Divas Las Vegas by Rob Rosen
Bill is an apparently rather boring San Francisco gay bookstore manager, and being gay in San Francisco is just enough to be ordinary, if then you add the bookstore related job, well, it seems that here of sparkling there should be only the wrapping card for the books. But Bill’s situation soon changes, with also his name, he prefers to go for Em, when the bookstore place is sold in block and the owner gives him 30 thousands dollars as good exit. No work and still too young to retire, every other man, gay or not, would have probably put a thoughts or two on what he wants to do with his life, and instead Em decides to spend most of the money to buy back an very ugly vase who was in his family for year, and sold on a front yard sale for a few dollars, and that now is valued almost 30.000 thanks to an appreciation from Antiques Roadshow.
The vase was last seen in Las Vegas, and Justin, Em’s best friend and former partner in a drag queen show, drags him on that very place in first class, after hiring Chris, a good guy who will help Em to pleasantly spend his last nights in San Francisco. Already in the plane, Em’s long dry spell period, interrupted with Chris, has good chances to be completely put off, when he meets Marvin. If you are thinking that this is soon becoming a How to Do manual on how to meet gay guy in the last likeable places (Las Vegas is not famous to be a gay resort), you are not far from the truth, since Chris and Marvin are only the beginning, there will be also a Zahir, all for Em, and a Bradley, Jacques and Ahmed for Justin. Actually three for each so Em and Justin haven’t to question who got the better share.
But other than an unexpected gold mine for guys, that apparently distracted Em and Justin from the real reason of their coming in the desert city (the vase), there is also not one, not two, but three murders that helped Em and Justin to spend their time: yes, since all the three victims are related in a way or the other to the vase, and Em and Justin have enough brain free from the guys to understand that they are being targeted. Instead of asking help (this is a novel, don’t forget), they decide to understand who is the villain, and to do that they resume the drag queens attire, becoming Marilyn and Tabitha.
Even if there are three murders and apparently big dangers for our heroes, Divas Las Vegas can’t be listed on the mystery section, there is too sparkling dresses, casino and everything attached to be considered dark. It’s a funny and light book, and there are more moment when you are laughing than when you are trying to understand who is the killer. As Em and Justin, the reader soon forgets that he is searching a vase, and then a killer, to instead following the two from casino to casino, from posh hotel to not so posh hotel, always accompanied by a very detailed description of the places, a voluntary and well developed added value of the novel that makes you want to plan your next trip in the city, obviously with a copy of the book as reference.
I don’t think this is the last adventure for Em and Justin, or for Marilyn or Tabitha by the way. I don’t know if they are more clever or crazy, in a case or the other, they are “horny” enough to sex out their trouble and, in the end, to gain something for every situation they stumble upon. Again, I’m not sure if they manage to do that with consciousness, I had more the feeling that they are two very lucky gay guys.
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Cover Art by David Vance