Capitol Queers: Can the Feds Take a Joke?

Poor Alex! Trouble seems to follow him wherever he goes. Alex’s friend Ryan comes home to find his lover Mason murdered. Alex is confident that the delicate, docile Ryan is incapable of murder but the police are not so sure. A week later, Alex goes to Ryan’s apartment only to find him dead also, brutally slain in the same disagreeable manner as Mason; comprende “evisceration”? Frantic Alex now finds himself a suspect when he is confronted by a bigoted cop who would like nothing better than to quickly close a case involving society’s “disposables”. Alex enlists the aid of his no-nonsense mother Jean and his lover Peter to find the killers. It turns out that Alex and Peter are no amateurs in the sleuthing department as they are both “part-time” secret agents for the CIA. The plot thickens and paranoia runs deep as Alex discovers that agents from the State Department, the FBI and the CIA have a curious interest in the murders. My favorite scene takes place when after Alex, Peter and his mother find his house ransacked, Alex goes imprudently alone to the garage to turn off his car’s still running motor and is surprised by a man lurking in the shadows.

In a parody of countless noir movie mysteries of the 30’s and 40’s, Hunter describes the inscrutable stranger from the mysterious Far East, or is it the mysterious stranger from the inscrutable Far East? The gentle soft-spoken, yet condescending Asian is uncomprehending of Alex’s terror. After all, how unusual can it be to have benign tête-à-têtes with intruders about murder and diamonds? The formally suited Asian informs Alex that a renegade sect of Buddhists is responsible for the deaths of Ryan and Mason. It seems that a precious artifact rudely taken from the navel of Buddha is missing. At first, the religious fanatics suspected it was hidden in one of Mason’s dolls. Not finding it, they conclude that, since Alex is now in possession of all of Mason’s belongings, Alex has the diamond. The Asian man solemnly warns Alex to turn the diamond over to the authorities or else “things may not go so well for you.” Alex would like nothing better than to protect himself and his loved ones by turning over the coveted relic to the “authorities” or even to the ruthless cult fanatics who keep stalking him for that matter. The problem is that Alex honestly cannot find it among Mason’s belongings. Hunter skillfully walks the tightrope of farce and mystery. While we are amused by “Thin Man” jibes between Peter and Alex, and the common sense advice given by mother “don’t get blood on my floor” Jean, the aura of suspense and danger is never slighted.

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