Capital Queers: An Alex Reynolds Mystery

Chicago-based narrator Alex Reynolds, the self-proclaimed ""queer-in-residence at the CIA,"" and his ""husband,"" Peter Livesay, have been close friends and neighbors of Mason LaPere and his lover, Ryan Morton, for years. Despite the long-standing friendship, however, there are two things Alex can't stand about the couple: their West Highland terrier, Muffin, and Mason's beloved collection of antique dolls. Alex ends up inheriting both when he finds Mason brutally murdered and then a few days later, Ryan, killed by the same ritual method of evisceration. Peter, Alex and Alex's feisty British mum are stumped about the motive for the murders until they receive a visit from two State Department agents looking for a mysterious artifact that Mason may have bought while on a trip to Washington, D.C. The trio use their connections to CIA agent Larry Nelson to find out more about this arcane object and to uncover an Eastern religious order bent on protecting their sacred talisman by any means necessary. Suddenly, Alex and his friends find themselves ensnared in a web of international intrigue that stretches from Thailand to Chicago to D.C. and back. This third series installment (following Federal Fag) is packed with sharp humor and several well-placed jibes at straight society. The pace is quick, but the novel too often sacrifices substance for wit. Readers whocan forgive the archness as well as the overly ambitious attempt to cast two upwardly mobile gay men and one's mother as CIA moonlighters will find this to be a very entertaining read. (June)