Dashing through the store
Continued from Page 43
I nnuendo
try R.D. Zimmerman. Dell Books, 2000; $ 1 1.95 softcover.
T he G irls : S appho G oes to H ollywood
by Diana M cLellan. St. Martin’s Press, 2000;
$26.95 hardcoi'er.
haven’t always been a fan of murder mysteries. I have trouble
with willing suspension of disbelief and find too many mur
ders tiresome.
This time, however, Lambda Award winner R.D. Zimmer
man hixiked me. His murder mystery, set in Minneapolis, con
tains all the right ingredients: movie stars, reporters, lots of cops
and a fistful of believable gay characters.
Todd Mills, an out television reporter, and his partner,
Steve Rawlins, an equally out police detective, become
enmeshed in the brutal murder of a young gay hoy as Rawlins
is called to the murder scene. It’s brutal, as any murder scene
surely is, but the case for Rawlins is doubly troubling. Having
just met the hoy a few nights previously, after speaking at a
center for gay youth, he feels personally involved. Just how
involved is only one of several twists in this novel.
“Todd realized that no matter how desperate he was to know, he wasn’t going to ask, not
about young Andrew. No, if this relationship was going to work, Rawlins was going to have
to come to Todd and tell him.
“Todd clung to him, kissing him pathetically on the cheek, the ear, the neck and realizing
finally what was going on here. This was a test. A test Rawlins didn’t even know he was taking
hut one that he was, at this point, most certainly failing.”
While Rawlins is investigating, Mills is doing live remotes. Inevitably, their careers intersect as
they attempt to navigate not only the investigation but also a relationship under pressure.
At the center of the investigation is closeted actor Tim Chase. Several clues lead to Chase, but
Mills has issues, like an exclusive with the actor, who is in town shooting a film. Zimmerman
smartly teases us with several hints about just who this actor might be in real life.
As the novel develops, Mills dances around his involvement with Chase while trying to figure
out his own personal life. I liked the way Zimmerman weaves the mysteries of day-to-day gay life
(apartment shuttling, financial concerns, monogamy, issues of trust) with the ins and outs of the
murder investigation (anonymous phone tips, forensic evidence, the ultra-secret life of major celebs).
Zimmerman has almost a dozen Todd Mills gay mysteries under his belt. Innuendo is his lucky 13th.
The characters feel authentic and don’t suffer from handsome-perfect-male syndrome. His
story is believable, and the writing moves at a fast clip, making you want to hang in there
with people you and I easily could know.
1 made a note early on as 1 read Innuendo, “Not much suspense— we know who did it from the
start.” Turns out I was wrong; I didn’t figure it out until the end—exactly what a good mystery
novel should do.
— Richard Bray
i
ust the kind of juicy history we gals
love, The Girls lifts the veil on the pri
vate lives of early HollywcxxJ’s most
powerful and uninhibited goddesses—
Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah
Bankhead— and the women who loved
them.
Why did Garbo and Dietrich deny
knowing each other to the hitter end?
How did Garbo worshipper Bankhead see
Dietrich’s career?
The Girls explores these questions and
more, dishing up a rich stew of film history,
politics, sexuality, psychology and the cult of
stardom. Wonderful photos top off this
absorbing read.
—Catherine Sameh
J
TRICK
New Line DVD
T
his frothy film almost could be called a “no-date
movie,” as its two leading characters spend the entire
film trying to find a place to have their one-night stand.
Gabe (Christian Campbell) is neurotic yet cute as the lost-
in-love romantic who has an annoyingly oversexed heterosex
ual roommate and a fag hag best friend (a hilarious Tori
Spelling). The object of his affection is Mark (J.R Pitoc), a
stud who has more going on than just muscles and looks.
This is the kind of concept film that works great for gay
audiences, and its witty humor crosses all gender lines. The
DVD features a crisp widescreen print plus a trailer and
cast/crew filmographies.
— Andy Mangels
Key Bank presents
O R E G O N
BAL L E T
T H E A T R E ' S
The Nutcracker
JAMES
CANFIELD
/ ARTISTIC
DIRECTOR
FEATURING THE OBT ORCHESTRA - NIEL DEPONTE / CONDUCTOR
For tickets call 2-BALLET (222-5538) www.obt.org
Toll free at 1-888-9-BALLET or call Ticketmaster at 503-224-4400
Box office: 818 SE 6th Avenue
D
SUN
E
MON
C
E
M
TUE
B
E
R
2
WED
0
1 U
5 00P
1 7
1 /
LOOP
5:00P
24
LOOP
*j 2
j
7:30P
*j J
7 : 3 0 P
2Q
0
THU
7
1 n loop
0
SAT
FRI
7:30P
7 30P
] 4 ™0P
7:30P
2 j
7 30P
g
1
7:30P
5 ,:30P
2 2 1 :30P
2:00P
7:30P
0
/
2:00P
1 0 7 30P
1 /
Co-Sponsors
0 Q 2:00P
ZÛ 7:30P
•'THE NUT HAS FINALLY CRACKED'
an alternative h o lid a y e x p e r ie n c e , two p e rfo rm a n c e s only
Seaso n
Sponsors
w («ino
NeRve
WI L L A ME T T E
WEEK
fei SAFEWAY
\ y j FOOD & DRUG
HlmCtimel,
ArA AmencanAirlines