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179 of 180 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Creative, sensitive and totally engrossing mystery, November 20, 2004
This review is from: Fingering The Family Jewels (Paperback)
Derek Mason isn't different from many other gay men in San Francisco, working at a "dot-com" and sharing a small apartment with a sarcastic, anorexic straight female roommate and a diva-ish cat. His background isn't different from many either, having sought a new life in California after severing ties with his fundamentalist Southern family (by mutual agreement, after he "came out" to them as gay).
But the story begins eight years later, when he has an unexpected reunion he has with that family, in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he returns for the funeral of his favorite Aunt Walterene. Derek quickly faces the same bigotry and status-seeking hypocrisy in most of the members of his family, especially his mother Gladys and his uncle Vernon, who is running for the Senate. His refuge is the house of his Aunt Ruby, who was Walterene's life partner, and his unmarried older sister Valerie. Derek also gets to spend some time with his older cousin Mark (Vernon's son), who was his first lover, before Mark decided he needed to "play it straight" and get married, in order to achieve success in the family's huge construction business.
In helping Ruby sort through Walterene's belongings, Derek comes across her girlhood diary, where she suggests that the reported lynching by the Klu Klux Klan of a black former family employee may have actually been done by Vernon and his father, over reports that the man had mollested Gladys as a girl. When a newspaper reporter picks up on the fact that Vernon Harris has a gay nephew, it becomes a political embarassment to the conservative "traditional values" candidate, and Derek is urged to leave town. Deciding to stay to help Ruby for a while, he becomes the target of a mysterious raspy-voiced assailant who tries to scare him out of town, which he believes may be related to his asking around concerning the lynching.
"Fingering the Family Jewels" is a captivating, sexy, fast-paced and extremely creative mystery, exposing how greed and misplaced family loyalties can result in a pattern of lies, deceit, incest and possibly murder. Author Greg Lilly, previously a writer of short stories who has a background as a technical analyst (and worked at a family-owned company that provided the inspiration for this first novel), hits a home-run with this intelligent, sensitive and highly engrossing masterpiece. Much recommended!
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52 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More Please!, September 15, 2004
This review is from: Fingering The Family Jewels (Paperback)
It is a pleasure reading "Fingering the Family Jewels". Drama, mystery, romance, "Fingering the Family Jewels" is thrilling and absorbing. To top it all Lilly has created a great protagonist in Derek Mason. Sensitive, smart, romantic at heart and of course gay, this young man is immensely likable and one only wish the best for him. Only 196 pages but Lilly does not need more to tell a great story. The cover says "A Derek Mason Mystery" and I hope that means there is more to come.
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35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Southern Jewel, July 18, 2005
This review is from: Fingering The Family Jewels (Paperback)
Fingering the Family Jewels by Greg Lilly is an engaging and very well written tale of family strife. Unlike other books written in the first person, Lilly's peripheral characters-- richly written to perfection in their true southern style-don't constantly drag the reader's attention away from the observant protagonist, Derek Mason. He has our full attention throughout Lilly's first novel in the Derek Mason Mystery series.
Derek returns to his hometown, Charlotte, North Carolina, to attend the funeral of his beloved Aunt Walterine. It's his first trip home in the seven years since his mother, who Derek refers to as Gladys the Bitch, sent him out of state to attend school, apparently because he was gay, therefore avoiding Charlotte's premier family from embarrassment among the city's elite. But, was that really the reason she sent Derek away?
Once back home, Derek discovers a deeply hidden family secret, one that would dash his conservative uncle's senatorial aspirations. He believes his ignorant, homophobic uncle is unfit to represent the voters of North Carolina. The secret Derek uncovers, with the help of handsome reporter and love interest, Daniel, has far more serious implications than loosing one election.
Greg Lilly's portrayal of the elite southern family is realistic and believable. As is the case with many powerful families, their shenanigans often read like a soap opera. The Harris clan keeps everything to themselves--their secrets and perhaps even their genes.
From page one, Fingering the Family Jewels is a thoroughly engaging read. Lilly leads the reader right smack into the thick of the plot and doesn't let up until the last page. I anxiously await the second installment in this new mystery series by Greg Lilly.
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