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A review by kaisbooknook
Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Murder in the Dressing Room is exactly what you would expect from a drag queen murder mystery: campy and mysterious.
I love the inside look at how the drags interact and work with one another. I just would have liked for the other drags to have more fleshed out characters, rather than them being represented by how they performed.
The pacing was a bit slow for me, particularly in the first 40%. After that the story really picks up, and i would have loved to see that same pacing for the entirety of the book.
I honestly loved that Misty Divine was so determined to find out who the real killer was, and to give everyone that closure, including Lady Lady. I especially liked the rawness of the police's reaction to the murder and drag in general, because it shows the reality that so many queer folks face with police.
I really enjoyed the writing style, as the tone of voice is very unique. I absolutely loved the way Misty compartmentalized herself between her drag persona and her everyday self, Joe. It was super interesting to learn, and I loved following along with it.
I would personally prefer that a bit more editing would have been done, especially on the day to day descriptions of Misty's life, since the level of detail put into them wasn't extremely necessary, but again, this is not the fully edited version.
I would recommend this to anyone who wants a campy murder mystery, with queer relationships and drama woven throughout.
A huge thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for giving me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I love the inside look at how the drags interact and work with one another. I just would have liked for the other drags to have more fleshed out characters, rather than them being represented by how they performed.
The pacing was a bit slow for me, particularly in the first 40%. After that the story really picks up, and i would have loved to see that same pacing for the entirety of the book.
I honestly loved that Misty Divine was so determined to find out who the real killer was, and to give everyone that closure, including Lady Lady. I especially liked the rawness of the police's reaction to the murder and drag in general, because it shows the reality that so many queer folks face with police.
I really enjoyed the writing style, as the tone of voice is very unique. I absolutely loved the way Misty compartmentalized herself between her drag persona and her everyday self, Joe. It was super interesting to learn, and I loved following along with it.
I would personally prefer that a bit more editing would have been done, especially on the day to day descriptions of Misty's life, since the level of detail put into them wasn't extremely necessary, but again, this is not the fully edited version.
I would recommend this to anyone who wants a campy murder mystery, with queer relationships and drama woven throughout.
A huge thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for giving me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review!