscar was too naive and his annoying scenes of running to the police every five minutes grated on me eventually and I started skimming those parts.

Larry's "life is a comedy" outlook was rather draining too and I'm glad the author had both of them wise up to their faults sooner rather than later.

The POV scenes from the other characters were unnecessary and could have easily been cut. All that happened in them could have been summarised in a few lines with the cops at the end.

The cliffhanger ending was annoying as it doesn't look like we'll get a sequel.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book starts off pretty straight-forward—the local LGBT+ community is atwitter because of the possible appearance of known homophobic preacher who's running for Congress at a drag show. This becomes a plot relevant touchstone of sorts as the real mystery unfolds—who's the owner of the lone Prada high heel found outside Starfish's (given name, Oscar Arias) place of employment. The mystery is multi-layered and just when you think you're ready to give it up, it draws you back in for a spectacular finish worthy of two of Miami's most famous queens.

[KIM · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great first book. The characters really came to life. I knew nothing about the drag queen world and this book was a wonderful entre into that world! The characters were ones you could care about. they were funny and very real. I would like to meet them in person.
Also the mystery was a good one. I didn't figure it out until almost the end. I do hope there are more of these books.

[Jeannine]

what fun