When you think about it, the whole concept of a cozy mystery is really weird. These are supposed to be fun, feel-good books, but in order for the story happen, someone (almost always) has to die. What would, in real life, be one of the worst things to happen to someone (someone they know has been murdered, and often the protag is also the one to find the body) becomes our comfort media, whether it’s a true cozy mystery or a procedural.
Because of this weird cognitive dissonance, and because of my attempts to avoid copaganda, I don’t consume a lot of mysteries anymore. But I needed to read a mystery for a few reading challenge prompts. When I saw Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars cross my social media feed, I figured it would be a great way to support a queer debut author while ticking some boxes.
When Misty Divine finds her drag mother Lady Lady murdered, she’s shocked. When the police seem to care more about the stolen dress she was killed in than in her death, Misty is enraged. There’s only one thing to do: take matters into her own hands and find out who killed her mentor, and why.
Outside of drag, Misty is Joe, a non-binary thirty-something with a boring job. Joe loves drag and the opportunity to explore a different side of their personality, but they haven’t felt secure enough to make it their full-time gig, even though their lovely boyfriend Miles is supportive and thinks they should go for it.
In order to solve the crime, Misty will have to interview witnesses and suspects while still making it to her gigs, processing her feelings, and avoiding being seen as a suspect herself. Will she succeed?
Well, of course she will, this is a cozy, or at least cozy-adjacent, mystery.
Here’s what I liked about Murder in the Dressing Room:
- I honestly love that Joe has a supportive significant other. Too many of these series have a long drawn out will-they-or-won’t-they, maybe with a cop who resents needing this outside consultant (ok maybe I’m mostly thinking of the Castle TV show). And I just really enjoy seeing an established relationship in a book, a reminder that life doesn’t stop when you get together with someone, sometimes it’s just the beginning of your story.
- I don’t feel like we get a lot of explicitly AMAB non-binary rep in books, so that was great too.
- Speaking of, this book made sure to show some drag diversity, with queens, kings, and non-binary performers with different skillsets and performance styles.
- This is NOT copaganda. Misty is not working with the cops, and is hesitant to involve them even when she potentially should, because she doesn’t trust them and the main cop assigned to the case is a transphobic ass.
- I felt like it did a good job of portraying the power of having a stage persona. There were times when Joe felt like they needed to be in drag because they needed Misty’s confidence. Performance arts aren’t just about honing our skills and getting attention — sometimes it really is a way to access a different part of yourself, or be somebody you feel you can’t be in the day-to-day.
- It’s a murder mystery about a drag queen written by a drag queen who is in the process of getting her PI license. That’s just really cool!
Here’s what didn’t really work for me:
- The characters all felt a little flat. If the author continues this series, which it looks like she intends to, I hope she’ll continue to round them out, especially the side characters. Cozy mysteries really thrive on their cast of colorful characters, and what could be more colorful than a bunch of drag performers?
- This was one of those mysteries where the main character mostly just goes around asking questions until they stumble on the truth. I would have loved to see Misty’s drag knowledge be more important to the story. I think cozy and light mysteries are more fun when the main character has some unique skillset, knowledge, or ability that helps them solve the crimes.
- Joe was weirdly passive about their non-binary identity. Like they’d inwardly react to being misgendered, but they never corrected anyone, never introduced themself with their pronouns or anything like that. And hey, not everyone is comfortable correcting people. But we didn’t even have any internal reflection about whether they’re afraid, or don’t feel like wasting the energy on it.
- Ok, this is a mini-rant, but you know that feeling when you’re reading a book and you come across something so divorced from reality, that it makes you ask “Did a human write this book?” Misty is a six-foot-tall Glamazon; Lady Lady was a petite five feet. Misty thinks she might inherit some of Lady Lady’s costumes. When it comes time to host a memorial show, she decides she will borrow one of Lady Lady’s costumes. No time for alterations. She just picks one out to wear. Now, you may be thinking, ok, if she grabbed a stretchy cocktail dress that was a demur knee-length on Lady Lady, it might be a cheeky mini dress on Misty, that could work. My friends, she grabs a sequin SUIT. And puts it on without a single complaint about it binding or riding up or not being able to move her arms. It just fits. How?!? How?!?
All in all, this book was a perfectly fine experience for me. I enjoyed reading it, but not enough to see if the series continues. That said, if you do gravitate towards cozy/light mysteries, this might be a welcome change from small towns, cupcake shops, and talking corgis.
CWs and TWs: Murder, obviously. Homophobia and transphobia, some active, some passive.
Source and Format: I borrowed the ebook from Seattle Public Library.
Reading Challenge Prompts
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): Dying for a Mystery. Pretty obvious choice here.
Book Riot: Queer Mystery. Queer author, queer characters, check and check!
World of Whimm: Mystery. Gosh I love when multiple challenges have such similar prompts.
Reading Challenge Progress
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 6 of 25, no bingos.
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 6 of 25, no bingos.
Book Riot: 8 of 25.
Physical TBR: 1 of 12.
Brick & Mortar: 17 of 25, 2 bingos*.
*I’ve completed several of the non-reading prompts, hence the mismatch with the number of reviews!
World of Whimm: 9 of 24, no bingos.