THE GIGOLO MURDER

A Turkish drag queen turns sleuth to win the heart of a dreamy lawyer.

Somer’s discreetly anonymous narrator/hero(ine) works as a nightclub doyenne by night and computer hacker by day. Inconsolable after the shattering of his latest love affair, he’s dragged to a rehabilitative night out by Ponpon, his close friend and fellow drag queen. Over dinner, our fragile protagonist falls head over heels for “superhandsome” lawyer Haluk Pekerdem, whose beautiful wife Canan is only a speed bump in his seduction plan. Haluk is abruptly called away from the table by an urgent phone call. Canan’s brother Faruk has been arrested for the murder of Volkan, a taxi driver. If Faruk’s innocence can be proven, Haluk’s undying gratitude and divine body will doubtless follow. This means keeping at bay the demands of money-counter boss Ali, who’s hatching a new and possibly illegal hacking scheme. Word on the street is that Volkan was a gigolo. We soon learn that Volkan’s brother Okan is a drug addict and that, as a boy, Volkan was the lover of his uncle Ziya. This last is confirmed during an uncomfortable visit to Volkan’s wake. Faruk’s release by the police deals a blow to the seduction plan for Haluk, and Faruk’s murder raises the stakes. Can the would-be lover identify the killer so that love can find a way?

The second English translation of Somer’s Turkish Delight series (The Prophet Murders, 2008) is fresh, cheeky and brimming with joie de vivre.