Customer Reviews

The Glory Hole Murders

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Though the opening murder is particularly gruesome (and will cause male readers to sit sidesaddle for the rest of the book)Tony Fennelly's first Matty Sinclair novel is a wonderwork of sly wit, clever plotting and early-eighties sexual freedom in the days before AIDS actually became old news.

Matty himself is the gay scion of an ancient New Orleans family who now runs an antique reproduction boutique. He is romantically entangled primarily with Robin, a fluffy-skulled youngster with no common sense and eyes only for Matty, but has occasional trysts with other characters throughout, both male and female. Matty, you see, is an opportunist.

The plot is fairly typical of gay fiction, in that the primary motive of the killer appears to be either a way to "out" his seemingly-straight victims or to exact revenge upon the vagaries of his or her own sexuality. Overall, the plotting is deft and entertaining, but it is Tony Fennelly's flights of fancy that makes this book such a page-turner; Matty's involvement with a beautiful, young, gay hitman for the mob, for example, is hilarious and lighthearted.

Here's hoping that a successful reprint of "The Glory Hole Murders" will prompt re-issues of the other two Matty Sinclair novels and/or a new installment altogether.

This book is really pretty bad. It is so strangely gay that it almost comes off as being homophobic. For example: Matty (the detective) makes a point at the very begining of the book that he has never worn a dress ... yadda, yadda. But, he calls everyone dearie and sweetie and thinks he looks "scrumptious" in purple. Next thing you know he is bedding a woman (and suspect). She apparently is a "fall" and he has problems with how she dresses ... oh well. There is one section where he meets the father of the jailbait boy hooker he is living with that has to be read to be believed. Throughout it all he puts down other gay men for their age, weight, income, hang-outs .. whatever. Honestly, I don't think I've ever read a book with such an annoying lead character. Try the Nathan Aldyne mysteries instead for a good, humorous look at the gay 80's.