Innuendo : A Todd Mills Mystery - Hardcover

Zimmerman, R.D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385323778 ISBN 13: 9780385323772

Publisher: Delacorte Press, 1999

Synopsis

An Anthony and Edgar Award nominee, and the winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Closet and Outburst, R.D. Zimmerman, like Sandra Scoppettone and Michael Nava, marries the best of gay and mystery fiction in Innuendo, the latest in his acclaimed Todd Mills mystery series.

Glamorous, fabulous, and famous, A-list actor Tim Chase is in Minneapolis shooting his new film. Although he's married to Gwen Owens, herself a beautiful and talented member of the Hollywood elite, one question continues to follow him: "Is he gay?" As an investigative journalist for WLAK-TV, Todd Mills knows he's the perfect person to break the story, if he can get an interview with the reclusive star.

Todd's pursuit of the Chase story is tragically interrupted by the murder of a young runaway whom Todd and Todd's lover, homicide detective Steve Rawlins, both knew from their volunteer efforts at the local center for gay youths. As he investigates for WLAK-TV, Todd finds out that Rawlins knew the young man much better than he is willing to admit at first, and that Rawlins is trying to keep this embarrassing fact from becoming public.

A roller coaster of a mystery and a sharp assessment of gay life in America--and Hollywood--in and out of the closet, this latest entry into the Todd Mills series is R.D. Zimmerman's finest book to date.

About this title

Review:

The fourth Todd Mills mystery offers the intriguing premise of dual investigations: one into the murder of a 17-year-old gay runaway, and the other into the sexual past and proclivities of Tim Chase, a movie star who has successfully sued a tabloid that claimed he was gay. Without pressuring his police officer boyfriend, Steve Rawlins, for more information than he can safely give, Minneapolis television reporter Todd Mills must try to uncover details about the boy's murder. At the same time, he is granted an exclusive interview with the glamorous Tim Chase, who immediately makes a pass at Todd in the guise of "research" for his next film. Is Todd's boyfriend hiding something important from him, something about Steve's own connection to the dead boy? And what about Tim Chase? Is he gay? And if so, how far would he go to protect his secret? Not especially fast-paced or complex, but absorbing and skillfully written, Innuendo will keep the reader guessing until its sexy, surprising final scenes. --Regina Marler

From the Back Cover:

Tim Chase walked across the room and flashed Todd Mills his megawatt smile. Stunned, Todd almost forgot the ugliness swirling around them both. For Chase, Hollywood's hottest star, it's the rumors that claim he is gay -- and that his high-profile marriage is a sham. For Todd, an award-winning TV reporter, it's a murder case that has put his relationship with policeman Steve Rawlins in jeopardy and spread a deadly chill through Minneapolis's gay world.

The victim was a young man on the run from his past. Somewhere, Rawlins met the boy, and now Todd believes Rawlins offered him more than guidance. While Todd is getting a once-in-a-life-time shot at a very personal interview with Tim Chase, he suddenly realizes that the murder may touch the actor and his entourage. And now the story is not about innuendo. It's about the secrets that rage behind public masquerades. Including the kind that kill....

About this edition

• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0385323778
• ISBN 13: 9780385323772
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320