Here Comes the Corpse

Chicago area high school teacher Tom Mason and his lover, professional baseball player Scott Carpenter have had a taxing year. After publicly coming out, Scott and Tom have had to deal with a firestorm of publicity, a major loss of privacy, a great outpouring of support and an equal number of cranks. Now, finally, they are going to do something that they've always wanted - get married in a service before their family and close friends. Despite the potential problems of such of an event, the ceremony comes off with nary a hitch. With the reception in full swing - with a guest list ranging from long-time family friends and co-workers to the cream of the social elite - a small problem emerges. Tom happens to stumble over an ex-boyfriend from many years ago in the bathroom. Unfortunately, what he stumbles across is actually the corpse of the murdered ex-boyfriend and in addition to casting something of a pall across the proceedings, it puts Tom in the awkward position of being the prime suspect in the murder. If he's ever going to get to go on his long-planned honeymoon, Tom is going to have to uncover the truth behind the murder of this unwanted guest. From Publishers WeeklyTeacher Tom Mason and baseball pro Scott Carpenter's blow-out wedding ceremony is going beautifully that is, until Tom finds his mortally wounded ex-boyfriend bleeding in a bathroom stall in Here Comes the Corpse. Add in a troubled teenager, a secret sports pornography business, the dead man's mystery lover and a few more deaths, and there's a lot for the dynamic duo to figure out in Lambda Literary Award-winner Mark Richard Zubro's ninth appealing Tom and Scott mystery. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From BooklistWhat's the world coming to? It's getting so a couple of decent guys can't even tie the knot in peace any more, what with murder victims popping up in bathroom stalls and runaway nephews skulking around the crime scene. Schoolteacher Tom Mason and major-league pitcher Scott Carpenter finally decide to marry, in style in a Chicago hotel's 20-story atrium ballroom, all done up with orchids, rainbow-flag bunting, Godiva chocolate centerpieces, and an ice sculpture nearly as long as most housefronts. The occasion is marred by the sudden, uninvited appearance of Ethan, Tom's high-school flame, who has treated him badly in the past but now urgently needs to talk with him. But Ethan winds up dead in the john before Tom has the slightest idea what he might have wanted. Old flames die hard, though, and Tom cannot decline Ethan's parents' plea that he look into the homicide. Zubro's fans will cheer just about everything in the new Tom and Scott mystery--even Scott's sulky adolescent nephew. Whitney ScottCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved