The Glory Hole Murders

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.