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Way, way back when dinosaurs walked the earth, gay crime fiction was seen as radical and ever so daring. Twenty or so years on, it's just another sub-genre beneath the huge umbrella. But boy, has it come a long way. I remember reading Mark Richard Zubro in the early 1990s and thinking how refreshing it was to see an 'out' gay man and his partner portrayed so positively. But I can report that Tom and Scott have not aged so well. In FILE UNDER DEAD, it's pretty much more of what Zubro has been churning out for aeons . . . Someone is murdered, schoolteacher Tom is called in to administer some sound common sense and to interview all-comers, and then to unveil the killer with a minor flourish at the end. Only thing different here is that baseball star Scott makes long-distance appearances on the telephone. Tom's volunteering at a gay youth services clinic. Its director, Charley Fitch -- known to one and all as Snarly Bitch -- has the charm of a rattlesnake, and Tom makes sure he goes in early to avoid the bloke. But early one morning he finds Charley's severed head in a filing cabinet drawer. Whilst the police faff about, Tom talks to all the suspects, making bitchy comments to himself as he works down the list of suspects. No one seems the least bit surprised that this nosy teacher seems to be doing the cops' jobs for them. I hate to report that FILE UNDER DEAD really is crime fiction by numbers. There's the occasional frisson of danger, and the book is perfectly readable, but the reader can see where Tom's going and how he's going to get there. The characters aren't terribly enticing, as Zubro deals in stereotypes -- flamboyant queeny teenager, dyke on a bike, you get the idea . . . Sadly, this is a series that's been flagging for a while, and up against the likes of Michael Nava and John Morgan Wilson, it's unadventurous and stale. I think it's about time that Zubro pensioned off Tom and Scott so that they can enjoy Scott's millions!
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, August 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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