Dead Certain by Claire McNab

published in Australia as OFF KEY

Collis Raeburn's family and his professional associates bring all their considerable influence to bear to cover up the circumstances of his death. For the young Australian opera star is an apparent suicide, and his autopsy has revealed him to be HIV-positive.

Convinced that this deeply closeted gay man has been murdered, Detective Inspector Carol Ashton proves herself an inconvenient adversary to all concerned when she opens an investigation.

The dead man is not the only one clouded by issues of the closet. Carol''s lover, Sybil, refuses to continue her stifled, secretive life with Carol. And unbeknownst to Carol, her personal life has come under intense scrutiny by someone involved in her investigation of the Raeburn case.

Threatened by exposure, her integrity and objectivity questioned as never before, Carol finds her options drastically narrowing, and her professional and emotional life spinning out of control.