Dead Certain

Carol Ashton Mysteries #5

by Claire McNab

The fifth tension-laden adventure for Carol Ashton, featuring the classic closed room puzzle mystery buffs adore.

Convinced that the recent death of young Australian opera star Collis Raeburn was not a suicide, as widely believed, Detective Inspector Carol Ashton opens up an investigation, an act that makes her unpopular with the victim's next-of-kin.

Genres: LGBT, Lesbian, Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Queer, Australia

242 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

CLAIRE McNAB, 1940-2022
Claire McNab died on June 30, 2022, after a prolonged battle with Parkinson’s Disease. She also wrote under her real name, Claire Carmichael, an outpouring of children's literature, textbooks, self-help books, and plays. She became (and remains to this day) a renowned author of children’s books in Australia.

Claire McNab is the pseudonym of Claire Carmichael. She was born in 1940 in Melbourne, Australia. While pursuing a career as a high school teacher in Sydney, she began her writing career with comedy plays and textbooks. She left teaching in the mid-eighties to become a full-time writer. In her native Australia she is known for her self-help and children's books. She moved to Los Angeles in 1994 after falling in love with an American woman, and now teaches not-yet-published writers through the UCLA Writers' Extension Program. She is best known for three lesbian mystery series featuring Inspector Carol Ashton, Agent Denise Cleever and Detective Kylie Kendall. She is the recipient of the 2006 Alice B. Medal.

From the publisher's website: Claire McNab has written over 50 books and is known in her native Australia for crime fiction, children's novels, picture books, self-help, and English textbooks. Her first mystery, Lessons in Murder, was published in the U.S. in 1988. Now a Los Angeles resident, she teaches not-yet-published writers through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. She is the author of three lesbian mystery series featuring Inspector Carol Ashton, Agent Denise Cleever and Detective Kylie Kendall. She has served as the president of Sisters in Crime and is a member of both the Mystery Writers of America and the Science Fiction Writers of America. She lives in Los Angeles and is working on the finale of the Carol Ashton series, Lethal Care.

Reviews

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read this book before (in 1995) under the title Off Key and have to admit I didn't realize it until halfway through. Enjoyed it just as much second time around.

[Megan]

This, the fifth book in the series, may be a little better than the fourth, but I'm not sure why. Detective Inspector Carol Ashton is still too beautiful and too cold and unlikable. Her investigative methods are still invisible and she uses coincidences like others might use metaphors.

But there are a number of differences between this book and the last. For one thing, her girlfriend Sybil finally has enough of Carol's coldness and domination and moves back into her own apartment for a while. But—and this is unusual in a lesbian mystery—when the mouse is away . . . That's right, Carol allows herself to be consoled by an attractive news reporter who seems to be very serious about getting Carol for herself. The night they spend together is the first I have read in the genre of a protagonist actually cheating on her partner—no matter that Sybil is temporarily living in another house.

Another difference is that much of the mystery takes place in or around the iconic Sydney Opera House. The murdered man and all the suspects are connected with opera in some way. The musical descriptions are well researched and well depicted. I also like the character of Constable Anne Newsome, who appears fresh and lively around the morose Carol. She and Mark Bourke make good assistants for the Detective Inspector.

The crime? A perfect one, probably. The way Carol explains her deductions is almost believable, but every iota is circumstantial. If the criminal(s) hadn't decided to get things off their chests, as it were, and confess into a tape recorder, there would have been absolutely no chance of a conviction. Lucky for Carol, huh?

The book also has a more serious message, that of the transfer of AIDS among sex partners. Although McNab touches on this briefly in Cop Out, she goes into it more fully here. It is one of the first uses of AIDS as a major plot device in the lesbian mysteries I have read, although I assume it is much more pervasive in novels featuring males gay characters. That doesn't make it less important here.

This is also the book in which Carol comes out to her 10-year-old son and to her superiors in the police department. Will this affect her relationship with David and her career? Only the next books will tell.

All in all, call this one average.

I read the first Naiad printing of this book.

Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 1250 other lesbian mysteries by over 400 authors.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time for reading something from this author and the first time reading a book in this series. I do like the main character and will enjoy reading others in the series. Takes place in Australia; the main character is a lesbian which has no impact on the fact it was a very interesting mystery.

[Steve Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

An LGBT pot boiler. A nice, short murder mystery, easy to read and a nice way to pass a few hours. Interesting characters and an easy to follow plot.

[Celina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was loving it until that ending... Sybil needs to GO... PLEASE. Madeleine and Carol.. pls lord.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book #5 in the Detective Inspector Carol Ashton mystery series. When Collis Raeburn is found dead in his hotel room everything points to suicide. Unfortunately for Carol, the family has a friend in the political scene and she is put in charge of this investigation and the family wants her to find it an accident and not a suicide. Their reasons for this are two fold: first they wouldn't get the insurance money if it was a suicide and secondly it would ruin his public persona as the premier Tenor in the Australian Opera. As Carol investigates she becomes more and more convinced that it isn't suicide or even an accident but murder. It comes to light that Collis was HIV positive and it wasn't from a blood transfusion. The family, of course, wants to keep this hush hush but as the investigation gets deeper the former lovers of Collis become suspects in his death as they could have unknowingly been infected. Meanwhile, as Carol gets pressured by the family and the her bosses to close the case without divulging certain aspects of Collis' personal life secret she starts receiving phone calls that threaten to out her publicly if the case isn't ruled an accident. Carol is stressed out enough in her public life but as she gets more involved in the case the less involved she is with Sybil her live in girlfriend. Sybil is tired of being in the closet and sick of not being able to share her life with everyone. As the tension between them grows they get Mark Bourke's wedding invitation in the mail and Carol tells Sybil that they cannot go together because there will be too many work people there to chance being outed. Sybil makes a huge step in her independence and tells Carol that she is moving out until they can resolve the situation between them. All this pressure from all sides of her life both public and private. Carol is forced to out herself to her bosses before the mysterious caller does it for her and compromises her case. Is the caller the killer or is it just another stroke of bad luck for Carol? Was the killer a family member trying to hide the fact that Collis had HIV? Or was it one of Collis' many lovers that could have been infected? More importantly will Carol please Sybil enough to make her come back to their home?

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy this series very much. Carol Ashton is an Australian detective who is a closeted lesbian. She is assigned the case of a male opera singer found dead in. A hotel room and she has to decide if this was an accidental overdose versus a suicide but her gut tells her it is murder. She is drawn into the highly dramatic world of opera singers.

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aussie lesbian inspector is outed