Book Review - Death in the Dark by Kitty Murphy

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Title: Death in the Dark

Author: Kitty Murphy

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Publication Date: 11th April 2023

Rating: 5 Stars

Abduction. Accusations. And murder on the dance floor.

Sparkle McCavity, young drag queen and employee of Miss Merkin, is missing, presumed kidnapped or even worse. Naturally, Merkin turns to reluctant sleuth and friend to the community Fi for help, but clues and suspects are worryingly thin on the ground—and the drag king Stan the Man is proving somewhat distracting. When Merkin’s niece is then found murdered, spiked on a light pole in nightclub TRASH, it becomes clear that Fi’s friends are in danger. Again.

With the ever-inept Detective O’Hara becoming convinced that the most likely suspect is Miss Merkin herself, tensions begin to build among the friends. Could one of them really be responsible?

After a strangely spooky séance, Fi’s best friend Robyn disappears. Guilt-ridden and distraught, Fi and her friends must double their efforts to save Robyn and Sparkle before it’s too late.

Just as long as her increasingly complicated and distracting love life doesn’t get in the way!

Was so good to be back at TRASH with this group of drag queens and kings.  I loved the first book in this series, and think this one might be even better. 

I totally didn't guess who the murderer is, nor the motive, but I agreed with Fi and the queens, that things were messy, nothing really made sense and that there must be something sinister going on. 

Fi is initially reluctant to try to investigate once again, given she is still mentally recovering from the aftermaths of the first book, but when it is clear that the police, and in particular the completely disgusting Detective O'Hara are not really doing anything other than looking down on the whole drag community, and not investigating, she decides to step it up a gear. 

With mixed effects! 

We get to know more about various of the queens personal lives, as we see them more in and out of drag, and the addition of Stan was rather welcome. 

I love this series so much, the Dublin setting, the Drag scene setting, and the amateur detecting and the vivid cast of characters, all so distinct.  I love the descriptions of the performances, and how they are keeping the club running, and getting to meet Thora's aunts was interesting.  And we get to see another side to Merkin too. 

Just loving this book and this series, and I really hope there will be a third book, as I am eager for more.  Utterly addictive story that I read in a day. 

Thank you to Thomas and Mercer and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.