Case of the Missing Drag Queen by Michael Rupured

Hey y'all! Please welcome Michael Rupured to the blog. :) He's here to talk about an up-coming release from DSPP. Check it out!

Release date: June 19, 2018; novel

Drag Shows and the Case of the Missing Drag Queen

Thank you, Michelle, for the opportunity to tell your fans about my upcoming release. It’s not a romance. My attempts at writing love stories readers will enjoy have failed miserably. Instead, it’s a lighthearted mystery chocked full of interesting and memorable characters.

Friendless Luke lands a job tending bar in the Garden—a three-story venue with rooms designed to appeal to different segments of the LGBT community. Luke works in the Gilded Lily where drag queens perform every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. The cast includes the dark and lovely Simone, the queen of the cathouse Kitty Galore, the trailer park fairy Pixie Wilder, the pride of the Bluegrass Miss Ruby Dubonnet, and guest performers from near and far.

No other form of entertainment compares to a good drag show. Hell, even bad drag has entertainment value. There’s so much to it: hair, makeup, clothes, shoes, song choice, lip-syncing, engaging the audience and sucking them into the illusion. Perfecting the total package takes time.

No two queens are alike. As with strippers in a titty bar, performers want to stand out from the other queens. Styles run the gamut from raunchy to refined with everything in between and then some. RuPaul’s Drag Race is a fun show with top-notch performers. Still, behind-the-scenes drama aside, nothing compares to a live show.

Building a story around drag shows was a lot of fun. Writing dialogue for such colorful personalities was a blast, and finding songs for the queens to perform brought back a lot of memories. I hope reading the story will be as fun as writing it was.


Blurb
Broke, saddled with a mountain of debt, and dependent on his Aunt Callie's support, aspiring writer Luke Tanner has returned to Kentucky to put his life back together after a failed five-year relationship.

On his twenty-fifth birthday, Luke meets diminutive Pixie Wilder, a long-time performer at the Gilded Lily. After headliner Ruby Dubonnet doesn’t show up, Pixie takes her place as the star of the show—a motive that makes her a suspect in Ruby’s disappearance.

Luke reluctantly agrees to help his new-found friend clear her name. He and Pixie set out to find the missing drag queen, and in the process, put themselves in danger.


Cover Artist:
Alexandria Corza
https://www.seeingstatic.com/



Buy Links (Now available for preorder)
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Case-Missing-Queen-Tanner-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07C94VK8S

Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1128301067?ean=9781640806672

DSP Publications
eBook:  https://www.dsppublications.com/books/the-case-of-the-missing-drag-queen-by-michael-rupured-459-b

Paperback:  https://www.dsppublications.com/books/the-case-of-the-missing-drag-queen-by-michael-rupured-460-b

Author Bio
Michael Rupured writes stories true enough for government work about gay life from the 1960s to today. This life-long Southerner was born in Fayetteville NC, grew up in Lexington KY, and after 18 months in Washington DC, moved to Athens GA where he’s lived since 1999. By day, he’s senior faculty in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Georgia. He’s an avid fan of the Georgia Bulldogs, the Kentucky Wildcats, and any team playing the Florida Gators. In his free time, Michael tinkers with his garden, plays with Toodles (his diabetic chihuahua), and keeps up with his many friends around the country. Previous novels include Until Thanksgiving (thriller), No Good Deed (mystery/thriller), Whippersnapper (regional), and Happy Independence Day (historical).







Visit his website (http://rupured.com), follow on Twitter @Crotchetyman), like his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMichaelRupured/)  or shoot him a message (mrupured@gmail.com)

Cover Reveal by Michael Rupured and a Giveaway!

Thanks, Michelle, for allowing me to show off the cover for my upcoming release from Dreamspinner Press on your blog. By far, the most exciting part of the publishing process—at least for me—is seeing the cover for the first time. For my next novel, to be released August 20th, artist Christy Caughie created a gorgeous cover. To celebrate, I’m conducting a giveaway. Keep reading for details.

Blurb:

Terrence Bottom wants to change the world. A prelaw student at Columbia University majoring in political science, his interests range from opposing the draft and the war in Vietnam, to civil rights for gays, to anything to do with Cameron McKenzie. Terrence notices the rugged blond hanging around the Stonewall Inn, but the handsome man—and rumored Mafia hustler—rebuffs his smiles and winks.

Cameron McKenzie dropped out of college and left tiny Paris, Kentucky after the death of the grandmother who raised him, dreaming of an acting career on Broadway. Although he claims to be straight, he becomes a prostitute to make ends meet. Now the Mafia is using him to entrap men for extortion schemes, he is in way over his head, and he can’t see a way out—at least not a way that doesn’t involve a swim to the bottom of the Hudson in a pair of cement flippers.

Cameron is left with a choice: endanger both their lives by telling Terrence everything or walk away from the only man he ever loved. The Mafia hustler and the student activist want to find a way to stay together, but first they need to find a way to stay alive.



Preorder here:

Paperback: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5311

Ebook: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5310

New York City in 1969 is the setting for much of the action in Happy Independence Day. What was the legal environment then for NYC homosexuals?

By the middle of the twentieth century, a relatively large homosexual population had fled to New York City to escape persecution, discrimination, and limited opportunities in rural and small town America. Ironically, New York had more laws on the books targeting homosexuals than just about any place in America. Cross dressers of either gender were arrested unless they wore at least three articles of clothing for the gender listed on his or her birth certificate or driver’s license. The New York State Liquor Authority had determined the mere presence of homosexuals defined a drinking establishment as disorderly, and hence, would evoke the liquor license. Entrapment, extortion, and other crimes were committed against homosexuals with impunity by police, organized crime, and opportunistic thugs. The atmosphere in the summer of 1969 was especially tense because of Mayor John Lindsay’s crack down on vice to clean up the city as part of his campaign for re-election in November.

GIVEAWAY!!!!

To give you a reason to visit the other blogs helping me celebrate my new cover, I’ve come up with a Giveaway and a quiz about the Stonewall Inn and the 1969 uprising that made it famous. Find the answers on the blogs participating in my cover reveal and giveaway (links below). Comment on my post on any of the participating blogs by midnight, July 31, 2014 for a chance to win a signed copy of the prequel, After Christmas Eve (U.S. residents only; ebook available for international winners—one winner per blog).


What is the Stonewall Inn?


Who owned the Stonewall Inn?


What made the Stonewall Inn a magnet for homosexuals?


What happened at the Stonewall Inn on the night of June 28, 1969 to cause the uprising?


Who/what started the Stonewall riots?


How long did the Stonewall Uprising last?

•   Tali Spencer's Brilliant Disguise

•   MA Church's Decadent Delights

•    Charlie Cochet's Purple Rose Tea House

•    Eden Winters' Magnolias and Men

•    Shira Anthony

•    Chris Koehler

•    Prism Book Alliance

Find out what Michael’s up to by visiting his web site (http://rupured.com), following him on Twitter (@crotchetyman), or by email (mrupured@gmail.com).