Even though gay reporter Mark Mannings left Chicago behind, the
editor/publisher of Wisconsins Dumont Daily Register finds life in
the slow lane more eventful than he could have expected. Not only
has local shopkeeper Grace Lord succeeded in attracting
miniatures-king Carrol Cantrell, a very big man in a very small
world, to Dumont to judge the exhibits in the Midwest Miniatures
Societys annual convention, but Mark and his close-knit allies are
nervously watching the progress of an anti-porn bill spearheaded by
opportunistic D.A. Harley Kaiser and that gay-baiting harpy Miriam
Westerman, who almost wrecked Marks plan to adopt his orphaned
cousin, Thad Quatrain, in Body Language (1999). The incongruous
worlds of miniatures and pornography collide with a crash of tiny
furniture when Cantrell is murderedand soon after unmasked as the
founding owner of Hot Head Video productions. Determined to shield
barely uncloseted sheriff Douglas Pierce, whod spent the preceding
three nights with Cantrell, from suspicion as his killer, Mark
keeps returning obsessively to the same short list of
suspectsCounty Commissioner Dr. Benjamin Tenelli, whos just warned
that the local porn shop will frighten off tourists; Lt. Dan Kerr,
the underling who wants Dougs job; Miriam Westerman; and Grace
Lordand ignoring the obvious tip-offs: his steamy dreams and the
school play Thads tried out for. Craft sprinkles clues of every
sort so generously, in fact, that most readers will find his latest
outing a hundred pages too long. (Kirkus Reviews)
Mark Manning, once a prominent journalist at a major daily newspaper in Chicago, is now the owner and publisher of the Dumont Daily Register, the daily paper in a small Wisconsin city. Here the biggest news is the impending city council report on a proposed new adult bookstore zoning law, the upcoming election for Sheriff and the upcoming annual exhibition of the Midwest Miniatures Society. In a unique coup for the first-ever miniatures exhibition in Dumont, the "king of miniatures", Mr. Carroll Cantrell has agreed to come and judge the show's main event.
But the exhibition itself is quickly shoved off the front page of the paper when Cantrell is found murdered in his room. To make matters worse, Doug Pierce, the local sheriff, is widely believed to be responsible. Pierce - a closeted gay man and friend of Mark Manning - had been carrying on an affair with Cantrell and was the last person seen leaving his room before the body was discovered. As conservative elements in Dumont attempt to exploit the murder - and the sheriff's association with the deceased - to their own ends, Manning, with the help of his lover, architect Neil Waite, his staff and friends, starts his own investigation of the murder. With Cantrell having led something of a double life with no end of potential enemies and the miniatures world itself being a hot bed of rivalries and closely held resentments, the truth begins to feel very elusive indeed. As public sentiment begins to swing and time running out for Sheriff Pierce, Mark must uncover some of this close-knit town's most deeply held secrets if he's to learn the truth in time.
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