Pussys Bow

A plot-driven, sex-filled romp with an Australian accent, Drinnan's second novel (after Glove Puppet) follows three hedonistic gay roommates, their new houseboy and their flamboyant female neighbors as they cross paths after the accidental murder of a gay-basher. In a tony Melbourne suburb, Dixon, Doc and D ng occupy an art deco mansion with a morbid history; their decadent idyll is disrupted by the not-so-perfect murder and their attempts to conceal the crime. Complicating matters is the appearance of the victim's suspicious girlfriend. Snarling the narrative momentum, but a load of fun, are the housemates' running commentaries on national identity, sex, youth culture, trends and especially trendy drugs: ""Don't think I'd be hanging around the bloody colonies a minute longer if I had to take those impotent fifty-dollar aspirins you so willingly call E's."" Shadowing the present-day action is the intriguing tale of the mansion, which may or may not be haunted by its architect. Fleshed-out characters and their ""roving mercurial passions"" add appeal to this insubstantial but enjoyable page-turner. (Jan.)