Review: "Murder in the Dressing Room" by Holly Stars

Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars
Published January 2025 via Berkley
★★★

Misty is doing well enough by herself—she has a job she hates, a boyfriend she loves, and a side gig as a drag queen that more than makes up for the day job—but when she finds her drag mother dead in her dressing room, well, things get complicated.

I'm kind of shocked, to be honest, that this is the first good, campy drag queen murder mystery series (well, start to a series) that I've come across. How has this not been done before? It's high time and then some.

Murder in the Dressing Room is in many ways just another cozy, but it's done well. Holly Stars is (I didn't know this until thirty seconds ago, but it makes sense) a drag queen herself, and her care for the community shows. The side characters here have backstories, and they do different types of drag, and while they fill niches they aren't allowed to becomes totally typecast. I also love that Misty comes into the book with not just a boyfriend but a good boyfriend—I've read too many mystery series in which a potential love interest is introduced in book one but it is book seventeen before they finally get together, and then it all falls apart by book 19; I've also read too many books featuring drag performers in which a potential love interest only wants to be associated with them out of drag. It's so refreshing to see a love interest who loves Misty not only as Misty but as her alter ego Joe (and not only as Joe but as his alter ego Misty). Here's hoping Miles sticks around.

I guessed the reveal before Misty figured it out (and before the dramatic villainous confession), but not by much, which feels about right. As a mystery, this isn't doing too much that's new, but I'd keep reading the series for the drag cast.