"One Dead Drag Queen" by Mark Richard Zubro

This is the book that I found to conclude our A to Z mystery author quest.  I found One Dead Drag Queen by Mark Richard Zubro in a second hand book store in NH.  The story begins with a massive city explosion in a city in Illinois that involves the partner(lover) of gay baseball player Scott Carpenter.  Now this is copyrighted in 2000 and written after Oklahoma City bombing but before New York City & 9/11.  This is part of a series that Zubro started in 1989 and concluded in 2006.  Scott's partner Tom is gravely hurt in the explosion and you find that Scott as a major league baseball player had "come out" as a gay man in a major sports field at a time that it was still a pretty shocking thing to do.  There is under tones of homophobia that would have been rampant at that time and that played a lot in the red herrings that Zubro placed around the plot.  There was an abortion clinic that was bombed also and you find yourself wondering along with Scott if that is the true reason for the bombing.  One of the characters is a man with a trademark "drag queen' persona and is found dead later in the story.  The intertwining of politics, religious undertones relating to abortion rights and a gay couple in the mix was interesting and compelling.  I found that some references made about Tom & Scott are now dated.  But I was able to enjoy the story and transcend.  Zubro writes a tight story. I checked his blog which has not had a post in a very long time.  But he now writes in collaborations with others and I think I would seek out his work to see where life has taken him now. Zubro won a Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Men's Mystery.  Check out the 'Stop you're killing me' mystery web page fora list of his books.  I was unable to find these books in the cwmars library system so this series may have passed it's day but are available second hand through re-sellers.